The Savannah Way

The Savannah Way is a tourist route that travels from Cairns to Broome passing through, as the name suggests, Australia’s tropical savannah woodland. Our journey will take us on just a small section of this tourist route using the Kennedy Highway, the Gulf Development Road and the Burke Development Road, travelling from Ravenshoe in the Atherton Tablelands to Karumba on southern shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria. At our leisurely pace we took overnight stops at Mount Surprise, Georgetown, Croydon and Blackbull Siding before reaching Normanton, the largest town in the Gulf region. Our planning was for a three-day stay in Normanton for the main purpose of taking a trip on the famous and iconic ‘Gulflander’ train. The Savannah Way is sealed all the way to Karumba and is in very good condition making the journey relatively easy. Although, there are still some reasonably long stretches of single lane bitumen between Mount Surprise and Georgetown and, Georgetown to Croydon. These sections are of no real problem as there is very little passing traffic and all you have to do is drive to the conditions and use common sense.

We made a number of other stops along the way at various points of interest, like the Forty Mile Scrub east of Mount Surprise and the historic Cumberland Mine site west of Georgetown.

Cumberland Mine Site

Old Dam At Cumberland Mine

Old Dam at Cumberland Mine

Innisfail to Ravenshoe

Innisfail was going to be the last major town we would see for quite some time so we took plenty of time to fill the car, the pantry and the wine cupboard, as well as attending to things like haircuts etc. By the time we left town it was well into the afternoon so we only travelled a few K’s out of town to a convenient well appointed free camp. Early next morning it was time to begin our journey westward and tackle the steep climb over the range and onto the southern part of the Atherton tablelands. Arriving in Ravenshoe late morning the first stop was the information centre. This centre is almost a destination in itself with great displays, loads of info and very friendly and helpful staff. On the recommendation of the staff at the info centre we found ourselves setting up in the campground attached to the Steam Railway Museum for two nights, where a powered site costs all of $15 per night. Ravenshoe is the highest town in Queensland so a drink in the highest pub in Qld. is a must as well as a visit to the highest bakery etc, etc.

Next day was Sue’s birthday so a special treat at her request was a day trip to Innot Hot Springs with it’s complex of 7 mineral spa pools. The pools range in temperature from about 18º C. to 45º C. A day pass into the complex costs $7.00 per person, or you can stay in their attached caravan park for $22 per night and get free entry into the pool complex. Another option that costs nothing is to take a shovel down to the adjacent creek and dig a hole in the soft sandy bed for yourself to soak in. However you need to be quite careful how deep you dig because the hot mineral water beneath the sand runs at a scalding 78.5º C.

On the way to the hot springs we stopped in to view Millstream Falls said to be the widest in Australia – we’re not convinced about that claim – even though they are quite spectacular. On the way back we took another diversion to view Little Millstream Falls, not as wide but to our way of thinking, more interesting and attractive. With our visits to the hot springs and waterfalls, and a delicious picnic lunch at Archer Creek it was a very enjoyable day.

Little Millstream Falls

Millstream Falls

Millstream Falls

Tully & Mission Beach

An early morning departure from Murray falls saw us in Tully in no time with a walk around the shops and a bit of stocking-up. Then a leisurely drive out to Mission Beach to book in to the council caravan park, at $21 a night for a powered site - we'll take three, thank you very much. The park is situated in the main street and right on the beach, great for relaxing strolls morning and evening. There is a netted 'stinger free' enclosure so swimming is OK, although the beach is so flat that you have to go out quite some distance to get wet. They have a market each Saturday in town, which coincided with our visit, and as luck would have it - or not - the markets are held right next to the van park. Another bonus was the Sunday lunch at a nearby restaurant, a pig on a spit roast, All you can eat for $13.00 - great !!

Sunrise - Mission Beach

Out to Lunch - Mission Beach Style

Carving Up for Lunch

During the evening a large Butterfly or Moth - I haven't been able to identify it yet - decided to attach itself to the side of our van for a few hours. One day we took a walk out at Lacey Creek, beautiful rainforest but the mozzies were so bad you could not linger too much. Here there were numerous Butterflies especially the blue Ulysses, however I wasn't able to get a good shot because they were so quick.

Ulysses Butterfly

Butterfly or Moth? - you tell me

Murray Falls

You could simply go from Forest Beach straight back to the Bruce Highway but we chose to stay closer to the coast and travel through Halifax and Lucinda. We had heard many tales about Lucinda from our good friends Bob & Yvonne, it is one of their favourite fishing haunts. We could certainly see why, a pretty beach, crystal clear water but dominated by it’s famous 1.5 Km long sugar loading jetty – quite a sight. There was even a comment by a regular visitor saying that you almost had to wait for someone to die to get a place in the caravan park during the winter tourist season. After a brief stop and a walk along the beach we crossed the Herbert River and re-joined the highway heading north, however we had not been travelling long before we were held up for quite some time by road works as they are doing a huge amount of work on the range approaching Cardwell. We don’t know how the businesses in Cardwell are surviving at this time because the entire main street (Bruce Hwy.) is torn up and being re-built with temporary traffic lights alternating the flow of vehicles north and south, with very difficult or no access to the shops. Motoring on we took our lunch stop at Bilyana just north of Kennedy.

Lucinda Beach & 1.5 Km Jetty

It did not take that long to travel from Bilyana to Murray Falls for our next overnight stop, in fact we stayed two nights. Murray Falls has an absolutely fabulous large National Park camping area with clean flush toilets and easy access to large swimming holes in the river and a great viewing platform very close to the base of the falls. Early the next morning was the right time to take the steep and challenging walk through the rainforest to the top of the falls – fantastic. You have to be a little bit careful around these parts, as there are so many things that can bite you, even the trees. In this part of the rainforest there are some giant stinging trees and we believe that just brushing against the leaves can inflict severe and enduring pain. Our two nights at Murray Falls were absolute bliss; peace, quiet, wildlife, refreshing swims and the lullaby of the waterfalls making sure you had a long and pleasant sleep.

Murray Falls Campground

Murray Falls Gallery

Top of Murray Falls

Great Swimming Holes

Bottom Viewing Platform

Toomulla Beach & Ingham

It is only about 30 Km from our last overnight stop at Saunders Beach to our next at Toomulla Beach. Again a small and attractive seaside hamlet with a great free camping reserve. Although not right on the beach the camping reserve has lush green grass and an abundance of shady trees - very pleasant indeed. Just as our previous stop the limit is 48 hours but I bet many surcomb to the temptation to stay longer. There is a creek mouth next to the camping area that looked promising but I was there at a time of very small tidal movements so had no luck at all. Even the seasoned locals were not doing any good.

An early departure from Toomulla saw us in Ingham well before lunch. A visit to the very helpful information centre set us right on what to do and where to go. We were told an absolute must is a visit to Wallaman Falls about 60 Km out of town. The falls are the longest single drop falls in Australia with a height of 268 metres. The road up to the falls is not suitable for caravans so after some shopping (no beer this time) we unhitched the van in the parking area of the visitor's centre (we were assured it was completely safe to do so) and set off. Well, we are so glad we did, the falls were spectacular with plenty of water spilling over into the deep gorge.

Sue enjoying the view of Wallaman Falls

Wallaman Falls - Spectacular

 Returning to Ingham to collect the van we headed out to the coast and on the good advice of the visitor's centre checked into the Forest Beach Hotel & Caravan Park right on the beach. An added bonus was that being Tuesday it was $10 dinner night at the hotel. What a great way to end a good day - a delicious meal on the terrace overlooking the ocean with a nice cold beer - and all at a great price. If you want to know I had slow cooked asian style pork belly on rice and Sue had beer battered Mackerel with chips and salad - Yum !!

Wallaman Falls Video

Townsville and beyond

The showers eased through the night and were only intermittent in the morning making driving conditions a lot more pleasant. Travelling further north we took short breaks in Home Hill and Ayr before reaching the outskirts of Townsville. It has been 6 years since we were last in Townsville and we were blown away by the the expansion of development. There now is a new virtual free-way bypass of the main city area and we chose to use it. Our only stop in Townsville was at the huge new Bunnings to pick up some fixings to install our new V.A.S.T. (Viewer Access Satellite Television) set top box purchased in Mackay, and to top up with fuel. It was the cheapest fuel since leaving home.

Bypassing Townsville we set course for Saunders Beach 31 Km north of town. This small sea-side village has a really good free camping area right on the beach and the facilities include clean flushing toilets, an outside cold shower and BBQ s  Walking along the long wide beach is very relaxing with it's views of Magnetic Island in one direction and the Palm Island group in the other. The beach is also fringed by thick groups of coconut palms with large quantities of freshly fallen coconuts everywhere. The time limit at Saunders beach is 48 hours which we took maximum advantage of.

A busted crab pot on Saunders Beach

Early morning Saunders Beach looking to Magnetic Island

Mackay - Miserable (the weather)

The General Gordon hotel at Homebush just outside Mackay is a historic old pub in the middle of the cane fields and it has a camping ground out the back. This is where we stayed after Carmila Beach hoping for the weather to improve. No such luck, the rain was absolutely torrential all night and stepping out of the van in the morning you needed your waders on. We actually had a lot planned for our visit to Mackay but every time you got out of the car it was a mad dash to the nearest shelter, to no avail because you got saturated anyway. All the roads and parking areas were continually covered in several inches of water, so no good wearing your best shoes. We had to eventually concede defeat and put our planned activities on hold until our next visit. All we managed was a little shopping for some essentials (including beer – of course) before heading north for an overnight stop at the St. Helens Gardens caravan park.

The heavy rain was beginning to ease slightly as we re-joined the Bruce highway travelling northwards and by the time we reached Proserpine it was dry enough to have look around town, then on to Bowen for lunch, again dodging showers We decided to call a halt at a great little rest area at Guthalungra about 65 Km. North of Bowen because we had had enough of driving in the rain. Rather than bother cooking dinner we treated ourselves to fish & chips from the nearby roadhouse restaurant which were surprisingly very good, as well as good value, When it is raining and miserable outside fish & chips are great comfort food.

North Along the Coast

From Mt. Morgan it is a short trip into Rockhampton where, of course you cross the Tropic of Capricorn. Ah! here we are in the tropics, sunny skies, balmy nights, gentle breezes, comfortable living, right! Little did we know what lay ahead in the weather department, but right now in Rocky it is very warm and humid and the sanctuary of the air conditioned shopping centre whilst we re-stocked was a great relief. This was just a brief stop to re-fuel and re-stock before heading north to our first coastal camp at St. Lawrence. The very small village of St. Lawrence lies a few kilometres east of the highway near the mouth of a tidal estuary and it, like a number of others, provides a great stopover for budget conscious travellers. The local recreation grounds provide ample room, hot showers and flushing toilets, all cleaned daily. There is also plentiful  potable water and all they ask is a small donation. As well as a donation we also spent some money in the general store, something we would encourage all visitors to do as a way of ensuring facilities like these remain available.

After 2 restful nights at St. Lawrence, enjoying the company of our fellow travellers we again headed north to our next stop at another free camping area at Carmila Beach about half way between Rockhampton and Mackay. This camp is right on the beach and you set up literally just metres from the sand of the beach. We had all intentions of staying at least 2 nights but this is where the weather changed. Overnight downpours and gusty winds persisted into the morning leaving us with little choice but to move on. The hope was that we might drive out of the bad weather but this was not to be and the rain and wind would be with us for the next week at least.

Theodore

From Isla Gorge it is a relatively short trip into the small town of Theodore on the Dawson River, If you want to stay in Theodore with a caravan or motorhome you have two choices, the showground at $15.00 per night, or Junction Park right at the end of the main street, for free. Well there is a donation box which all responsible campers contribute to, as did we, of course. We stayed two nights at this delightful location and took several walks into town and along the riverbank. We shopped in the IGA and had lunch in the pub, the only pub in Australia that is owned and operated by the community, so it felt good that we were really and directly contributing to the local community.

Junction Park - Theodore

Leaving Theodore on the Leichhardt Highway we passed through the quaintly named town of Banana and on to another free overnight stop at Dululu before reaching our next stop at Mt. Morgan. The Mt. Morgan van park was a great place to stay whilst we explored this historic mining town, All mining activity has long since ceased but there are still many reminders of this important era of the town's early days.

Mt. Morgan Railway Station

Into Sunny Queensland - Well Almost Sunny !!

Time to depart Yetman and cross the border into Queensland at Goondiwindi. The showers of the night before were still persisting and indeed we drove through some very heavy downpours and even encountered some sections of partially flooded road on the Bruxner Highway on our way to Goondiwindi. It was still early on a Sunday morning when we arrived in town to find almost nothing open so just a quick top-up of fuel and we continued on. Our aim was to stay at a previously visited campsite at Caliguel Lagoon outside the town of Condamine. Last time we were here we were completely on our own, but this time it was a total contrast, the campsite was pretty full with people fishing but most notably lots of groups water skiing. Of course this was not unexpected being Easter and the middle of the school holidays.

Sunrise - Caliguel Lagoon

Next morning a journey of just 7 Km saw us in Condamine and being Easter Monday all was very quiet and no shops open. Then on through Miles, where at least we were able to stock up on some essentials and visit the ATM for some much needed cash. From Miles our route took us further north to our next overnight stop at Isla Gorge National Park. Just a basic camp-ground but fantastic views over the rugged gorge and surrounded by plentiful wildlife, especially lots of birds.

Camping at Isla Gorge