Cairns to Darwin road trip: Distance, stops and best route

Cairns to Darwin road trip stops: Undara Volcanic National Park to Croydon

It’s 447km from Undara Volcanic National Park to Normanton, with not an awful lot on the way. However, there are a couple of diversions off the highway worth making.

Between Mount Surprise and Georgetown, the Talaroo Hot Springs offer naturally-heated hot pools by the Einasleigh River.

At Georgetown, meanwhile, you can divert south towards Cobbold Gorge, where there’s a glass bridge above the 30 metre-tall gorge, and you can go on a boat trip.

There’s a caravan park in Georgetown if you need somewhere to stay the night, and it’s another 148km from Georgetown to Croydon, an old gold mining settlement.

This is one end of the quixotic Gulflander train line, which runs half day trips to Normanton.

Croydon offers handsome old buildings in the heritage precinct, a delve into mining heritage at the Mining Museum and barramundi fishing in Lake Belmore.

Accommodation is available at the Croydon Caravan Park.

Cairns to Darwin drive: Croydon to Normanton

Otherwise, blast down a drab stretch of highway for the 154km from Croydon to Normanton.

Normanton is what passes for a hub town in the Gulf Savannah. Again, it’s a former gold rush town with a smattering of handsome heritage buildings.

Around 30km to the south-west is Burke and Wills Camp 119, the final camp on the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition which narrowly failed to cross the continent.

But by far the most photographed attraction in Normanton is Krys the Crocodile, a giant model of supposedly the largest crocodile ever caught in Australia

Normanton accommodation options include the Normanton Tourist Park and Gulfland Hotel.

Click through to the next section: South to Darwin.