Leaving Winton we decide on a side route to Julia Creek on our way to Cluncurry and north.
Julia Creek population 5oo . This little town provides a camping ground on the creek for self contained units, you just have to sign and display a government form stating you have your own water, power, toilet and grey water tank.
This town also has a swimming pool that is open , it is outside and very nice, we swam everyday morning and night.
The town water tower is in the shape of a wine glass and stands 30m tall ,holds 100.000 gallons and stands above the main bore. Water pumped up to tower can cool before use. It also has blue lights at night and can be seen for kms.

We are her because the Julia Creek Dunnart which was recognised as its own species in 1979. It was first found in the stomach of captured feral cats and not found alive until 1992.when7 where found and trapped for breeding. It lives on mitchell & flinders grass plains which provide shelter at night from flying kite predators and which also harbour insects for food. The cracks in the soil provide shelter during the day from the heat .
The people of Julia Creek enclosed the airport paddocks with netting and released back captured and some breeding Dunnarts only to find the feral cats some how got in again. So once again a big feral cat program is underway and the only Julia Creek Dunnarts are, one here at the information centre in a protected nocturnal enclosure so people can see what they are and the only population is held at Brisbane Zoo until such times as it is safe for their return.
Close by here is Mckinley population 22 which has a hotel called the Walkabout Creek hotel.built in 1900s. It' s claim to fame is it was used in the movie Crocodile Dundee. but, no there are no crocodiles here , we meet them soon.
Our next stop was Cloncurry which is full of mine workers from Mt Isa, which is only 117 km away.
But Cloncurry has a Woolworths both supermarket and service station. We have not seen one all the way up outback Queensland, I got to stock up on a few things we have not had.
The power goes out a lot here , while swimming the power was out so the police were out and had roads blocked near banks and all the travellers could not get fuel . It went out agin the day we were leaving but we managed to get fuel early
The climate here is semi tropics long hot summers and short cool not cold winters. Monsoonal weather in summer nov-march causes major flooding and impossible driving conditions.
This area has a lot of mines for copper, gold and gemstones, also uranium has been mined in the area.
As of yet we have not found any place we would spend more than a week certainly not the rest of our lives.
We now head for the Gulf of Carpentaria and Normanton and Karumba.
Most water ways here can have not just fresh water crocs but big esturine or salt water crocodiles, so from now on we watch what we do near water. Saying this we are at a camp in Normanton on the river I have included photo.
We went To Karumba which is right on the ocean and went walking on beach . There are salt water crocodiles so you walk on the beach where there are rocks and solid lumps of sand and shells. The crocodiles will not walk up the beach from the sea over rocks and sharp shells.
  We went on a boat cruise in Karumba to look for bird life and maybe see a crocodile .
We did see some new birds but no crocodiles only the big replica in town of the largest one ever recorded measuring 8.63 m with a girth of 4m and an estimation weight of 2 tonnes. A female shot him in 1957.
So he is named after her as krys the croc.