Queensland

Sorry Greg a bit tired yes I do mean Normanton.

I plan my trips by looking at various tourist information centres along the way as well as using Camps 7 and Badger’s site for caravan park info
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~badger04/

Some places you may wish to see are

www.paronellapark.com.au/ near Innisfail I did not like it but is it very popular and one of the 100 things to see in Qld
Crystal Caves Atherton www.crystalcaves.com.au/free-tour-of-the-cry.

http://www.tablelands.org/malanda/index.html
Curtain Fig, Various waterfalls, Lakes Barrine and Eacham

Innot Hot Springs between Ravenshoe and Mr Garnett Stay in van Park or lie in the creek bed for hot mineral water flowing from creek bed

Bedrock Vilage Caravan Park at Mt Surprise lie in the creek bed for hot mineral water

Couple of free/cheap camps near Normanton See Camps 7Normanton Caravan Park probably need to book

Karumba 70km awayKarumba Point Tourist Park need to book

Normanton – Burke & Wills Roadhouse – Terry Smith Lookout (very good free camp) 305km from Normanton or 78km north of Cloncurry

Terry Smith Lookout – Cloncurry – McKinlay 283kms about 5 hours
Walkabout Creek Hotel Originally known as the Federal Hotel and was built in 1900 and was licensed in 1901. The Walkabout Creek Hotel is now famous for being recognised as the pub in the Paul Hogan movie "Crocodile Dundee". The pub, together with other buildings in the town were featured in this iconic Australian film.

Winton 3 van parks but suggest you book, see Badger’s site. To See: Waltzing Matilda Museum, Age of Dinosaurs, Lark Quarry Dinosuar Tracks etc see www.experiencewinton.com.au/visitor-information-centre


Longreach good free camp at Apex Riverside Park aka Longreach Waterhole is reached from the Landsborough Hwy, about 4 km north-west of Longreach. There’s a toilet block, picnic tables and shelters in the adjacent day-use area, but you need to be totally self-sufficient to stay here. To get here from Longreach, take the hwy towards Winton, then turn east to the motorcross track; the camping area is north, by the river.

QANTAS Museum, Stockmans Hall of Fame Cobb & Co Coach rides, Thompson River cruises.
If staying in a van park recommend you stay at Ilfracombe Van park 28km to east. Top happy hour, roadside museum bottle house good pub etc

After that you have a choice of Barcaldine-Blackall-Augathella, Mitchell (good free camp on river) – Roma - Miles or
Barcaldine-Alpha- (possibly Rubyvale or Sapphire if you are into fossicking) -Emerald – Springsure – Rolleston- Injune-Roma- Miles

Hope this helps you
Greg

Hi Graeme,

OK First thing to consider is the weather but I'm sure you know about this. Will you have to worry about an early wet and its effects on the roads. We could not get past Burke & Wills last year because of road conditions and floods in JUNE!!

From what I’ve read and been told staying at the Terry Smith Lookout is far preferable to staying at Burke & Wills Roadhouse. Met a few people in Cloncurry last year who said staying at the Roadhouse was the pits. Very noisy with trucks and music. They said they stayed across the road in a free camp where the noise was less but Terry Smith Lookout was great. This ties in with what I have read from other vanners.

If you are going to Karumba I reckon you should spend at least 1 night there and do a couple of tourist things check out the websitehttp://karumbapoint.com.au/
Also http://kathrynm.com.au/karumba-fishing-charters/ sunset cruise wife is Very upset we missed this , also the site www.crocandcrab.com.au/ I am upset I missed this one, love a mudcrab or 3.

After Terry Smith Lookout head to Julia Creek http://www.atthecreek.com.au/ (215kms)
Would suggest a night in Richmond (150kms from Julia Ck) to look at Kronosaurus Korner - the Dinosaur Museum excellent value and the Richmond Lakeview caravan park at Fred Tritton Lake is very good - we spent 3 or 4 nights there last year.http://www.richmond.qld.gov.au/

From Richmond it’s about 355km to Charters Towers. It’s then bitumen all the way to Clermont even if only wide enough for one vehicle at times. Watch for big trucks and soft and narrow edges. Belyando Crossing has very expensive fuel and food and no dogs permitted on any grassed area or in van park area. Theresa Creek Bam 22 km SW of Clermont apparently comes highly recommended Showers, water and toilets, dogs OK and a fee to camp.

Hope this helps. Where is home base? Greg