Cattle Yards, Burke Development Rd 18 August 2015

In the morning we drove back to Normanton to have a good look at the town. Normanton has a wealth of heritage buildings left over from when it was the administrative and commercial heart of the Gulf region, but alas (like many places we have visited), the interest (and money) have shifted to the coast with fishing and tourism becoming the dominant industries.

The town itself is quite charming to look at but seems very poor and serviced with a small number of mainly run down shops. There was an interesting gallery that displays local Aboriginal art that was a colourful exception to the rest of the businesses.

We headed off in the afternoon towards Julia Creek, down the Burke Development Rd, a single lane track with soft dirt edges. Luckily there was minimal traffic, so we didn’t get into trouble, but I wouldn’t like to drive it in the wet. We stopped the night at some abandoned cattle yards and enjoyed a beautiful sunset and then a sunrise.