Australia - Cairns to Darwin (4 day tour)

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We boarded our tour bus at 6am on Saturday 30 June to begin our 2939km 4 day road trip to Darwin. We traveled west across the Atherton Tablelands with its lush scenery and headed into the remoteness of the outback. After stopping at a waterfall, we continued on via Mount Surprise and stopped for a unique snake show where we sat in the hot sun and had lunch. We continued on through the Gulf Savannah country and discovered how the area attracted many people and rapid town developments during the gold rush. On arrival in Croydon, we drove to Lake Belmore where some people went for a swim. Next stop was a peaceful lookout over Croydon where we saw the sunset. We then checked into an old, authentic outback Aussie pub for our night’s accommodation. After a lasagne dinner and a beer, I had an early night as I didn't get any sleep the previous night. An early rise on Sunday saw us continue along the Matilda Highway, passing the township of Normanton before stopping at the Burke and Wills Roadhouse. From here we traversed the Wills Development Road and stopped at Gregory Downs where we had a BBQ lunch by the picturesque Gregory River. Our next stop was Lawn Hill National Park where we went canoeing through the 60 metre sheer sandstone cliffs and crystal clear green water fringed by lush tropical vegetation. The evening’s accommodation was at Adels Grove where we had a home cooked dinner followed by apple pie and custard. I went to sleep early again as we had another very early rise on Monday as we set off through the Gulf Country on some of Australia's most remote roads. This area boasts one of the oldest landscapes including the Barkly Tablelands and many river crossings, one of which we stopped at the roadside for a picnic lunch. We continued driving until early evening, spotting various wildlife along the way. Our accommodation was at the Heartbreak Hotel, Cape Crawford where we had lasagne and chips for dinner and sat outside chatting for a while before going to sleep at 10pm. Early on Tuesday, we traveled across to meet the Stuart Highway for a morning stop at the historical Daly Waters Pub. Our next stop was the natural spring of Mataranka where we had lunch and then a dip in the warm spring pool. We then traveled to Katherine before continuing on to a pub on the Adelaide River where we had a beer and saw 'Charlie the water buffalo' of Crocodile Dundee fame. The final stretch of our tour took us to Darwin by 6.30pm.

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