SAVANNAH WAY
ROAD TRIP
WORDS: LINDA LEE RATHBUN IMAGES: STEVEN DAVID MILLER / NATURAL WANDERS
Purnululu National Park.
LINKING CAIRNS TO BROOME, THE SAVANNAH WAY IS A NETWORK OF
HIGHWAYS AND MAJOR ROADS, BULL DUST, POTHOLES, WASHOUTS
AND RED EARTH. SIMPLY, IT’S ONE HECK OF AN ADVENTURE.
Like many people who travel around Australia as
often and for as long as possible, we started with
a tent and ended up with a caravan. Of everything
in between, our Jayco Swan Outback was the
most fun because it took us to great places with
little effort in terms of towing and then folded
out to give us plenty of comfort and room at a
campground. This was never more so than along
the Savannah Way.
START OF THE SAVANNAH WAY
Cairns marks the eastern end of the journey and
the road lifted us into the Misty Mountains like a
drunken snake. While there are plenty of reasons
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to linger in this area, we continued on to Undara
Volcanic National Park, setting up camp at
the Undara Experience. This is, indeed, an
experience, with walks to open grasslands
teaming with eastern grey kangaroos and
numerous bird species.
A tour with one of the many superb Savannah
Guides into the national park’s colossal lava
tubes, created in a period of intense volcanic
eruptions, was fascinating. Though we could
have stayed for days, we continued to Cobbold
Gorge via Georgetown.