Normanton

Mon 28^th – Tues 29^th July

This morning we sat and watched the sun rise over the water at Flinders River. The water was as still as a millpond, reflecting the trees and bushes along the bank. There was nobody else around – just us, the birds and the fish. We watched the brown kites circling with their eyes glued to the ground and occasionally catching something to eat. Pelicans, ibis and herons were nearby. There were also tiny birds hopping around the rocks at the edge of the water. The colors constantly changed as the sun made its way over the horizon and the only sounds were the sounds of the birds.  Reluctantly we broke camp so that we could get into town and get a new tyre. Luckily the rim was still ok.

In Normanton and with our full complement of spare wheels, we booked into a caravan park for a couple of days. It was very hot, so we went for a swim in the pool. There is a hot artesian pool there which Mick went in, but it was a bit warm so we went into the big cool pool. The only way in was a very steep ladder which I fell off into the water and spent the remaining time wondering how I would get out again. Even the shallow end was a metre and a half deep and the bottom rung of the ladder was a metre and a quarter from the bottom. Even if I could get my foot that high I couldn’t do much more because the bars to hold on to were too big for my hands to grip on to. We ended up with Mick shouldering me up onto the ladder and then pushing me up with his head under my bum. It was almost impossible to put my foot on the next rung because the ladder bent in at the bottom. I’m sure Tarzan would have done it easily. That was my last swim at Normanton - ever! Mick’s neck is recovering. There were a couple of others in the pool at the time. I can’t believe they were able to restrain themselves from laughing out loud – or maybe they were thinking about how they were going to get out.