Burke
Developmental Road is another great road to do.
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 ofAlmaden.
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,
... to Wrotham (here is
also where you can turn off north to Palmerville, Palmer
River
Goldfields, Fairview and PDR).
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,
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 :-)
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This complete 300 pages
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detail), it has invaluable information on at least 10 four wheel drive tracks,
at least 30 guaranteed FREE
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how to deal with the national
parks booking rules; and Aboriginal land entrance and camping permits
and alcohol restrictions - to vehicle preparation and accessories and necessary recovery
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This site uses British
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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.