Savannah Way highlights

western lost city

southern lost city

You have to get a key from the ranger to go to the western lost city - rough track but worth the drive.

Alan

G'day mac3, Just a few suggestions, if you are a bit of a railfan like me the Gulflander has to be on the must do list, no need to do the whole Normanton to Croydon bit if you are pressed for time they run short trips out and back from Normanton regularly. Undara lava tubes are interesting, heard good reports about Cobbold gorge but haven't been there, we also found Chillagoe a quite an interesting little place.

David
The Savannah Way is bitumen all the way from Broome to Mataranka plus the first 100kms of the Roper Hwy . I am intrigued as to why you are not including the Gibb river Road. This has many places to visit.

We camped at Roper River, rather than Tomato Island. The views were fantastic.

The road through Limmen NP is rough in places. We stayed at Towns River & Lorella Springs. Both are certainly worth a visit.

After Cape Crawford, there is not much to see until you cross into Qld. We took the back way into Lawn Hill through Kingfisher Camp. This track is very rough in places with plenty of bulldust.

After Normanton, the road returns to bitumen. f you are interested in old trains, then you can take the Gulflander from Normanton to Croydon. Some people let their partner take the train, so they can follow & pick them up at the other end.

You may want to visit the Lava Tubes in Undarra NP. You cant visit them on your own - you need to book on a guided tour (this can be done when you get there).

This is only a brief overview. There is a lot more to see.

Thanks, sounds great.
We are black nomads with grey tinges so have a time schedule to get back to work...Gibb River next time!

Lawn Hill
A small detour but well worth it.

Butterfly Springs is a must see, the spring itself was stagnant on our visit but there were thousands of butterflies there and was amazing to see. I honestly have no idea if it's like that all year round (we were there in September), but the rock wall to the right of the spring was completely covered all over with butterflies at the time we were there.
St Vidgeon Ruins is a nice free camp (though we didn't stay there ourselves), the lagoon down the back had so many beautiful water lillies there at the time of our visit...not sure if there's snapping handbags in that lagoon or not, we didn't venture to close to the water just incase...lol
here's a trip report i did a while back that includes the drive from Normanton to Katherine including Lawn Hill also..Day 6 is Normanton if you want to read from there http://forums.overlander.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=72291 ...the drive from Lawn Hill to Kingfisher Camp really was quite enjoyable IMHO, some very pretty scenery encountered along the way i thought.

Hi David

I haven't been to Lorella Springs, I keep seeing traveller's fantastic photos. Not cheap, but what a beautiful environment. Might be worth considering the detour.

I just did the Normanton to Cairns section (and part thereof of the section across to the NT from Burketown, towing a 2.5 Tonne semi off roader van).

I echo the mention of the Gulflander ex Normantion (but check as it does not go every day, and we had to stay an addition 2 nights to do it).

You can also do a section of the Savannahlander train from Mount Surprise (Thursday's only).....you are only on the train for about 90 mins but its really worth it if you are into trains.

The good folk at Bedrock Village park do the Savannahlander trip, as well as a great tour to the Undara caves using a qualified Savannah Guide.

Cobbold Gorge is excellent as well, pretty rough road in and out but I managed it ok.

Not much past Mount Surprise in my opinion.

Enjoy

Thanks all, this has really coloured our itinerary and we look forward to it even more. Loved reading the reports, reminded us of some of our remote trips and what Australia is all about. We have recently had a holiday in USA and England.....we live in a special place.
Cheers
David