The time has finally arrived to travel across Northern parts of our great big country to explore and photograph the landscape. Heading off from Townsville our rough plan of travel was to head north to Innisfail for some family time and then follow The Savannah Way west to Broome, taking any interesting diversions along the way…. no definite plan… just venturing off and deciding as we go along…
The Savannah Way offers a variety of landscapes and beautiful, rugged countryside. The road conditions are variable, with well maintained highway conditions in parts and rough, corrugated, dusty, dirt tracks in other areas. It’s a ‘road less travelled’, but, with some careful driving and planning for the unexpected it is well worth the effort.
Leaving the coast at Innisfail we were not too surprised to be following rain through the picturesque Palmerston Highway, right through to Ravenshoe. I love the green rolling hills of the Atherton Tablelands, and especially love to see the dairy cattle roaming around and stopping in at the quaint little towns with friendly, welcoming locals.
The roadworks immediately west of Ravenshoe didn’t go for too long thankfully.
Sunshine and blue skies! yay!
Driving through the Forty Mile Scrub National Park
It wasn’t too far west before the signs of the drought started to show.
Camping area on the Western side of the Gilbert River. Great little camp area.
The chance of rain was welcoming but didn’t real come to fruition with only a spattering of rain drops… more than a little rain shower is needed to start to heal the land!
Lake Belmont and Diem’s Lookout, Croydon
The distinctive Purple Pub at the outback town of Normanton – gateway to the Gulf!
A roadworks diversion from Normanton led us along the Burke Development Road before crossing back to the Savannah Way, arriving through to Inverleigh.
The area of Leichhardt Falls was stunning and a very popular camp area, right on the solid rock of the river region.
Camping on the west side of Albert River, just east of Burketown. The mighty river is a popular fishing area and the other campers had seen crocs downstream over the last couple of days which added to the adventure of their stay.
Hells Gate Roadhouse is the last fuel stop (on the Queensland side of the Savannah Way), with another 320 kilometers to cover before the next opportunity to fuel up. It’s little wonder that the fuel price was so high here (196.5c/l) … it’s a ‘must do’ to fuel up at any chance along the outback roads.
The cattle ‘road trains’ dominate the road in the outback with their 50m+ length.
Our last little stop on the Queensland route of the Savannah Way was a short walk through the Dill Doll Rock formations, just west of Hells Gate.
