Australia 2003
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|
Date |
Departure |
Arrival |
Km sealed road |
Km
unsealed road/track |
Weather
Temperatures in ° Celsius |
|
| Driving
conditions may change at any time, depending on
weather conditions and road
maintenance.
River levels depend on the amount of rain received. |
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| 3.6. | Darwin | |||||
| 4.6. | Darwin | Cairns | plane | sunny, 32° | ||
| 5.6. | Cairns (Clifton Beach) | sunny, 28° | ||||
| 6.6. | Cairns-Mareeba-Chillagoe | Almaden | 246 | sunny, 30° | ||
| Mareeba- Chillagoe: stretches of good gravel road | ||||||
| 7.6. | Almaden-Mt Surprise-Normanton | Karumba | 474 | 123 | sunny, 30° | |
| Good dirt road, Normanton to Karumba sealed. | ||||||
| 8.6. | Karumba | sunny, 32° | ||||
| 9.6. | Karumba | Burketown (Escott Lodge) |
310
|
sunny, 34° | ||
| Good dirt road, recently graded | ||||||
| 10.6. | Escott Lodge | Lawn Hill NP | 217 | sunny, 35° | ||
| Good dirt and gravel roads, recently graded | ||||||
| 11.6. | Lawn Hill NP | sunny, 36° | ||||
| 12.6. | Lawn Hill NP | Hells Gate RH |
215
|
sunny, 33° | ||
| Road with good stretches, generally corrugated. From Lawn Hill NP to Doomadgee: watch out for signposts to KFC (King Fisher Camp). After Nicholson River crossing, no signpost at T-junction. Turn left | ||||||
| 13.6. | Hells Gate Roadhouse | Borroloola | 312 | sunny, 32° | ||
| 16 (wet) creek crossings, road partly well graded, partly corrugated. Wash outs in several dry riverbeds. Calvert River crossing very rough with boulders and pieces of the broken-down concrete causeway submerged in the water. Dangerous dip in the middle! Walk through before you attempt to cross. (Depth almost 70cm). Robinson River axle-deep. | ||||||
| 14.6. | Borroloola | Roper Bar | 410
|
sunny, 32° | ||
| 21 (wet) creek crossings. Good road conditions from Borroloola to Nathan River Station. From there on rough with corrugations and sometimes washed out in river beds. Limmen Bight Fishing Camp turn-off (25km) sandy, partly washed out. | ||||||
| 15.6. | Roper Bar | cloudy, 32° | ||||
| 16.6. | Roper Bar | Katherine | 300 | cloudy, 24° | ||
| Mostly sealed, stretches of good dirt road | ||||||
| 17.6.- 18.6. | Katherine | 30° | ||||
| 19.6. | Katherine-Adelaide River Inn | Gunlom Camp (Kakadu NP) | 434 | 120 | sunny, 30° | |
| Hayes
Creek Turn Off to Kakadu Hwy:
rough and winding, many dips, one (wet) creek crossing, rocky in parts,
corrugated after second crossing of the Darwin-Alice Springs railway. Care
needed where road divides, withered or no signposts. Driving time 90
minutes for 81km.
Gunlom Camp road: 39km dirt road, corrugated stretches Driving time 30 minutes. |
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| 20.6. | Gunlom Camp | sunny, 32° | ||||
| 21.6. | Gunlom Camp | Howard Springs | 318 | 110 | sunny, 32° | |
| Jim Jim Road, a.k.a. Old Darwin Road: In good condition after recent maintenance. Four creek crossings: Three of them sandy, South Alligator River rocky. Take it easy and you'll be fine. | ||||||
| 22.6.-25.6. | Darwin Region | 227 | sunny, temperatures in low thirties | |||
| 26.6. | Departure Darwin | |||||
| Total sealed: | 1,242 | |||||
| Total unsealed: | 2,117 | |||||
|
Gross total: |
3,359 | |||||
| On this trip we had to cross a number of creek- or river beds. Most of them were dry at this period of the year. None of them was difficult to negotiate, except for the Calvert River. | ||||||
