Cairns to Karumba across the Gulf Savannah - Apollo

Six nights and 780 kilometres from Cairns to Karumba in a campervan, from the reef coast across the Gulf Savannah.

Atherton comes first on the Tableland, cooler and greener country behind the coast, with crater lakes, waterfalls and dairy farms on it, then Undara, where lava from an eruption around one hundred and ninety thousand years ago drained through its own cooled crust and left tubes long enough to walk through.

Mount Surprise and Georgetown follow out in the savannah woodland, both small highway towns with gem fossicking nearby, then Croydon, which had twenty-odd pubs at the height of its gold rush and has one now, and Normanton, with its purple pub and a life-size replica of the largest saltwater crocodile ever recorded. Karumba sits at the end of the road on the Gulf of Carpentaria, where the sun sets over the sea and the prawn boats work out of the river mouth.

The camper and the day-by-day plan come from Apollo, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Seven days for 780 kilometres is a slow pace with short daily legs, which is the sensible way to cross country this empty. Winter is the season, since the wet floods the Gulf roads and summer inland is punishing. The Undara tubes can only be entered on a guided tour and need booking. This is a one-way hire, so a relocation fee is worth checking at booking, and the barramundi at Karumba is the reason many Australians make the drive.