Chillagoe to Normanton

We have travelled part of that route a couple of times. Towing a Tvan. Chillagoe to Dunbar/turn off to Kowanyama. It is quite a variable road depending on when last graded. Have experienced it both very smooth & very corrugated. Sealed road to going west to Chillagoe & gravel road after. Can't help with the Dunbar to to Normanton section, but have never heard much said about it other than folk have driven it so would expect it to be fairly unremarkable.

Best camping is at Drumduff crossing on either side of the river (turn off the BDR to access it) - best spot if not taken is on the southern side close to the water on the right. Gets quite sandy on the north side of the crossing as you are into the dry riverbed, but still very pleasant under the shade of paperbarks. The crossing itself is a concrete causeway. West of Drumduff, between there & Dunbar has some quite long stretches of bulldust, some quite deep. This is apparently always the case in the dry (presumably boggy in the Wet). If you get unlucky as we did you may have a following wind blowing the dust you raise back over the vehicle making visibility very difficult.

Camping at the Dunbar crossing is also quite pleasant, with the added 'entertainment' of watching folk cross the Mitchell on the 'rubber mat' causeway, and/ or doing it yourself for fun.

We have found other places to camp elsewhere along the road, but these two being the nicest.

Don't miss out on a swim or at least a visit to the Chillagoe swimming hole. Very pretty & refreshing after a hot day's exploration of Chillagoe's limestone areas.











ps. Like your pic of the roll cloud - Morning Glory?

Mike
Travelled that route in early August from Normanton with L/C and Kimberley Kamper.
Normanton to Dunbar crossing was easy driving. Lots of road work being done. We saw a couple of road trains, and that was about it. The road on the west side is a bit too groomed really, but they seem to have plans to make it a tourist road. From Dunbar crossing to Chillagoe was a reasonable outback road that could easily be closed at a number of rivers it there was any rain about (they are concrete causeways). There was a bit of traffic on this half of the trip, but not much. It was a bit bumpier on the East half, but certainly not rough. I think if you didn't rush you would be OK.
No rest areas, etc, just bush all the way, but plenty of places to get off the road. Dunbar crossing vicinity was the best camp area. When we were there the river was very high, and you could not see the crossing.
Much of Normanton to Dunbar road had huge roadside signs saying you cannot even think of camping or even stopping here for large sections. Not sure if that is legal.
Hope this helps
ian