After some long days of driving, and a distance of more than 2000km from leaving Kakadu, we arrived in the small fishing township of Karumba.

Set on the coast in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Karumba’s industry is based primarily on mining, fishing and prawns. There are two parts to the town. The main town is close to the river, with a large mine processing plant and the towns Barramundi farm. It’s certainly bigger than some of the fishing towns we have visited over the last year, with a school and sports facilities, but it’s clear some of the services are struggling and a number of small shops (including the bakery) have closed down.

A few kilometres out of town, towards the river mouth, lies Karumba Point – the tourist end of town. We stayed in the caravan park at the point and it is clear that all the little houses around the area are used as short stay rentals for people coming to enjoy the fishing in the Gulf.

On day one of our stay in Karumba, we bumped into a family we met back in SA, towards the start of our trip. The kids quickly settled back into familiar friend territory and we had the perfect sunset venue of the local pub to swap stories of adventures over the last six months.

First school lesson the next day was about survival… if you are stranded on a beach can you make a shelter?!

Beach shelter constructed, we headed into town to check out the barramundi centre and learn a little more about the local fishing industry.

One of our main reasons for heading to Karumba was a fishing charter for the boys. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side and the wind was too strong to get out to the reef. Cancellation of the fishing charter was certainly a disappointment for Finlay but he rallied around – especially when he and his new found friends from the campsite spoke with a local and heard stories of a jewfish hole just off the boat ramp if you go at high tide. Armed with this new found knowledge, boys and dads set alarms and were up before the sun the next morning to make their way down to the boat ramp. They returned back to the camp several hours later with lots of smiles and a decent haul of fish. Time for dad to start filleting so we can have fish for dinner!

We had original planned on staying only three nights in Karumba but the place just kind of feels easy and everyone is having fun. We ended up staying another night – much to the excitement of the kids and their new friends!

Eventually though it is time to move on and make our way across to the east coast. I think we all have mixed feelings about arriving on the east coast. One one hand it’s super exciting and another stage in our journey. On the other hand, it feels a little like this incredible adventure is getting to its final stages as we hit the east coast.

With a few months up our sleeves, we still have plenty more to explore, and lots more fun to be had, but for now we can still enjoy one more sunset over the ocean!