After leaving Normanton, it was time to head east for the coast, travelling the Savannah Way. Many fellow grey nomads were we stop at Leichhardt Lagoon, and although it was only thirty kilometres east of Normanton, we decided to try it out. Leichhardt Lagoon is a semi off grid camp site, with only toilets and hot showers provided. We managed though to score a lagoon front caravan site, with an amazing view of the wildlife that inhabits the camp ground.
After setting up, we walked down to the lagoon, and there was a freshwater crocodile waiting in the shallows for its next meal. When walking back to the caravan, I saw something moving through the trees, and it was a Yellow Spotted Monitor, or Goanna. I walked over to the Goanna, which is Australias largest monitor, to follow it and see what it was doing. The Goanna proceeded to the base of a gum tree, where it began to dig. I thought it must have been digging for witchetty grubs, but no. The next moment he poked his head out with a bantam size egg in his mouth. It was a turtle egg from a mother turtle who had
struggled up from the lagoon around two hundred metres, to dig and then lay her eggs away from the crocodiles. Little did mother turtle know that there was a land crocodile sniffing for the scent of turtle eggs. Kim and I were amazed as the goanna dug up and proceeded to eat twenty six turtle eggs, one after the other. It was an amazing site, and whilst we wanted to intervene and stop the feast, we acknowledged that the Yellow Spotted Monitor is endangered and had a right to eat to survive. Plus, it probably would have aggressive if we had intervened.
The birdlife around the lagoon was amazing, and Kim had the binoculars, her bird book, and a telephoto lens on hand ready. The night I built a fire and cooked a roast in our Camp Oven. Delicious.
The next morning, after speaking with the Caretaker, we decided to go for a walk down to the Norman River, a walk of around five kilometres return. The Caretaker warned us about two rather large reptiles (saltwater crocs) named Boss and Bismarck, that inhabit the Norman River near the rail bridge, both as long as our caravan. When
we arrived at the rail bridge, I noted that there was a walking plank running between the rail tracks, but nowhere to go if a train came. This was the track that the Gulflander Train regularly uses. Having been stuck on a rail bridge as a young child with a Goods has given me recurring nightmares, and now I had the added dimension of there being two very large salties waiting below if I needed to get off the tracks in a hurry. It took some courage but I was determined to take the challenge. I made it safely across.
Later that afternoon, we drove down to the weir on the river to see if we could spot either Boss or Bismarck, but no luck. We went back to camp and I built a fire and cooked a roast dinner. A good way to finish our stay at Leichhardt Lagoon.
