The road from Burketown to Normanton is notorious for it’s 80km unsealed section but I found it to be almost better than the sealed road before it. The only notable feature on this stretch is Leichhardt falls, which was pretty tame when I was there and where I saw my first wild crocodile – a giant of a thing coming in at least a metre long!

Normanton is pretty forgettable except for the friendliness of the locals, especially two elders, Warren Senior Senior (that’s not a typo) and Phillip Beardsley who were having a cleansing ale at the Purple Pub and who were happy to tell me some of the local history. They also invited me to visit them at Delta Downs (Morr Morr in the local language), a 972,899 acre cattle station which since 1983 has been owned by the local Kurtijar people. They said I should meet the station manager, Quentin Rainbow but unfortunately the 56km drive to the homestead was too rough to risk Max this early in the trip so passed.

Probably the only unfriendly local was Krys the World largest saltwater crocodile who weighed in at respectable two tons and was 8.63m (28’4”) long,  and is now immortalised in concrete in the main street. Evidently poor old Krys was shot on the banks of the Norman river in July 1957 by Krystina Pawlowski, Australia’s only known female crocodile hunter (Steve, eat your heart out wherever you are)!

On the approaches to Karumba I was greeted by the sign below, which on closer inspection was riddled with bullet holes, sending a somewhat mixed message about staying in Karumba. This would be my last chance for Morning Glory and first glimpse of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Leaving Karumba the next morning with the intention of driving the 683km to Atherton I soon realised I probably bitten off more than I could chew thanks to a sleepless night before (due to a malfunctioning smoke alarm in Max), and the fact the road was very straight and very boring. That was until I hit the interesting part, a high speed single track “highway” where you’re forced to play chicken with oncoming traffic, usual at a closing speed of 200+kph!!! This includes massive 53m road trains which not unsurprisingly have right of way. Most drivers respect each other and pull left as far as possible and slow down, but there one in every crowd and this particular a’hole passed me towing a trailer doing at least 100kph which unsurprisingly resulting in my second stone chipped windscreen!

Having learnt my lesson from the first incident outside Longreach I stopped at the next town, the very inappropriately named Mt. Surprise to apply “Loctite” (super glue) to the stone chip which based on the my first experience seems to stop the crack spreading across the whole windscreen. After an hours delay while I put on three coats of Loctite and waited for them to dry I realised it was getting late and the four legged natives were getting restless and starting to inhabit the road. Not wishing to also repeat the kangaroo incident I decided to overnight at Undara in the Volcano NP. This turned out to be a worthwhile detour and I almost thanked the a’hole for forcing me to change plans. The Undara resort is really nice with a railway theme (weird but it works) in a very natural but stylish open air bush camp feel. I was lucky as the resort was closing for the wet season the following week. I enjoyed another spectacular sunset, a great meal and an overdue sleep which put me in good shape to visit the Kalkani crater the next day.

As I continued east, stopping for what was without doubt the worst coffee I have ever had to tip out in Georgetown I was surprised to see the first green grass I’d seen in a couple of weeks at Ravenshoe, and running water when I visited the Millstream falls. It was amazing to see how the landscape completely changed within a couple of minutes from flat arid scrub land to lush green pastures and rainforest!

Honouring my intention not to rush and to explored what looks interesting I couldn’t resist turning off the highway to follow the intriguingly named Misty Mountains Way which wound up through the mountains, through a band of dense rainforest and then opening out into rolling farmland. After travelling about 15kms along this increasingly narrow and winding road I stopped to ask a farmer where the road went, and was surprised to learn it went all the way down to Innisfail on the coast 120 kms away which was not where I wanted to go. As it turned out the farmer, Graham Elems, was a font of information and when I told him of my plans to head up Cape York he said he’d spent seventy years living and working up on the Cape, the fact he never went to school and started working at the age of ten, and was the mayor of Cooktown for twenty years seemed more than coincidental.

After back tracking and following Beatrice Way, driving through what seemed like the Garden of Eden I found myself in Millaa Millaa, a classic Queensland town with wide streets and a laid back atmosphere. I decided to overnight in a reserve I’d noticed on the banks of the North Beatrice river about 3km out of town. But as it was only about 4pm I decided to have a bit of a look around and discovered the waterfall circuit, a 15km round trip that included three of the prettiest waterfalls I’ve ever seen, and after the heat and dust of the previous two weeks a stark contrast, and different kind of beauty.

Finally, after another interesting day I enjoyed a steak and a couple of beers at the Millaa Millaa pub and retired to Max for a peaceful night by the river. I was vaguely aware of another camper pulling into the reserve at some point later that night and aroused from a deep sleep by what sounded like a lady loudly enjoying another person’s company at about 4.00am! After what seemed hours and thinking whoever was making or causing this sonic symphony had inhuman endurance I realised, with some relief, it was some kind of strange tropical bird call. That was a relief!