Traveling to the northern parts of Queensland is a unique experience that few people actually attempt. The roads become sparse, the weather unpredictable, and facilities such as gas, food, and lodging become difficult to find. Unlike the dry, arid central or center part of Australia, the northern part, especially the north eastern part in Queensland is semi tropical, warm, and hosts much vegetation … until you get inland a ways. The most common people you find here are the “Grey Nomads”. These are retired people who buy caravans (Camping trailers), load them up with all kinds of gizmo toys, and head north for the winter to avoid the cold weather down south. They stay up here until spring then head back to their homes. The roads are loaded with big SUV’s pulling big caravans. Many of them “Bush Camp” which is free camping somewhere along the road they can find a spot to set up. Others go to commercial camp grounds (which are getting to be very expensive) and spend two to three weeks visiting friends from previous years that show back up. An interesting life.
Nancy and I have decided to do a road trip that takes us up the east coast as far north as Cairns, then west and north to the Carpentaria Sea, then west across the most desolate part of the area to Daly Waters on the Stuart Highway. The route from Cairns west to Daly Waters is called “The Savannah Way” and follows National Highway 1 most of the way. We plan to make a few deviations, then pick our way back home …. yes, we do have to go home eventually. The lawn will need mowing.
o11/12 June, 2025 – Because this is our third trip up the coast along A1,” The Bruce Highway”, I won’t be taking many pictures. There are already too many of them in previous posts. Please feel free to check them out. They can be found in “Caravanning to Cairns (December 2023)”. Today we had a pleasant trip up to Cairns, we spent the night in a small town named Ayr along the way and a night in Cairns to have a night out before heading west. It’s approaching Winter here so everything is drying up a bit. Makes more of the roads passable for us and provides some warmer temperatures than we are having in Tannum Sands. Here’s a few shots from along the way and in Ayr and Cairns.
13 June – From Cairns we followed the Savannah Way west to Georgetown where we spent the night. Shots from along the way.
14 June – We left Georgetown for a short day and arrived in Karumba, Queensland. A small town located on the Carpentaria Sea and the Norman River. Quite the Outback sort of town.
15 June – Had an okay night in Karumba. These little remote towns don’t offer Motel 6 level accommodations. Most are for the workers that come through needing a place to spend the night. Think Spartan. Anyhow, we rose early and hit the road. It was Sunday and most everything was closed yet so we drove west. All the Wallaby’s were up. They were standing in the sun along the clearing along the road. Most of the time they just jump back into the bush, sometimes they just stand and watch you go by. Sometimes they choose to run across the road before you can get there. There are literally hundreds of dead kangaroos and wallaby’s along the road. This brings in the large carnivorous birds like crows and hawks. They don’t want their breakfast disturbed so they wait till the last minute before taking off. Early morning and late afternoon driving requires a great deal of attention. In addition to the marsupials and birds, we also saw wild horses, ferrel pigs, some dead some live, and countless cattle.
Our destination was Hell’s Gate Roadhouse located some 400 kilometers away from Karumba following The Savannah Way. After studying the route we found it was a mix of good road, narrow road, narrow road with no centerline, gravel road, and narrow gravel road. All with various river crossings along the way. Australia floods a great deal in Spring and during the rainy summer. Floods are common and traffic is sometimes stalled for days waiting for the water to recede. They don’t put in many bridges. Instead, they pave right across the creek or river using concrete. As I have shown in other drives, they put up little yard sticks to show you how deep the water is. It is very dangerous to cross a river that is overflowing. Even if it is not too deep, a car or light truck can be swept off the roadway into the stream by the current. We crossed a number of river beds today, three had water, one had a fair amount.
Our trip today.
We finally made it to Hell’s Gate, got our room, fueled up, and had dinner. Tomorrow is the toughest part of the trip. Most remote, worst roads, more rivers to cross. SO, in case we don’t make it, here’s where we spent out last night.
Hopefully, we’ll be here, on line, tomorrow.
16 June – WHEW!!!! We made it … and had an awesome time doing so. Six water crossings, two flat tires, many dead and live animals, virtually no pavement, mostly sand and packed dirt. Our first flat tire I changed myself and we were on our way in minimum time. The second was not as cool cuz we had just used our spare. The first had deflated slowly so I figured it was a small puncture. I carry a plug kit that has saved us a number of times so it was time to roll it out again. I dug out the first flat, hooked up a hand pump to put some pressure in it to find the leak, and the hose broke … BIG disappointment. Just then a man and his wife pulled up and asked if we needed help. (This is something EVERYONE does on these roads. No one is left stranded). Two more Utes pulled up and I had an entire crew of helpful Aussies helping me out. We got the first flat inflated (Aussies always have all the toys … this guy had an electrical pump to inflate my spare), found the leak and plugged it. Once plugged we all had a beer while the plug set. Then back to work. Took off the second flat, mounted the repaired tire, loaded all our junk back into the Tucson, told everyone “Thanks Mate” and we were off. Now we are running on two repaired tires and no spare. Made it to Borroloola in the Northern Territory. As I mentioned, today’s drive is the most difficult or challenging so the rest of the trip will be easier … just as interesting, just less drama. Here’s today’s trip.
So we made it to our destination, checked into the hotel motel and tried to make it to the coast just to take another peak at the sea, Didn’t make it, no roads, so we came back.
That’s it for today. An exciting day with a lot of interesting events. Best part, we met some nice people …They are all over, all you gotta do is say “Hi”.
17 June – So, here we are in Daly Waters … actually in the Hiway Hotel Roadhouse just a bit south of Daly Waters but it’s still Daly Waters. The Savannah Way from Borroloola to Daly Waters is quite uneventful and relatively static scenery wise. Most of the way is classic Northern Outback with relatively short trees, much wet land, large grassy areas, and occasional ridges of rocks and trees. Some would say it’s boring but it is very beautiful in an Outback sort of way. We had no river crossings today but a fair amount of one lane highways and a quite a little construction. It appears Northern Territory is attempting to open up the vast areas in the Carpentaria region by providing decent roads. Not sure what people will do once they drive in as there is nothing to mention there. Maybe it will grow. The road is on the Savannah Way, is National Highway 1, but is called the Carpentaria Highway. Its only confusing if you don’t come from here. Everyone, locals, refer to the roads by their names, never the numbers. Most don’t even know the numbers. The “Ways” are routes that go from one
region to another or through a specific region. Mostly for the sake of tourism. Most locals just use the roads names.
Daly Waters is on the Stuart Highway which runs North and South between Darwin to Adelaide. Several years ago we rented a small camper van and drove the entire route of the Stuart Highway from Darwin to Adelaide and had a great time.
As I didn’t take any pictures along the way from Borroloola to here I took some at the Daly Waters pub. It is a very interesting place with an interesting history. In the early 20th century it took mail and packages forever to get from anywhere in Australia to Darwin because Darwin is so far in the remote North. A flight from Adelaide to Darwin was set up with a fuel stop in Daly Waters because the older aircraft could not fly that far without refueling. Then, in WWII, after the Japanese attacked Darwin, Australia located a bunch of airplanes at Daly Waters to defend the Northern Coast. The Japanese attack on Darwin or Australia is an interesting piece of history. We had no idea this had occurred until we visited Darwin some years ago. Look it up. The airstrip is still used and the old hanger still stands. Daly Waters Airdrome was the first International Airport in Australia. How can you ignore history like that?
No longer an airbase and no longer needing air service for the mail, Daly Waters has clung on to its little piece of Australian geography and business. The town is a thriving village with a campground, a service station, a junk shop, and the Daly Waters Pub. The place rocks from about seven in the morning until eleven at night, the campground is always full, and there is music or entertainment in the pub from eleven to eleven every day. There are horse rides, souvenirs, and a museum. It is place not to be missed if you are going across Australia in any direction. Here’s a few pictures.
So, that’s it for today. There are more pictures from Daly Waters and the Stuart Highway in an earlier trip I posted. You can find it under “Australia Outback – Darwin to Adelaide in a camper”. Enjoy.
18 June – Today we traveled straight south from Daly Waters to Tennant Creek. Tennant Creek is a small mining town that has kinda been mined out. It currently is home to may of the indigenous people of Australia and a few small businesses that make money off of passing tourists and government contracts doing things for the indigenous people. It ha htree motels, all of which are fully booked and three campgrounds, all of which offer cabins in addition to camper spots. We got the last two at the last campground we tried. We got two because they are very small, single bed rooms. They are right next to each other and would be perfect if they were connected. Unfortunately they are not connected so we are just neighbors, with privileges.
The trip was about 400 kilometers and hosted a dramatic change in scenery. The outback country went from tropical forest and wetlands to rocky, arid, scrub bush covered desert. Not the barren dry outback of the west but,
definitely Outback Country. Between the tiny town of Daly Waters and the small town of Tennant Creek there were two roadhouses and one rest area. You always want to ensure you have enough fuel to get to, not your next stop, but the one after. The next stop could be closed.
We explored around Tennant Creek, refilled the gas tank, tried in vain to find a car wash or spare tire, and came back to our hotel. We plan to have dinner at the local RSL (Returned & Services League) then call it a night. Hopefully they don’t close too early. Tomorrow we have a long drive as we plan to go all the way to Mount Isa in Queensland which is 670 kilometers from here. Meanwhile, here are some random pictures I took today and last night.
From dinner last night at Daly Waters.
Today:
Good Night.
19/20 June – Rolling two days into one here because they were nearly identical. We were up early and out of Tennant Creek on our way east. This is our homeward bound leg but still seeing parts of Queensland we have not seen before. This entry is the last leg of exploring because once we get to Longreach we will be traveling roads we have used and seen in the past. So this post is our trip from Tennant Creek to Longreach, a tad over 1300 Kms.
As I mentioned, we left Tennant Creek early and pressed east. There was really nowhere to stop for coffee so we just pressed on. We got a pleasant surprise about 200 Kms east when we came to a Roadhouse we were not aware of. It is called Barkley Homestead. It is a virtually new Roadhouse with modern pumps, restaurant, Inn, and reception. We didn’t need gas but did get a sandwich and a couple of Flat whites for the road. We will remember this place! The terrain from the Stuart Highway east on Route 66 (yes, they have one too) is mostly short brush, some grass, big burns, and dead Roos. We did stop for gas in Camooweel which was a pleasant little town. We didn’t need gas yet but I didn’t have enough to make it to Mt Isa comfortably so I just topped off the tank and we are good to go. (Never know when the planned gas stop is closed) Not much changed till we got close to Mt Isa.
Mt Isa is a mining town, mostly copper. It has a population of about 1800o so its not real big but there is a lot going on. We had dinner at the Irish Club and called it a night. Interesting watching TV where the commercials are for stud bulls (ranching is pretty big there too) and mining equipment. As we approached Mt Isa a set of hills running from north to south popped up and we enjoyed going through the hills.
21 June – HAPPY WINTER!! – Next morning (today) we left Mt Isa and turned south east for Longreach. I have a couple other posts about Longreach so if you want to know more about it please see them. The first 100Kms out of Mt Isa was in the hills and they were quite pleasant. After that it was the Great Plains again till we got to Longreach.
So that was the trip here. Having dinner at our favorite RSL tonight then off to Rockhampton tomorrow morning. Another 600+Km day but, our last long leg.
See ya in Rocky!
Made it to Rockhampton with no drama. Long drive but a pleasant day and good company. Before we start talking about Rocky, here’s a few photo’s of our favorite RSL. The one in Longreach where we had dinner last night. RSL’s are private clubs (RSL being a private club for Veterans) and are a step up from the typical Pub that we normally patronize. Normally RSLs don’t offer rooms like pubs do, are a bit nicer, and usually better food.
So that was Longreach and out stay there. The Longreach RSL was the first one we discovered and ate at in Australia on our first trip to Longreach. We like the RSLs because they are like The Legions or AMVETs that keep the memory of those who died defending our country and way of life.
Meanwhile, back at Rocky. we checked into our hotel and took a break. Then we decided to go to Saturday evening Mass service instead of delaying out departure in the morning to attend. So we went to the Cathedral for the Rockhampton Diocese for the 6 PM Mass. Here’s a couple pictures of the Cathedral.
Ironically, a young priest who was assigned here in Tannum Sands when we first arrived and later transferred to the Diocese Staff, said Mass. We stopped after Mass and chatted with him a while. Was good to see him and I think he was flattered we dropped in on him. He gave a great sermon.
22 June – Short trip home. We went home via the Burnett Vally vice following the Bruce Hiway. The Burnett Valley is lush with magnificent hill and trees, then large rich farmland. They raise cotton, hay, and grains (sorghum and wheat). In Biloela (pronounced locally as Billow Wee a) we turned east and went the rest of the way home through basic Australian terrain. Again, no pictures as the area was covered in other posts.
We made it home, unpacked, washed the car, showered, had a chat with our Granddaughter who stopped by to say “Welcome Home”, had a pizza for dinner while watching a movie, and went to bed. Great trip, 5820 Kilometers. Tomorrow we get new tires, service both cars and life goes on. Hope you found the trip as interesting as we did.
