Gulf Savannah Way Tours Alice Springs to Cairns with Cobbold Gorge, Leichardt Falls, Undara Lava Tubes, Lost City, Hells Gate, Borroloola, Doomagee Aboriginal community, Burketown, Karumba sunset cruise, Georgetown Mineral Museum, Mt Surprise, Undara Lava Tubes Tour. Includes Devils Marbles, Tennant Creek if from Alice Springs
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Depart Sundays from June to October, 2015 – Check Dates or Book Now
July 13-20, 2015 – Alice Springs to Cairns via Lost City & Gulf Savannah Tours – Eastbound – via Devils Marbles, Tennant Creek & Savannah Way tours includes Daly Waters Pub, Cape Crawford, Lost City, (optional heli flight) Caranbirini Nature Reserve, Hells Gate, Cobbold Gorge, Leichardt Falls, Undara Lava Tubes, Hells Gate, Borroloola, Doomagee Aboriginal community, Burketown, Karumba sunset cruise, Georgetown Mineral Museum, Mt Surprise, then Cairns. Optional Katherine Gorge &/or Kakadu Extend for Laura Dance Festival 3 days (alternate years) and optionally Cape York Peninsula & Thursday Island 8 days/7 nights.
Undara Lava Tubes – Volcanic lava has created a remarkable tunnel system that lies beneath the rich grasslands of Undara west of Cairns in Queensland.
Alice Springs to Cairns via Lost City & Gulf Savannah Tours – Eastbound – Tour details
Day 1 – Depart Alice Springs after lunchtime flight arrivals, and head north via Stuart Highway and the historic Overland Telegraph Line stations for the fascinating Devils Marbles, after stops at Wycliffe Wells (UFO capital of Oz). Overnight Tennant Creek
Day 2 – Check out the historic gold mine & Telegraph Station here before we head for Daly Waters. View Australia’s first international airport here and historic WWII relics. Enjoy the amusing Daly Waters Pub and township adornments, including an old helicopter and the thong tree. We take a short tour of the WWII airbase and aircraft hanger here – with a fascinating historic display of WWII equipment, aircraft images and life here at that time. Overnight Daly Waters.
Day 3 – The Lost City can this morning be explored by helicopter from base at the Heartbreak Hotel at Cape Crawford, with an amazing 15 or optional 30 minute flight over these ancient sandstone pillars, formed when all this area was underwater. At Borroloola with time permitting to view the museum and history of this once wild frontier town, now a popular fishing destination. Population is around 800 (about 200 whites and 600 Aboriginal), with Aborigines living in camps around the town. Borroloola has some very different Aboriginal cultures ie the Yanyuwa and Mara are ‘saltwater people’ from the nearby islands while the Kurdanji and Karawa people are ‘mainland people’.
Day 4 – We travel east passing the Redbank (copper) Mine via Westmoreland (uranium deposits) and enter Queensland at Hells Gate, where police were stationed to provide escorts for settlers to the escarpments of Hell’s Gate, beyond which the Aboriginals were considered fierce. Hells Gate is the routes most western settlement in Queensland and now is a popular stopover with a grassy oasis and refreshments, nearby Aboriginal rock art and caves. We travel by the large Aboriginal community of Doomadgee. Travelling on and parallel to the coastline of the Gulf of Carpentaria in this spectacular savannah country, we cross numerous croc infested rivers.Enjoy a break in the frontier town of Burketown, named after Burke of the Burke and Wills Expedition of 1860 who reached the gulf near here in February 1861. Burketown was established in 1865 to service new pastoral holdings established in the region. Overnight Burketown.
Day 5 – We reach the Leichardt River, named after Ludwig Leichardt who walked this country in 1845. We check out the Leichardt Falls after travelling across the “Plains of Promise” named when H M Brig Beagle (the famous ship which had carried Charles Darwin on his voyage) visited here in 1841. Visit Burke & Wills last camp 119, and historic site. On to Normanton, and view the old Burns Philp store, and the 1870 railway history from the goldrush days, plus the Purple Pub. Arriving Karumba on the edge of the Gulf of Carpentaria, we enjoy a sunset river cruise. Karumba was the base of the gulf Barramundi and prawning industry and home to many salt water crocodiles. Overnight Karumba BL – Dinner at own expense in local restaurant – great fresh fish and prawns here !
Day 6 – We follow the Gulflander Railway line via the Gulf Development Road through Croydon which in goldrush days had 7000 people and 122 pubs.Travel via Georgetown and the multi award winning, Terrestrial – the Ted Elliott Mineral Collection, the largest minerals collection in the world. Overnight Cobbold Gorge on Robin Hood Cattle station BLD
Day 7 – Cobbold Gorge is unique, hidden away within the rugged sandstone formations of North Queensland. This gorge is extremely narrow, closing to only two metres in places, with spectacular 30 metre cliffs on either side. The overall length of the gorge is about six kilometres and includes a series of water-holes and rock falls, with the the last 500 meters is accessible by flat bottom boat. Great walks, swimming and relaxing or optional canoeing. Overnight Cobbold Gorge on Robin Hood Cattle station. BLD
Day 8 – Undarra Lava Tubes tour. The Undara Lava Tubes were formed some 190,000 years ago when a major volcano erupted, its molten lava flowing down a dry river bed. As the top layer quickly cooled and crusted, the fiery magma below continued to flow through the tubes taking it further and further from the volcano. The Undara tubes are the world’s longest lava flow. The word Undara means ‘a long way’ in Aboriginal language. One of the lava flows from Undara extends over 160 kilometres (or 100 miles). This makes it one of the longest lava flows from a single volcano on our planet in modern geological time. The original tube formed by the flow extended for approximately 100 kilometres, and several sections are accessible. After our 2 hour tour and tasty lunch, we travel via the Atherton Tablelands to Cairns
8 days / 7 nights
A$ 3,995 comfy camping. Add $995 per room (twin or double) for 7 nights motel style accommodation
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