Page 3 - Camper Trailer Magazine Along the Savannah Way

“Our favOurite stOps alOng this sectiOn included leichhardt river crOssing with bush camping
up abOve the falls”
of reasons to linger longer in this area, we continued on to Undara Volcanic NP, setting up camp at the Undara Experience. This
is, indeed, an experience with walks to
open grasslands teaming with eastern grey kangaroos and numerous bird species. The guided tour into the national park’s colossal lava tubes, created in a period of intense volcanic eruptions, was fascinating. Though we could have stayed for days (this became our chant along the entire Savannah Way),
we continued on to Cobbold Gorge via Georgetown. Fossickers should note that
this is gem country, and a few days spent at Mount Surprise’s Bedrock Village will surely yield some bling. For a sample of what can be found, the TerrEstrial Centre in Georgetown offers a glittering collection of minerals (not to mention information).
Cobbold Gorge is a 6km-long chasm carved into a sandstone plateau on Robin Hood Station. Cobbold Gorge Village has terrific camping under shady trees decorated with pink galahs and the guided tour to the gorge is sensational. 4WDriving fossickers can venture to Agate Creek for the day; others can take a tour of this working outback station. We loved it and thought the 170km unsealed side trip was most worthy of the effort. Back on the narrow bitumen of the Gulf Developmental Road, there is the historic gold rush town of Croydon, then Normanton with its Gulflander train station, Karumba where
fishermen spend entire dry seasons drunk on fishing and then Burketown, the “barramundi capital of the world”. Our favourite stops along this section included Leichhardt Lagoon Camping Park where we saw a flock of saurus cranes dancing in a wetland across the road and the Leichhardt River crossing with bush camping up above the falls.
Our camper trailer had served us well so far, and it continued to do so on the 420km 4WD side tour to Boodjamulla NP. We stayed at Adels Grove which was excellent, though the national park campground would have been even better with immediate access to unbelievable Lawn Hill Creek. We rented a canoe and took a day to do both sections
of the creek; it was one of those days you treasure forever.
Back on the Savannah Way, it was a bumpy, dusty ride crossing the border to Borroloola with yet more barra fishing. Our hope was to venture up the Nathan River Road to Roper Bar and Mataranka, but a number of river crossings brought us face
to face with the limitations of our camper. It simply did not have the clearance or water- tightness to safely make it through the deeper crossings, so we opted for the Carpentaria and the Stuart highways. Mataranka gave
us a taste of the Roper River, followed
by Katherine with yet another wonderful campground and canoe trip at Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) NP.
Clockwise from top left: Lava tubes at Undara Volcanic National Park; Normanton railway station; driving through the Bungle Bungles; the numbing beauty of Mataranka.
GO WEST
The Savannah Way continues from Katherine to Kununurra, WA, and after writing a 4WD touring guide to Australia, we now know all the places where we should have stopped along the Victoria Highway. A 4WD and a camper trailer would have made it Flora River NP, the Sullivan Campground in Gregory NP and to Keep River NP. We settled for many
of the panoramic scenic lookouts on the way including a great one-night stand at the Saddle Rest Area. Lake Argyle with the Homestead Museum and a boat tour on the lake was absorbing, offering an insight into this massive, man-made inland sea and the Ord River Irrigation Scheme.
In Kununurra we happily set up camp beside Lake Kununurra and took the excellent Tripe J Tour (www.triplejtours.net.au) up the river to the Lake Argyle dam wall. It was time to stock up on all supplies and information for the Gibb River Road. The actual Savannah Way follows the Great Northern Highway,
and we did a short section of this to stunning Purnululu NP, where only tents and offroad
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