History, Gorges, Fish and more in Queensland

At last I have reached a location where I have either electricity or enough Internet coverage to update my blog. After we left Croydon we headed west for the fishing village of Karumba. Karumba is locally known as the Barramundi and Prawn capital of Australia. Now anyone who knows me knows how much I love seafood. We went fishing a couple of times and caught a couple of Spotted Grunters which were very tasty. Then just to make sure we had enough seafood we went to a seafood buffet at the Karumba Sunset Tavern - oh my goodness it was amazing.

There was one down side at this location, I killed a kangaroo. The poor thing just jumped straight out into the car and I didn't he it until it was too late. I felt very sad. A couple of interesting Karumba facts are that it was a base for the famous Empire Flying Boats on their trek from Australia and England. Also the skies in this area are always filled Whistling Kites and the magnificent Wedge Tailed Eagle, which are the largest in the world with a wingspan of 2.5 metres.

There certainly were some beautiful sunsets in Karumba

It was amazing how the rocks along the beach were made up of millions of seashells

 There isn't really a lot to do in Karumba but the caravan park we stayed at - Karumba Point Tourist Park provided lots of entertainment for the parks guests. Saturday nights they even put on fried fresh fish for everyone.All we had to bring along was our chair and some salad on our plate. I would say there would have easily been 100 people eating. Leaving Karumba we headed south, our first stop was in Normanton. There was a tiny bit more history in Normanton but that's about all.
Our stop for the night was at Burke and Wills Roadhouse. Unfortunately on our days drive we had another rock hit the windscreen. So now we had a star chunk and a long crack in the windscreen.
Burke and Wills roadhouse was pretty basic, but it was only for the night.

Out in the middle of nowhere and we come across this guy riding a pushbike

We decided to spend the next couple of nights camped on the banks of the Gregory River. The township of Gregory was really only a pub and the smallest general store I have ever seen. Even though we had no electricity, now water and really nothing to do. But I just loved this location being able to sit by a fire each night and falling asleep listening to the water flowing.

What a view from our front door

This is certainly the smallest General Store I've ever seen

Adels Grove was our next stop, which is located just outside Lawn Hill National Park. Driving towards Adels Grove the countryside was extremely dry and quite barren and then we hit Adels Grove which was like an oasis. This was also a location with no electricity, no water but they were not missed at all. While at Adels Grove we drove into Boodjamulla National Park (Lawn Hill National Park) to do a cruise up through the Gorge. It was a beautiful quiet peaceful place to spend some time.

Lawn Hill Gorge 

Mother Nature allows trees to grow anywhere

Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne

I have always loved the Vic. Market, from a little girl enjoying the sights and sounds with my parents, to a Mum taking my children there to experience the many smells and sights. And now as a grown up who can head there and just wander, not necessarily buying anything but soaking up the people, the colours and everything else the Queen Victoria market can throw at my senses.

Queen Victoria Market 

In it's 130 years this market has had many faces, many changes and many many stories. It has been a livestock market, a wholesale fruit and vegetable market and a cemetery. Between 1837 and 1854 much of the land the market now stands on was the site of Melbourne's first official cemetery, housing the remains of an estimated 10,000 early settlers including those of John Batman. When the market was extended in 1917, 914 bodies were exhumed and re-interred at various other cemeteries around Melbourne. But numerous bodies remain buried beneath the existing carpark. I am not sure why they were not moved but from what I have read it is because there were no records of who the graves were for as the red gum headstones had been stolen for firewood. Also official records had previously been destroyed in a fire at the Melbourne Town Hall.

Oh Yummo I do love the Vic. Markets Jam Doughnuts.
I only know of one time in my whole life that I haven't indulged on a market visit. 

Some of the offal in the meat market makes an interesting
photo but I couldn't bring myself to eat tongues!!!

All the seafood is way to tempting and we usually come home with more that we intended

The colours and smells of the fruit and vegetables as amazing

Colourful graffiti on the toilet block walls.

But even though that gives me food for thought when I park my car, I still love heading to the Vic. Market early on Saturday mornings to buy some fresh seafood, meat, fruit and vegies and take photos of the colours of the Queen Victoria Market.