The Savannah Way With Simon Pavey

 

Day 1: Your Cairns airport transfer will take you directly to our joining hotel, ready for an early start tomorrow. Today you will meet your crew for your tour briefing and welcome dinner.
Day 2: Leaving the Coral Sea behind we ride the twisties of the Gilles Range and ascend onto the Atherton Tablelands via the dirt tracks around Lake Tinaroo. Tonight's destination is the Undara Lava Tubes.
Day 3 & 4: Today we will ride the rarely visited Rope Walk Ranges onto the spectacular Cobbold Gorge. We spend two nights here allowing us to spend 3 hours cruising this stunning gorge and relaxing in this wonderful Gulf Savannah location.
Day 5: Another remote riding day as we cross private cattle stations through a vast empty landscape. A mix of dirt and pavement will have us at the prawn capital of Australia, Karumba, on the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Day 6: Leaving Karumba behind we hit the dirt through a landscape of termite mounds and golden Savannah. We round the day off with our first “Bush Camp” beside the beautiful Gregory River.
Day 7: Heading off-road again we take a wonderful remote two-lane track through red termite mounds and sparse bushland. Tonight we will camp at the wonderful Adel’s Grove.
Day 8: From Adel’s Grove we take the back tracks through more private properties, and many gates, until we hit the Savannah Way proper just before Hell’s Gate Roadhouse. After crossing into the Northern Territory we will ride through the scenic Echo Gorge before arriving at Borroloola located on the McArthur River for our overnight stop.
Day 9: A short ride today, with the option to ride a track through a landscape that hasn’t seen traffic in decades. We make our way across the countryside to a remote billabong before re-joining the Savannah Way and riding onto the family owned, one million acre, Lorella Springs wilderness area for the night.
Day 10: We backtrack to the Savannah Way and ride west to the amazing Lost City, a landscape of 1.4 billion year old sandstone pillars rising up to 25m in height. This really is a remote region of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The night will be spent at the established Tomato Island campsite.
Day 11: We continue on the Savannah Way until we reach the spectacular Mataranka Hot Springs located on the border of Elsey National Park for the night.
Day 12: Tonight we are staying in the internationally renowned UNESCO listed Kakadu National Park, Australia's largest national park covering almost 20,000 square kilometers.
Day 13: We start today with an unforgettable sunrise cruise on the Yellow Waters of Kakadu. After breakfast, he ride today takes us to the Territory’s capital, Darwin. En route we will stop at Adelaide River to enjoy another wildlife cruise which allows us to get up close and personal with the incredible jumping crocodiles.
Day 14: A free day to enjoy the tropical paradise of Darwin.
Day 15: Leaving Darwin we enjoy some scenic riding through the stunning Litchfield National Park. Reaching the sub tropical town of Katherine we shall visit the amazing 20 million-year-old Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge) and enjoy a sunset dinner cruise.
Day 16: Today’s ride includes some short deviations off the Victoria Highway to enjoy the dirt tracks that follow the Katherine River and others that venture inside the Gregory National Park. We will overnight at Timber Creek.
Day 17: A relatively short ride today with three off-road sections. Lake Argyle is our destination, which is Western Australia's largest and Australia's second largest man-made freshwater reservoir. We camp overnight on one of the lake’s islands.
Day 18 & 19: Today will start with a short paved section into the beautiful East Kimberley, followed by an interesting off-road section, including some salt flats, and in the afternoon there are two options to arrive at the outback station of Home Valley, where we will spend two nights. There are two swimming pools to enjoy and optional activities such as horse riding, natural waterhole swimming, barramundi fishing and a variety of walks to nearby gorges.
Day 20: We at last reach one of Australia’s most iconic tracks, the Gibb River Road. Manning Gorge is our destination with a beautiful swimming hole located right next to our campsite.
Day 21: Today’s section of the Gibb River Road is mostly gravel, but the road turns to pavement as we approach Derby for the night.
Day 22: Our final ride takes us into Broome. The white sandy beaches of the Indian Ocean add to the diversity of landscapes and tracks that we have covered in the last three weeks.
Departure day: Spend some time in Broome or fly home, the choice is yours.