Mission Beach to Normanton

loosecannan · Veteran Member

Mission Beach to Normanton

wauri · Veteran Member

Lots to see along the route suggested
Travelling up the Palmerston Highway north of Innisfail has terrific views.
There is a waterfall circuit starting at the top of that range and continuing to Millstream Falls past Ravenshoe.
I often stay at Innot Hot Springs for the relaxing mineral spring baths
The road is quite good and the rest stop in the 40 mile scrub before the turn to the Gulf Country is a good break.

Enjoyed stopping at all the towns on the way, Mt Surprise and Georgetown and then stayed at Croydon for a couple of days

Lake Belmore outside town is a nice oasis and lovely sunsets.
The road narrows in places fro Georgetown to Croydon so some care is needed.

Normanton itself is an interesting place and there are lots of touring opportunities and even the Gulflander to travel on if you wish.

Karumba gets very busy so booking is essential but the chance to catch a fish is worth the effort.
I went that way in July from Cairns and heartily recommend it.
As far as free camps then Wikicamps or the Camps book is your guide

loosecannan · Veteran Member

Thank you Wauri for all that information. It is all a bit confusing to us as we are complete newbies having just purchased our motorhome.

Some websites show the road as single lane and apparently a lot of road trains use the road and someone even suggest we need a uhf to keep in tough with the truckies re sharp bends approaching and narrow width road.

But I guess by April we better have it all sorted out and hope we go in the right direct.

Enjoy the evening and stay safe whereever you are.

Thank you

brickies · Guru

Hi loosecannan have you changed your mind in another post you said you were going from Brisbane to Kurumba via western Queensland , We did this trip in April 2014 and from kurumba to Mission beach via Croydon and Atherton Tablelands , You will have no trouble finding Free camps and caravan parks on any of the routes you have have planed to travel , Make sure you use Wikicamps and Camps 8 and it's a great trip and enjoy .

wauri · Veteran Member

A uhf on Ch 40 would be an advantage
There are sections of narrow single lane bitumen and getting well off to let the road trains have space is a good idea.

I was not concerned at all on the whole trip and most is dual lanes of good road.

Take your time and read up on local attractions too is a good idea
Undara Lava Tubes is also on that route and though not cheap is a great thing to see.

Oma · Guru

Definately have your UHF on Ch 40 at all times on those roads as many long road trains. You certainly need to get right off the road for them & beware of broken road shoulders . Not to scare you off this great trip but the shoulders when we were there in Oct last year were bad enough to break a leaf on a spring on the van. Innot hot Springs wonderful for a soak in either of 3 different pools.
Gulflander does a trip each Wed over to Croydon.
Spring river just west of Ravenshoe a nice spot for a night or 2.
Agree with all above comments. Enjoy this trip & hope it is greener than when we came through last year, or any other years. We are going to try to get back up there a soon after the wet season as possible to see it green.

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

I have attached a bit of waffle I wrote of my journey from Normanton to Mt Surprise back in October 2012 - I have edited out some real waffle and added some advice to make it more pertinent to your query.

I hope it gives some idea and helps you to just go and sit back and enjoy the journey

Cheers - John

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

It just crossed my mind loosecannan hmm

There has been HEAPS of rain in the Gulf Country in very recent times - it would be very wise to check with local authorities to ensure the road has not been unduly impacted by those rains.

Just a thought.

Cheers - John

brickies · Guru

Good report John the OP should be happy to get that , That if they come back on .

KFT · Guru

Some good advice given in response here, well done everybody.

I would also reiterate about the UHF on Ch 40, as you approach a one lane bridge you will see a sign with "Call point" and a number on it. You should announce yourself as passing call point XX heading "direction". If you hear a heavy vehicle call at one of these points I would be inclined to pull well over and wait till they pass because you do not want to meet up with one on a bridge. Some of these monsters can take 400m to pull up.

Just my experience of travelling this country

Frank

loosecannan · Veteran Member

Good day folks, just wanted to say thanks for all the information supplied on our future trip Mission Beach to Normanton. I think this is the way we will be going.

It is great to be able to see everyones views and decide from their experiences which way to go.

Cheers from Thornlands hot and more hot here but quite a nice breeeze blowing as well.

brickies · Guru

KFT you are so right about UHF , On my whole trip I only got to talk to one Road train , But I use it to call up if anyone out there coming onto hills and one lane bridges but must have had good luck , I do think a lot of road train work through the night which is good . Idid talk to some road train drivers and were nice people . The reason they want us to move off the black top and leave them on it is so they don't pepper us with stones , They are happy to pull off if they have to but you would not like the result .