Day 80 – 84 12th to 17th June:- The Savannah Way to Mataranka

Day 80:- Lawn Hill to Kingfisher Camp.
We reluctantly left Lawn Hill to continue north even though we were going to be entering the N.T. within the next few days after having spent more than a month in Qld.
We travelled 10 k’s to Adel’s Grove which is a “Camping Resort” set up for those visiting the area who don’t wish to deprive themselves too much of their luxuries. Adel’s Grove also has the last fuel supplies available for more than 500 km so I took the chance to fill up as well as stock up on ice and bread. Our next fuel stop would be at Borroloola, some 520 km away and right on the limit of the distance that I can get on a tank of petrol in the Millennium Pajero.
We were heading to a campsite known as Kingfisher Camp (KFC), some 150 k’s away and accessible via private roads through Cattle Stations.
We left and travelled across Lawn Hill Station for some distance. We crossed 2 more cattle stations ending up on Bowthorn Station on which KFC is situated. The countryside was typically dry and dusty. It was a great drive and amazing to think that we were travelling for hours across one property. We were very pleasantly surprised when we found a lush shady campground with watered lawns and fireplaces and hot showers with running water straight from the billabong of the Nicholson River. For the first time for almost 2 months we were able to light a fire so I did.
Here we met Dennis and Helen who were travelling across Qld heading for Perth. They were also travelling the Savannah Way and we were more than happy to travel with us (Safety in numbers) for the next few days.

Day 81:- To King Ash Bay
Got ready early, about 8.30 knowing that we had more than 400ks to cover on fairly average dirt roads. As is nearly always the case, just as you are ready to go someone walks up to you and wants to discuss your trip or theirs, or compare your camper with theirs so we didn’t end up leaving KFC until after 9.00 am. We once again followed station roads for another 60 k’s which brought us out onto the Savannah Way proper, about 30 – 40 k’s north-west of Doomadgee. So far so good. The M.P. was running beautifully and the Chariot of Love was just lapping up the rough roads as though it as getting a massage. Then we gunned it up the “highway” towards Hells Gate Roadhouse, which up until recently supplied fuel for travellers. However the owner apparently became so sick and tired of people whinging about the cost of fuel etc, that he said, “bugger you all” and shut up shop. We were about 50 k’s from the Qld / N.T. border and the road conditions deteriorated markedly. The corrugations felt like they were about a foot deep and it didn’t matter what speed you travelled at, it was impossible to find a comfortable travelling pace where it didn’t feel as though every bolt in the car was shaking itself to pieces or that your teeth were gonna fall out!!!
Crossed into the N.T. at roughly 12.15 EST.
The road improved dramatically and we were soon bolting along at about 80 – 90 k’s per hour most of the time. We lunched on the side of the road and we were now travelling through Aboriginal land with lots of river crossing although all were very shallow.
Arrived at Borroloola round about 5.00 pm having travelled 540 k’s on the one tank of fuel. Borroloola is a predominantly Aboriginal settlement. Filled up here and took on about 90 litres of a possible 95.
Drove past the Caravan Park, which was right next to the pub and didn’t look too inviting so decided to head 40 km’s out to a fishing camp closer to the Gulf, called King Ash Bay. This is a very popular fishing settlement with many southerners coming up here during the winter months and staying for 4 or 5 months. So there is a combination of semi-permanent type accommodation as well as camping facilities. Our travelling companions Helen and Dennis were also with us and had already found a campsite. Once we were set up we were then entertained for a few hours by one of the local residents, who had a serious “hi-fi” set up and proceeded to play every type of song from the 70’s & 80’s. Pete & Jenny Fearnside would have been loving it!!!!
Slept well in rather warm tropical type conditions, and awoke ready for the next step of the journey.

Day 82: To Butterfly Springs
We had heard from a number of people along our travels, that if we were going “to do” the Savannah Way, then we must make a stop at Butterfly Springs. Because we had our travelling friends Denis & Helen with us, we had new found confidence to tackle this rather remote route through to the Stuart Highway. We only needed to travel about 240 k’s today, but this was good because we really didn’t know what the state of the track would be. We left King Ash Bay at 9.00 am and continued back to Borroloola to refill. Then meandered down the Carpentaria Hwy (sealed) until the Savannah Way turnoff heading for Roper Bar (unsealed). The road was far worse than the day before and most of the time it was difficult to reach 60 km/h consistently. In some sections the road was little wider than a cart track!!! However the route presented no real problems for us besides the usual shaking you so much that you feel like your fillings are going to fall out?!?! Denis and Helen had moved on further ahead of us, not having anything to tow, but we caught them up when they were waylaid due to a flat tyre. The road proceeded northwards through the Limmen N.P. and was quite remote. The temp was picking up and we were really looking forward to reaching our destination as we had heard that Butterfly Springs was the only place within this N.P. where you could safely swim without being eaten by a crocodile. Finally reached the camp ground at about 2.00 pm and found that despite the remoteness of this place that there was still 2 other campers at the site!! This was not a problem as there was still plenty of room to pitch a couple of tents. After setting, we made our way down to the waterhole. Here we found a delightful lagoon about 60 metres in length and about 20 metres wide at its widest point. It had a waterfall trickling into it from the escarpment above, which in a few weeks would have stopped running. It was just perfect and very close to what you call and oasis in the wilderness. We spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between the waterhole and our campsite. That evening we had a campfire and spent a very pleasant time chatting with our travelling companions and enjoying a few drinks, hundreds of kilometres away from the nearest town.

Day 83: To Mataranka
Our aim today was to make it to Mataranka on the Stuart Hwy, which of course is the main road linking Adelaide with Alice Springs & Darwin. We were on the road by 9.15, again making our way north. As we moved northward towards the southern side of Arnhem Land, the vegetation became gradually lusher with those beautifully inviting lagoons and billabongs that you see in travel brochures, becoming more of common. How inviting they look, but what lurks within them ready to chew on you?!?!?!?…….
We reached the most northern point of the Savannah Way and took a left turn and made our way to the famous Roper Bar, which is the causeway that crosses the Roper River into Arnhem Land and allows local aboriginals access to that land. We had lunch outside the Roper Bar “Store” which opened at 1.00 p.m. and closed at 4.00 p.m. (Sunday). Took the cars across the Roper River at the bar, which was only about 15 cm deep. The girls decided that they wanted to walk across the bar after they saw some young aboriginal girls fishing from it. After they had walked about 15 metres they decided that it was too slippery and turned back. Just as well ally because we found out later that the place was infested with “salties”.
The water for these pools rises from about 300 metres below the surface at a constant temperature of 32 degrees Celsius and is crystal clear. We must have spent about 6 hours in there over the day that we were there.
Mataranka is also the location for the classic Australian novel “We of the Never Never” and the homestead that was used for the movie is located on the property.
As mentioned we stayed here for 2 nights, which allowed us to clear away some of the dust that had caked the car, camper and ourselves during the previous weeks travel from Mt. Isa. A very relaxing place to spend a day or two.
Have noticed also that the further north that we travel, the greater the number of backpackers and younger travellers there are, particularly Europeans and Brits. There are enormous numbers of these people jammed into “Wicked Campers” as well as Britz and Maui vehicles. This makes for a welcome change from the “eternal grey nomads”, who of course are everywhere spending their children’s inheritance!!!!