A DRIVE THROUGH TIME

“Wherever you're headed, there are lots of reasons to add the Savannah Way to your travel plans”

If I mentioned explorers Abel Tasman and Matthew Flinders, which part of Australia would you assume I was talking about? Perhaps you’d think of Tasmania or the stretch of south-eastern Australia traced by the Great Ocean Road.

But what if I told you that William Landsborough and Edmund Kennedy also passed this way? And Burke and Wills too. By now you may know enough to lift your gaze further north on the map.

We’re actually talking about the Gulf of Carpentaria, which featured in these explorer’s stories between 1644 and 1866. At one time or another, each one of them surveyed the area, whether from sea or land.

For the modern overlander, the Savannah Way crosses this part of the country (and more), traversing over 1100km between Cairns and the Northern Territory border. Beyond this, it continues all the way to Broome another 2600km away. Indeed, the Savannah Way forms part of Highway 1 which circumnavigates the entire country over a distance of some 15,000km.

For those travelling from the west, you may use the