Most van friendly route from Alice Springs to Cairns

VanMangler · Member

Most van friendly route from Alice Springs to Cairns

Ubif · Veteran Member

I cannot advise from NT but if it was me I would go from boarder
Camooweal, Mt Isa, Cloncurry, 4 Ways (Bourke and Wills Roadhouse), Normanton (park here and day trip to Kurumba - only 50k but we found Kurumba crowded with boaties)
then from there if short route to Cairns Croyden, Georgetown, ( if time go to Cobold Gorge) Mt Surprise has a good C,van Park, if you want to do Undara lava caves stay at Mt Surprise as
as they do tours as well and 1/2 price of staying at Undara, then follow nose to cairns

Long way Camooweal, Mt Isa, Cloncurry 4 Ways (Bourke and Wills Roadhouse), Normanton (park here and day trip to Kurumba) Back to Concurry, Julia Creek (good free camp) Hughendon, Porcupine Gorge (Nat. Park) up to the Lynd (some dirt but the first time we did it we were in a Kia Rio and tent) then through to Tablelands to Cairns
regards
Mark

Bill B · Guru

Head north from Alice, turn right at the 3 ways then turn left at Townsville biggrin

-- Edited by Bill B on Tuesday 7th of November 2017 11:01:25 PM

macka17 · Guru

Follow Bill hey.
And stop at the Casino Restaurant for a serve of their Chili Con. Yummmmm.

VanMangler · Member

Sounds like a lot to take on board there, guys, but all good advice, I'm sure. Will try to get my head around it all with maps at the ready in the cold light of day tomorrow. Cheers

cjt55 · Senior Member

Hi VanMangler, Having just done the trip earlier this year I agree with Ubif's shorter version of the trip. We did the opposite direction from Cairns to Port Augusta with a few detors. It's a great trip with so much to see so do your homework.

-- Edited by cjt55 on Wednesday 8th of November 2017 12:36:04 AM

wendyv · Guru

from Central Australia, go north up the Stuart Highway to Three Ways, just north of Tennant Creek. Then east across to Mt Isa and on to Cloncurry. I note you want to go via Karumba so turn north at Cloncurry to Normanton and on to Karumba. That section is sealed but only single width in places, but has places widened to two lanes. After Karumba, back to Normanton, then east through Mt Surprise to the Atherton Tablelands. All routes to the coast from these parts involve downhill sections. The easiest would be from Ravenshoe down to Innisfail. Then to Cairns.

VanMangler · Member

I'll be throwing that into the mix of options, thanks Wendy. Sounds ideal.

Hylife · Guru

Use Google Maps.
Here are two routes I prepared earlier.

goo.gl/maps/NMDAg1pe9tj

goo.gl/maps/NXdsqduPYDT2

VanMangler · Member

Brilliant. Thanks mate. I'll be saving those links for sure. It's getting easier by the day :)

PeterD · Guru

VanMangler wrote:
From there I'm getting mixed messages about the least treacherous means of reaching Cairns via Karumba before travelling down the east coast via Cairns.

There is no way you can describe that route as treacherous. How many of those detractors have actually driven the road? Those that have and describe it thus would not be very skilled drivers in my estimate.

The 900 km from Cloncurry to Ravenshoe has a fair bit of single lane bitumen but the shoulders are wide enough to get right off the bitumen to let the trucks pass (it's an unwritten law that you must do so.) You mostly have plenty of time to slow and get off the bitumen.

From Ravenshoe on you gradually climb up through undulating country onto the Atherton Tableland. There are some slow sections going up but it is a full 2 lanes wide but you should have no problems if you slow down for the bends. The bit that may get your navigator a bit excited is the descent to the coast. The technique to negotiate this is to slow down and use low gear so as to save your brakes. On the steeper sections you may need to use first gear. You will know if a gear is too low it that gear is too if need to use some throttle to keep your speed up a bit.

I suggest that rather than dodge this road, use it to hone your driving skills.

VanMangler · Member

Nice, PeterD. That's exactly why I have joined this forum. Sounds like it would definitely be an opportunity to hone some driving skills that i don't get too many chances to put to the test here in WA (it's a long way between mountain ranges). I'm guessing I will also be needing them as I venture further south along the Great Divide. Much obliged.
VanMangler

Ubif · Veteran Member

I live here
from Ravenshoe if you take the Palmerston highway to Innisfail then there are sections with 8degree slope but the road is good Innisfail to Cairns 80k
from Atherton two ways to go Gillies range and come out at Gordonvale 19 Km very steep and winding
Atherton to Mareeba 30 Km highway then 35Km to Kuranda and about 8 Km down range easy drive I do all drives regularly for work and play
cheers
Mark

wendyv · Guru

If going down mountains is a novelty, DO NOT go down the Gillies Range to Gordonvale!
A useful rule of thumb for going down a sustained descent is to use a gear equal to or one lower than you would use to come up it.

If you can access You Tube, have a hunt for segments that show both the Innifail and Kuranda options and see what you think.

Santa · Guru

PeterD wrote:
VanMangler wrote:
From there I'm getting mixed messages about the least treacherous means of reaching Cairns via Karumba before travelling down the east coast via Cairns.
There is no way you can describe that route as treacherous. How many of those detractors have actually driven the road? Those that have and describe it thus would not be very skilled drivers in my estimate.
The 900 km from Cloncurry to Ravenshoe has a fair bit of single lane bitumen but the shoulders are wide enough to get right off the bitumen to let the trucks pass (it's an unwritten law that you must do so.) You mostly have plenty of time to slow and get off the bitumen.
From Ravenshoe on you gradually climb up through undulating country onto the Atherton Tableland. There are some slow sections going up but it is a full 2 lanes wide but you should have no problems if you slow down for the bends. The bit that may get your navigator a bit excited is the descent to the coast. The technique to negotiate this is to slow down and use low gear so as to save your brakes. On the steeper sections you may need to use first gear. You will know if a gear is too low it that gear is too if need to use some throttle to keep your speed up a bit.
I suggest that rather than dodge this road, use it to hone your driving skills.

Peter is spot on, as long as your vehicle/van are in good nick you won't have any problems, barring mishaps of course. smile

PeterD · Guru

wendyv wrote:
If you can access You Tube, have a hunt for segments that show both the Innifail and Kuranda options and see what you think.

Here is my collection of them. See how they work: (It is a LibreOffice document but should open in Word.)

-- Edited by PeterD on Friday 10th of November 2017 06:44:06 PM