15th July
From the Atherton Tablelands we headed west across the Savannah Way. This would be our first taste of the Outback…
We were soon driving through red-dirt country, had passed our first road train and were driving on a two-way road that was only one-lane wide. I guess this will be what it will be like now a lot of the way for the next few months.
We drove 2 hours down the road and stopped at Undara National Park and did a nice walk up the rim of an old volcano that gave us beautiful views of the surrounding countryside – and a nice stop for lunch.
We then continued for another 2 hours, just west of Georgetown where we stopped at our first free roadside rest camp of the trip. What a pretty place this turned out to be. A little oasis in the outback, with a lagoon littered with water lilies and an abundance of birdlife. After a lovely sunset by the lagoon, Drew collected some wood and we had a fire out under the stars.
It was a fairly easy 400 km or so today across to Normanton and up to Karumba, on the coast on the west side of the gulf. The most distinguishing parts of the drive were the flat countryside, the thousands of termite mounds and the number of dead roos – we saw at least 100. We arrived just after lunch into Karumba and love it already!
The Travelling Dixons 