NORMANTON We have at last arrived at Normanton. Be prepared, because this really is the outback. After Ravenshoe you had the feeling things were different, and Georgetown and Croydon reinforced that emotion, but Normanton cemented the ‘outback at last’. We had arrived. Normanton is hot, close to the Gulf, has an aboriginal presence and is wonderful. The stores and industry reflecting the remoteness. Normanton is now a small cattle town in the just south of the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the Norman River. The town is one terminus of the isolated Normanton - Croydon Railway, which was built during gold rush days in the 1890s. The Gulflander motor train operates once a week. The town is the administrative centre of Carpentaria Shire Council. Among Normanton's most notable features is a statue of an 8.64 m long salt water crocodile, named Kris, the largest ever shot? Barramundi and salmon may also be caught in the river. Normanton's mid century’s colourful history was painted onto the bar at the Albion  Hotel and is on the wall to his day. The Ascot Hotel is really the museum in Normanton and for the cost of refreshment gives a great insight to that ‘town like alice’ era.     The hotels in Normanton are all heritage listed. The War Memorial is in the main street. The Anglican and Catholic Churches are modern. If that innate desire is to reach that far away un-commercialized outback destination. Here it is. Your time here and at nearby Karumba should be nothing less than a week