Burke Developmental Road
It is just south of the Cape York peninsula, and goes from east to west until Normanton.
It goes all the way from Cairns on the eastern coast, but is officially only called Burke Developmental Road from Dimbulah on.
East of Dimbulah it is called the Mareeba - Dimbulah Road.
Between Chillagoe and Mareeba it also has the nickname "Wheelbarrow Way" (referring to the Great Wheelbarrow Race that is held here).
Most Cape York travellers only take the Peninsula Developmental Road to the Tip of Cape York, and never use this road.
But, if you drive from Cape York to the Northern Territory or Gulf Savannah, you are most likely to drive it.
It is also a good southern entrance to Palmer River Goldfields, and the best entrance to the smaller but equally interesting Hodgkinson Goldfields area.
Wheelbarrow Way - Mareeba to Dimbulah
West of Mareeba, you drive
along the sealed road, through some farming country, to Mutchilba, and
then Dimbulah - a small township with some mining history.
It is now a main access point to Hodgkinson Goldfields - there is a side track to the goldfields north of the town.
Wheelbarrow Way - Dimbulah to Chillagoe
After Dimbulah, you first
pass Petford and Lappa
Junction,
... and after that, you come to the small township of Almaden.
After Almaden the road is only partly sealed until Chillagoe (UPDATE 2016 - that stretch should get sealed very soon).
Chillagoe is a lovely little outback town with some mining history and some interesting geology, mainly in form of the spectacular limestone boulders that are everywhere.
Burke Developmental Road - Chillagoe to Wrotham
After Chillagoe, there are no
fuel or services for 560km, for the rest of the Burke Developmental
Road, until Normanton.
You first pass some limestone caves and the small historical ghost town Mungana, before you drive through Rookwood Station,
... and through the first Walsh River crossing,
Burke Developmental Road - Wrotham to Dunbar
After Wrotham, the road continues north and west,
... and there is another Walsh River crossing,
... before you come to Gamboola turnoff.
After that the road continues west,
... and comes to Lynd River crossing.
It is the third place (after the two Walsh River crossings above) that gets flooded during and right after the Wet Season.
After that, the road continues through the Highbury Station fence,
... and you might come past some mustering.
It goes past a few signs,
... and the turnoff to Drumduff,
... and then continues ...
... to the Shire border ...
... and then the Kowanyama and Koolatah turnoff.
After that the road turns the direction with a sharp bend, and also changes in appearance.
Burke Developmental Road - Dunbar to Normanton
The road gets narrower, but there is also a change in the soil, you can tell you are now in the Gulf Savannah.
It is dustier, the dust is softer and finer, and stays longer in the air.
There are some water crossings, particularly Staaten and Gilbert Rivers, but also some of their tributaries at times.
And being a quiet and remote country, it's always the kind of place where the crocodiles are out - there is one on the photo below, but you can only see a slice of its back, as it went under the water as soon as it saw me coming.
In the Normanton end, the road gets wider, better graded, and finally sealed, but that only applies to about 30km from Normanton.
Normanton and Karumba
Normanton is a nice small township in Gulf Savannah. It has some lovely old buildings, an old jail and a courthouse, the famous Normanton Railway Station and the Purple Pub. In the main street is also the statue of the largest croc ever shot in Australia - eight metres long.
North of Normanton is Karumba - the only town in the actual Gulf Savannah where you can see the water (others are in river mouths), and consequently famous for its sunset views. But once you have seen the sunsets (and the Animal Bar), you proably won't last here long unless you really love fishing.
After Karumba, you have about 40km back to the Burke Developmental Road through some vast wetlands and grasslands country that is famous for its birdlife, particularly the large brolgas, but also jabirus.
Normanton
Normanton is in Gulf Savannah, just south west of Cape York.
You will drive this way if you enter or leave the Cape York peninsula from the west, via Burke Developmental Road.
The town centre is colourful with beautiful old buildings, and there are a few things in town that are worth your time.
At the town entrance is the Big Barra, which in my opinion should have been in the nearby fishing town Karumba.
It would also be fair - Normanton already has the Big Croc :-)
The monster is a replica of Krys - the largest croc ever shot (by Krystina Pawlowski in the 1950s). The croc was eight metres long.
There are a whole lot of beautiful old buildings in town, many in bright colours.
There is also the old gaol,
... the bank,
.. and many other beautiful and even cute buildings ..
But of course, none is more famous than the Purple Pub.
It is a hotel so you can stay there, ...
.. and there are also other hotels and places to stay.
The town is also home for the famous Gulflander train, which departs once a week to Croydon, via small outback spots like Critter's Camp, Haydon, Blackbull, Ellavale and Golden Gate.
Karumba
Karumba
is in Gulf Savannah, south west of Cape York. It is the only town to actually be in
the Gulf
- both Burketown and Normanton are only on rivers.Consequently, the town is hugely popular with fishing; and also - just like Darwin - has become very popular with its sunsets that you can watch over the waters of northern Australia.
As opposed to Normanton (which has a large amount of carefully painted historical buildings), Karumba looks like a hastily thrown-together fishing village.
And fishing village is exactly what it is - there is no better reason that brings people here.
There is even a barramundi restocking facility - to help the stock last but also educate people about Australia's most popular gaming fish and what happens if fishing rules and regulations are not obeyed.
The other main attraction is the Sunset Tavern, at the Sunset Point, where lots of people gather watching the sun setting over the ocean with a drink.
In the township itself, there is nothing much except this bar, popular with fishoes, and some times you feel apptly named :-)
Plan Your Trip... the FREE Cape York Travel Pocket Guide
Get this 50 pages guide totally for FREE. It contains information that helps you getting started with planning of your trip. You get to make early-stages desicions such as when to go, how long time you should take, how to get there and get around, where to stay (general info), what will it cost.. and a short insight to what is there to see and do in Cape York.Plan and Bring
to the Trip... the full Destination Cape York Travel Guide
If you liked the books or this website, let others know about it!
Link to it from your website, your blog, your forum post... Share it on Facebook, Tweet about it...
Every link helps other travellers!
Thank you for doing the right thing and letting others know :-)
This site uses British English, which is the English we use in Australia.
Disclaimer : Although best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information
on this website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.
TM & © Copyright 2009 - 2023 Katrin Holmsten ALL RIGHTS RESERVED