Savannah Way - #1

Carmen Friend
Jun 23, 2018
2 min read

Leaving Palm Cove and family, we headed onto the Savannah Way - Highway 1 heading towards the Northern Territory and the West. We travelled through a vast array of countryside, dry and baron, rainforest and lush green pastures. We had left the coast and a lovely 25 degree day and hit our lowest temperature of 14 on the Atherton Tableland! It was a beautiful drive with the changing landscape. Some of this area is where Australia's coffee is grown with many plantations around the Mareeba area.

Along the road we stopped at the wind turbines for a bite to eat and then travelling further along towards our stop for the night, we stopped into Millstream Falls - allegedly the widest in Australia. It was a 500 metre walk down to the falls and we were not disappointed. Really pretty falls with a fairly high drop off. The area around the falls was turned into a national park - Tully Falls National Park - post the war as this is where the solders camped out for many weeks incase Australia was invaded from the north.

We spent the night at Innot Hot Springs - $36 per night which included entry into the springs - $12 per person if not staying. After a long day of driving, the hot springs were a warm welcome. Trent was brave and got into the 46 degree pool oh and the ice bath!! Camp ground was pretty basic but e enjoyed the hot pools. From here we headed to Cumberland Chimney freecamp.

The Cumberland Chimney is all that remains of what was once a thriving gold mining town. Unfortunately after the mine was listed on the London Stock exchange, no further major gold hauls were found. The area though still does have gold finds along with topaz, quartz, spine, garnet, aquamarine and sapphires.

Next stop was Walker Creek freecamp. We were headed to Karumba and this place had been recommended to us by people we had spoken with. It is on the northern side of Normanton and is a nice spot for a night. Beware here is a resident croc of which we did come across! WE have seen plenty of wildlife on our travels as well as a few big roadtrains!