The day started with a few Icons of Normanton. Krys, the largest confirmed salt water crocodile in the world ( see this link for more info) and the associated info paque, the Purple Pub and in tribute to Nina's father the local Westpac Branch.

The first stop of the day was the Burke and Wills camp number 119, the most northerly of their camps and the one from which they made the final push to the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is just mind blowing to stand here and imagine the effort and commitment it took to walk through this country. It is so flat it seems impossible to determine what direction to go; guess that's down to a simple compass.

The expected highlight of the day was a lunch stop at the Leichhardt River and its associated water falls. After driving for miles through dry flat grass country one suddenly drops down into this shallow valley to be confronted by blue water, a couple of water falls, rocky stream bed and sandy banks. It really is a bit sureal. Unfortunately every other tourist for a couple of hundred kms around has had the same idea so there are caravans and 4x4s all over the place. But still a sight worth seeing.

The surprise of the day actually happened before the falls. We were driving along a non-descript piece of road when suddenly the trees on the roadside were full of white cockatoos, thousands of them. We stopped to look and as soon as the engined stopped the shrieking of the birds assaulted our ears. We tried hard to capture this unusual sight and hope the following pictures and video help you get an impression.

We eventually arrived at our destination of Gregory Downs (a very small town) where bush camping is permitted at the nearby river. We read in one of our guide documents that "camping on the high ground away from the river" is recommended but that "people seem to have a preference for camping near the water".

Well the guide was right. We camped on the high ground with 2 other parties and had so much space to choose from for our site that we could not see any of the other campers. By contrast the space by the river was conjested like a city parking lot with at least 50 parties crammed together.