Burketown

Wish we had a bit more time to explore around here.

We are currently in Burketown for a few days, and while Timbo is busy fixing up houses, I thought I’d spend my time keeping you up to date with our travels!
We’ve spent the last two weeks at Normanton and Karumba. Popular spots and the people here seem to keep on coming back. I’m guessing they have better luck catching fish than what we do. 😊
We were asked to go to Burketown to complete some work so we decided to come the long way. While its only about 100 kilometres west as the crow flies, option two was a couple of hundred kilometres of dirt tracks – as it’s rained recently, we opted for the sealed route which took us the scenic 565 kilometres and I think we passed less than half a dozen cars on the way.
Burketown is smaller than Karumba and has amazing history. Actually, the gulf is a fantastic place to visit for history buffs, to see wildlife and in particular for any birdwatchers – this place is amazing! I don’t know that much about birds but the ones I have seen have been spectacular!
Sorry, I digress. Burketown is apparently the barra capital of Australia! There are so many creeks to fish up this way and the creeks are loaded with barra. But, as with most places in North Australia, the creeks are also frequented by crocs, but Jack (a guy helping Tim out) seems to know where to fish and what to see and do. However, he has been bitten by snakes twice and a croc has got him a couple of times too, so I’m not sure how much we should listen to him, but eh – no matter what – it’d make a good story! 😊
Some interesting facts on Burketown:
• Early history has shown that Macassans from Jakarta were traded with Aborigines on the shores of the gulf.
• January 5th, 1887 98% of Burketown was destroyed with 7 people killed and three pubs destroyed after a cyclone hit. Eight days later, another cyclone hit the town.
• 25th April 1992 – a 5.9 metre croc was caught at the rubbish dump and relocated.