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Published: August 31st 2012
Roper Highway
Cattle, termite mounds and open savannah woodland...pretty much the whole way to Roper Bar. Savannah Way 1. – Mataranka to Roper Bar
August 2012
We were keen to go ‘around Australia’, that is circumnavigate as close to the coast as is practical and this meant tackling the Savannah Way, which can be completed by choosing a number of different routes. But, because of our objective, this meant we would be going along the toughest route, and with the most dirt, (read corrugations), and the most isolated; but we would be sticking true to our word of following the coast. Our route to undertake the Savannah Way would take us firstly along the Roper Highway to Roper Bar and then down the Nathan River Road where we would turn off for a stop at ‘Lorella Springs’. This is the section that will be dealt with in this Blog entry. The following Blog entries will then deal with Lorella Springs to via Borroloola and Doomadgee along the Wollogorang Road. We then head to Adels Grove and Lawn Hill and a Blog will be completed in its own right for this part of the trip. The Savannah Way Blogs will finalise with leaving Adels Grove and travelling across to Normanton via the Gregory Pub and Burketown.
Roper Highway
The road when the tar ran out was good, we hoped it would stay like this!!! ..yeah right! So on with part 1 of the Savannah Way ! This route marks a meandering journey or line that travels through two states starting with the Northern Territory and crossing into Queensland. It divides the tropical north and the Gulf country from the semi arid lands that stretch south to the deserts. The true savannah grasslands do not start until we are in Queensland and this is true ‘cattle country’. Along the way are vast, isolated cattle stations, the towns we pass through are mostly ‘communities’, Indigenous towns that have only very basic facilities.
The Roper Highway from Mataranka to Roper Bar starts off as a one lane sealed road that we think is ‘pretty good motoring and long may it continue’, but after 160 odd Klms it finishes and we are on the first leg of dirt for the last 30klms into Roper Bar. The road travelled through station country and was scenic enough, but the surprise for us was the lack of water crossings of any type along this section and we also thought we may have seen more of the Roper River. Roper Bar is an historic crossing of the Roper River once used by
Roper Bar
..The Store, in fact the whole town rolled into one. drovers and bullock wagons moving supplies to stations in the area. Roper Bar is a ‘town’ and we envisaged, supplying a few communities including Ngukurr, so when we pulled up outside a shed with a building attached we were a tad non-plussed! Today Roper Bar is a store and a camping ground only. Diesel we noted as we walked past the pump was $2.20/Ltr, and then we entered the shop, WOW. It was a beehive of nooks and crannies jammed with just about every conceivable item you could imagine, all at a price of course! But it was just amazing. We had thought we would stay around Roper Bar that night but as the ‘locals’ had been burning off, (which is quite the norm in the north), everything was black for miles around. The local camp ground on the Roper River is pretty good and a great spot for dedicated fishos to come and sit for winter and chase Barramundi, but we decided to drive on along the Nathan River Road which will take us from Roper Bar to Borroloola.
The Nathan River Road is dirt and the corrugations reminded us of the Gibb River Road in many spots,
Roper Bar
The Service Station . The stairs in the background lead up and into 'The Store' but at last we started to see rivers, creeks and water crossings that would be impassable in the wet season (as would the dirt road!), which is what this gulf country is about, masses of water flowing into the gulf during the wet season. The road in places resembled more of a track than a road and at last we were seeing some really isolated and amazing parts of this country. Along this stretch of road we passed many great bush camping spots on the river and pulled into and explored some wonderful places including a camp site on the river called Tomato Island. Tomato Island is right on the Roper River, which is just magnificent here, and is a home away from home for many dedicated fisho’s during the winter months down south. We met a couple who had been there for two months and who were fishing most days. They freeze their catch which is mostly barramundi and take it home to eat over the rest of the year until they come back the next year to start the cycle again! They must love their fishing and yes the ‘barra’ are a great fish to eat, but…
Roper Bar
Clothing section within 'The Store'. This place had close to everything, from hardware, to mechanical stuff, pies, to a good grocery mix, magazines to shoes...one heck of a shop! We went a little further down the road to St Vidgeons ruins, not a lot to see here other than the block walls that are still standing as a reminder of grander days when it was a mission. But…..behind the ruins we found a track that led off down over a small ridge to a magnificent lagoon resplendent with water lilies and bird life. An amazing spot in fact with only one other van in sight so we decided this was to be our overnight campsite. We saw Brolgas, darters, ducks, egrets, etc and the place was a buzz as night fell. Over on the other bank a beautiful big and healthy looking Dingo strolled along looking for his dinner as we cooked up a storm with the pasta. The Lagoon was an offshoot of the Roper River and it was complete when we saw the resident Saltie cruising along. In the morning the action was amazing as the birdlife awoke and the fish splashed around in the shallows amongst the lilies feeding. I could have hit them with a stick but do you think I could catch one, no way! What a great spot and it will probably be
Nathan River Road
...this was the start of it, the western end. blocked off to campers now that National Parks have got their hands on it.
The following morning we set off from this magnificent overnight camp spot to continue on down the Nathan River Road towards Lorella Springs crossing mighty rivers like the Townes, Cox and Bight along the way, as well as many creeks and other smaller rivers. I would love to see them in the wet, but then again I would be stranded for months if I was in that position! You can see the levels they reach during the wet, and in flood, and the amount of water that must flow from this gulf country during the wet season out to sea is mind boggling. In fact the vast tracts of land that would be covered, and or, inaccessible during the wet season must be thousands of square kilometres. Much of this country has been resumed into a new National Park, Limmen NP, which has only just been announced over our visit here, so many of these great camping spots will probably now become ‘closed’ and the areas accessible will be ‘controlled’ in the future for ‘the few’. We passed through Nathan River Station and saw a
Nathan River Road
The first of hundreds of crossings, some dry others with water in them, all in the wet probably impassable. brand new sign saying Ranger Residence, another great cattle station gone!
More river and creek crossings later, including the Limmen River, magnificent, and we came to Butterfly Springs and this was another magnificent spot that I can only imagine how it would look in the wet. Jackie had a great time here and a big swim and I made comment that she may not only be the last dog that legally can swim here, but also was able to be here at all – bloody ridiculous! They should concentrate on the millions of feral cats decimating the native animals and birds up here and the cane toads that have all but wiped out the lizards and snakes! And, I have not mentioned the feral pigs destroying all the wetlands !!
From here it was not far to the turn off to Lorella Springs and then another 30Klms up the ‘driveway’ to Lorella itself, a million acre cattle station and wilderness park. Lorella is a unique remote property with over 100Klms of coastline, river systems and waterways, huge chasms and gorges formed millions of years ago and over 50 thermal springs and most of this, along with hundreds of
Nathan River Road
Road surface still pretty good and the country still open woodland, great cattle country. kilometres of 4WD tracks are available to guests camping here. This place is so remote it is probably in one of the remotest parts of Australia if not the world, think about it, the nearest reasonable sized town with any level of services is Katherine, over 700 klms away and mostly on 4WD dirt road only and then only driveable during the dry season, 8 months of the year! A tad ‘rustic’ as you should expect but what a great spot. We camped in the main camp ground at the station with a fantastic thermal spring as our swimming hole not 50 metres away. We did a few trips out to visit other springs etc., including the Emerald Pools, Wildfire Gorge, Flying fox swamp and Nudie Springs. Yes, Nudie Springs is exactly that, and no, the photos from here will not be published. My overwhelming comment about this place is I would love to visit Lorella in April, right after the wet season when everything is green, the creeks, rivers and waterfalls are flowing and the dust has gone, it would be absolutely amazing. Nevertheless, we all, including Jackie, enjoyed our time here and swimming in the springs.
This
Nathan River Road
Roper River, fantastic river, brilliant fishing (apparently and if you have a boat). first section of the Savannah Way has been amazing and probably the most ‘remote’ we have felt on this trip, including our time in the Kimberleys. The traffic is non-existent, fuel is a long way between pumps and Stations are remote and few and far between. The savannah grasslands have not really started as yet but already you know and feel that you are in big cattle country, this is another great part of Australia and the world.
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steve
non-member comment
Hi Fellas Gregory pub burnt down a few weeks ago.. Don Shirley seperate to Billy and Ali were up there a few weeks ago seeing Adam T at Gregory Station Keep well and stay safe and I prefer Port Crawford to Booroloola