Savannah Way Northern Territory Itinerary: QLD Border to Kununurra in 15 Days

The Northern Territory leg of the Savannah Way is where the route stops being a drive and starts being an expedition. You leave the Gulf Savannah behind at Wearyan River, push west through Borroloola and into Limmen National Park, and earn a soak in thermal springs at Mataranka before finally crossing into Western Australia near Kununurra. From the Queensland border, this section of the Savannah Way is 1,320 km: mostly remote, with sections of corrugated dirt and bulldust that will test your rig and your patience in equal measure.

This is our road-tested Savannah Way Northern Territory itinerary, written from the seat of our 13 ft hybrid caravan and dual-cab ute. Every camp listed is one we pulled into. Every road note comes from real corrugations, real bulldust and real creek crossings. The 260 km leg from the QLD border to Wearyan River is covered in our Queensland Savannah Way Itinerary; this guide picks up where that one ends.

If you are running a compact caravan, hybrid or camper trailer, the QLD Border to Kununurra route is achievable but uncompromising. You will need decent tyres, good water capacity and a willingness to back yourself on roads that road-spec vans should not be on.

Rob’s Tip: Before attempting the leg through Limmen National Park, we asked others about the road conditions and were presented with horror stories: tales of caravans blowing out shockies and all sorts of things. We considered skipping the section. We contacted the national park rangers, who told us it was a bit corrugated but OK. We’re glad we took that extra step.

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Why a Small Van Wins on the NT Savannah Way

The Northern Territory leg is where small-rig advantages stop being theoretical and start being the difference between getting in and turning around. The Butterfly Falls access track, the track to both Lost Cities and the bush camps in Limmen National Park are squarely off-limits to anything longer than 18 ft or running road tyres. Towing a caravan into Limmen National Park is a small-rig game.

You also drink less fuel on the long stretches between Borroloola and Mataranka, which matters when diesel hits $3.00 a litre and the next reliable pump is 200 km away. If you have not weighed the rig recently, our guide on caravan towing weights is worth a read before you commit to the unsealed sections. A heavy van on Limmen corrugations is a recipe for cracked chassis welds and shock absorbers that fade by lunchtime.

Northern Territory Savannah Way Quick Facts

• Duration: 15 Days
• Distance: 1,320 km
• Start / Finish: Wearyan River, NT to Kununurra, WA
• Best Months: May to September (Dry Season — tracks open, sealed creek crossings, no monsoonal flooding)
• Road Conditions: Highly varied and challenging. Mix of unsealed, corrugated gravel tracks, dust, and washouts through Limmen National Park and Roper Bar, transitioning back to smooth dual-lane bitumen on the Stuart Highway past Mataranka.
• Caravan Suitability: Best suited for compact off-road caravans, hybrids, and heavy-duty camper trailers up to 16–18 ft. Standard road-spec vans should avoid the Limmen NP / Roper Highway unsealed loop and stick to the sealed Carpentaria Highway bypass via Daly Waters.
• Camping Cost: Low to Moderate. Excellent mix of free or low-cost NT National Park bush sites (Towns River, Butterfly Falls, Tomato Island) and iconic paid station stays/thermal spring resorts (King Ash Bay, Mataranka, Bitter Springs).
• Fuel Availability: Available at Borroloola, Roper Bar, Mataranka, Katherine, and Timber Creek. Long remote gaps require a minimum 600 km usable range plus a 20 L diesel jerry can buffer.
• Mobile Reception: Telstra signal in main hubs (Borroloola, Mataranka, Katherine, Timber Creek). Completely non-existent throughout Limmen National Park, Roper Highway, and long track stretches (e.g., up to 317 km gaps).
• Pet Suitability: Low. Strictly prohibited in Limmen National Park and Nitmiluk (Katherine) National Park. Active 1080 baiting programs on surrounding cattle stations and extreme saltwater crocodile risks at all river crossings.
• Highlights: Borroloola, King Ash Bay fishing on the McArthur River, Limmen National Park (Southern & Western Lost Cities), Bitter Springs & Mataranka Thermal Pools, Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge, and Flora River Nature Park.
• Difficulty: Hard. Demands active tyre pressure adjustments, thorough caravan dust-sealing, complete 12V power/water self-sufficiency, and vigilance around crocodile habitats.
• Who This Trip Suits: Experienced off-grid caravanners, hybrid owners, remote fishing enthusiasts, and travellers seeking rugged, uncrowded Top End landscapes.
• Last Verified: July 2026

Northern Territory Savannah Way Map

To aid in your planning, we have carefully prepared a map of the route. Later in the article, there is an interactive map for more information (jump to interactive map).

Northern Territory Savannah Way Itinerary at a Glance

• Day 1: Wearyan River to King Ash Bay (via Borroloola & Severe Corrugations)
• Day 2: King Ash Bay (McArthur River Fishing Culture & Dust Cleanup)
• Day 3: King Ash Bay to Butterfly Falls (via Borroloola Resupply & Southern Lost City 4WD Track)
• Day 4: Butterfly Falls (Western Lost City 4WD Excursion)
• Day 5: Butterfly Falls (Waterfall Swimming & Rest Day)
• Day 6: Butterfly Falls to Towns River Campground (Nathan River Road & River Overflow Camp)
• Day 7: Towns River to Little Roper Stock Camp (Roper Highway Gravel to Bitumen Transition)
• Day 8: Mataranka & Bitter Springs (Thermal Springs Float & Swimming Buffer Day)
• Day 9: Mataranka to Katherine Farm Stay (Stuart Highway Run & Major Resupply)
• Day 10: Katherine (Nitmiluk Katherine Gorge Tour or Day Trip to Edith Falls)
• Day 11: Katherine Logistics (Gear Service, Gas Fills & Pre-Border Food Planning)
• Day 12: Katherine to Giwining / Flora River Nature Park (Victoria Highway & Heavy Bulldust Access)
• Day 13: Giwining / Flora River Nature Park (Lorrngurl Waterhole Swim & Brolga Watching)
• Day 14: Flora River to Ferdinand Gravel Pit (Timber Creek Refuel & Produce Purge Night)
• Day 15: Ferdinand Gravel Pit to Kununurra (WA Border Quarantine Crossing & Optional Keep River Detour)

Days 1–2: The Gulf Remote and Borroloola

Days 1–2: Wearyan River to King Ash Bay

The Drive

Wearyan River to King Ash Bay via Borroloola | approximately 57 km | 1–2 hours depending on road conditions | unsealed gravel into Borroloola, potential for badly corrugated road south of Borroloola

On the Road

The drive from Wearyan River into Borroloola is your standard NT graded gravel: dusty, corrugated in patches and unrelenting in the heat. Borroloola is a working town, not a tourist stop. The fuel station is reliable, the IGA is well-stocked for what it is, and the bottle shop has restricted hours that catch out travellers who arrive late. Restock here without exception. The next supermarket of any size is Mataranka, 635 km away.

A 40 km stretch south of Borroloola was the roughest we drove on the entire Savannah Way: corrugations deep enough to rearrange the tools in the toolbox, with patches of soft sand and the occasional washout to keep you honest. We dropped to 30–40 km/h for long sections, which felt slow but was the only speed at which the van was not actively shaking itself apart. Run pressures at 28 PSI on the van and 30 PSI on the ute, and accept that this will take longer than the map says.

The Stay

King Ash Bay Fishing Club: 2+ nights, low-cost unpowered and powered sites, no membership required, book direct or just arrive.

King Ash Bay is a fishing club in the real old-school sense: a sprawling community of semi-permanent campers, grey nomads and serious anglers strung along the McArthur River. The sites are dusty, the facilities are basic, and the vibe is unbeatable. Hot showers, a working bar, a boat ramp and a feed of fresh barra at the clubhouse if you time it right. We arrived dusty and stayed two nights without regretting a minute.

The Highlight

The fishing culture is the headline. The McArthur River runs broad and slow past the camp, and the morning convoy of tinnies heading downstream is a small-town spectacle in itself. Even if you do not fish, the river is worth a slow walk at first light: jabirus working the shallows, sea eagles overhead and the occasional saltwater croc reminder that swimming is not on the menu. The clubhouse is the social hub: cold beer, cheap meals and a noticeboard plastered with photos of barramundi that justify the drive in.

Rob’s Tip: Use the rest day at King Ash Bay to wash the dust out of everything. Pull the wheel covers, hose down the underbody and wipe the fridge vents clean.

Days 3–6: Limmen National Park and the Lost Cities

Days 3–5: King Ash Bay to Butterfly Falls

The Drive

King Ash Bay to Butterfly Falls via the Southern Lost City turnoff | 216 km | 4–5 hours | unsealed graded gravel with a short boggy section on the Southern Lost City access track

On the Road

You backtrack to Borroloola, top up fuel and water, then head west on the Carpentaria Highway and Ryan’s Bend Road before turning north onto Nathan River Road into Limmen National Park. The road is unsealed the entire way. Conditions vary from well-graded gravel, where 70 km/h is comfortable, to corrugated stretches that drop you back to 40 km/h.

The Southern Lost City turnoff is signed and worth the side trip, even though the campground was closed during our visit due to fire damage. The access road is short, and the turnaround at the day-use area is easy for any sized set-up; there is a loop road. The sandstone formations are a preview of what is coming further north.

The Southern Lost City access track is the section to focus on. It is mostly straightforward, but there is a short boggy section. We hit it in 4WD with momentum and went through clean. A loaded road-spec van behind a 2WD ute would get stuck. Engage 4WD as you turn off Nathan River Road, commit to your line and put your foot down as you approach it.

The Stay

Butterfly Falls Campground: 3 nights, paid bush camp at NT Parks rates (book through NT Parks online before arrival), composting toilets and no water.

This is one of the best small-rig camps in the Northern Territory. Sites are spread through the bush with good separation, the falls are a 5-minute walk from camp, and the silence at night is genuinely complete. No phone reception, no power and no water mean you commit to self-sufficiency, but the trade-off is a camp that feels properly remote without being unreachable. We stayed three nights and could have stayed five.

The Highlight

The Western Lost City is the standout. A 28 km drive from the Nathan River turn-off on a dedicated high-clearance 4WD track leads you to a self-guided exploration of a sandstone formation that genuinely resembles a ruined city. The single-lane track can be quite sandy and rugged, but not difficult. You’ll find pillars, archways and weathered towers spread across a couple of kilometres of escarpment country. The geology is 1.5-billion-year-old sandstone that has been weathering since long before the dinosaurs. Allow a half day for the return trip and the walk, and bring a packed lunch.

To answer the question we get asked most about this section: do you need a key for the Northern Lost City? On our visit, no key was required. The gate was unlocked, and the logbook is in a box. You sign in on arrival and sign out on departure. NT Parks may reinstate a key system; if so, the ranger station is not far from the gate. If a key is required, it is collected from the park rangers. Sign the book either way: it is a safety log, not a formality.

Butterfly Falls is the second highlight: a permanent waterhole below a layered sandstone cascade, deep enough for a proper swim, free of saltwater crocs at this elevation and surrounded by the orange and blue butterflies that give the falls their name. We swam every afternoon and never tired of it.

Rob’s Tip: Spend Day 5 relaxing. Limmen is the kind of country that rewards travellers who stop. Most people punch through in two nights and tick the boxes; the third night is when you start hearing the dingoes at dusk, and the first light in the camp turns the sandstone properly red. With 200 L of onboard water and lithium with decent solar, three nights is comfortable. Our caravan solar panel efficiency guide covers the setup that makes camps like this practical.

Day 6: Butterfly Falls to Towns River

The Drive

Butterfly Falls to Towns River Campground | approximately 81 km | 1.5–2 hours | unsealed graded gravel on the Nathan River Road

On the Road

This is the easiest driving day in Limmen. You pop back out onto the Nathan River Road and head north on graded gravel through open savannah country across a series of dry creek beds. Watch for cattle on the road and the occasional dust plume from oncoming traffic. We made the trip in under two hours with one stretch break at a roadside lookout.

The Stay

Towns River Campground: 1 night, paid NT Parks bush camp with toilets and a designated overflow area near the river.

The main campground is set back from the river with composting toilets and defined sites. The overflow area is closer to the water on a flat grassy area with no facilities and no defined sites: pick your spot, pull up and set up. We stayed in the overflow area and recommend you do the same. Reception is non-existent, and the night sky is excellent.

The Highlight

The Towns River is the draw: a permanent watercourse running clear through sandstone country, with deep pools that hold barramundi, sooty grunter and a healthy population of freshwater crocodiles. Saltwater crocs reach this far inland in the wet season, so we don’t recommend swimming. Birdlife at first light is excellent: pelicans, whistling kites and the occasional brolga working the floodplain.

Rob’s Tip: Camp in the overflow area near the river if you do not need toilets. It is nicer than the main campground, and the trade-off (a 200 m walk to the toilet block) is irrelevant if your van has its own. Self-contained rigs are exactly what the overflow is designed for.

Days 7–9: The Thermal Springs Transition

Days 7–8: Towns River to Mataranka

The Drive

Towns River to Mataranka via the Roper Highway | 298 km | 4–5 hours | initially unsealed graded gravel until about 40 km along Roper Highway, then sealed bitumen all the way to Mataranka

On the Road

This is your transition day from remote bush to the relative civilisation of the Stuart Highway corridor. The Nathan River Road joins the Roper Highway, and you push west through cattle country and open savannah. Roper Highway road conditions in the dry season are generally fair to good: graded gravel with the usual corrugated patches, dust plumes from the road trains servicing the cattle stations and a couple of single-lane bitumen sections on the approach to the Roper River crossing.

The sealed road starts west of the Roper River. Re-inflate tyres at the first decent pull-out: 58 PSI on the van, 40–45 PSI on the ute for the bitumen run into Mataranka. We carry a 12V compressor with a 150 L/min flow rate, and topping up four tyres takes about 15 minutes.

The Stay

Little Roper Stock Camp: 3 nights, paid powered and unpowered sites, book direct.

This is the great small-rig camp in the Mataranka area. Five minutes from Bitter Springs by car, a working camp with rustic showers, a camp kitchen and large level sites with good shade. The hosts are travellers themselves, and the vibe is friendly without being intrusive. We compared it to the bigger commercial parks in town, and the Stock Camp won on price, atmosphere and proximity to the springs.

The Highlight

Bitter Springs and the Mataranka Thermal Pools are the reason you came. Bitter Springs is the better of the two: a clear thermal stream running through pandanus and palm forest at a constant 32°C, where you float downstream with a pool noodle and walk back along the boardwalk to do it again. The Mataranka Thermal Pools (5 km south of Mataranka Homestead) are more developed but slightly less atmospheric. Do both. Give Bitter Springs the early morning slot when the steam rises off the water.

Rob’s Tip: Bitter Springs closes occasionally during the dry season for crocodile management. NT Parks runs surveys and traps at the springs, and a confirmed sighting will close the swimming for several days while the croc is removed. Stay three nights in Mataranka to give yourself a buffer: if Bitter Springs is closed when you arrive, the odds are good it will reopen before you leave. Check the NT Parks website or call the Mataranka visitor centre on the morning you plan to swim.

Day 9: Mataranka to Katherine

The Drive

Mataranka to Katherine | 108 km | 1.25 hours | sealed bitumen on the Stuart Highway

On the Road

The shortest driving day on the itinerary and the easiest. The Stuart Highway between Mataranka and Katherine is dual-carriageway-quality bitumen with overtaking lanes, light traffic and a 130 km/h speed limit (which you ignore when towing). We rolled into Katherine before lunch with the rig clean for the first time in a week.

The Stay

Katherine Farm Stay: 2 nights, paid powered and unpowered sites on a working farm 8 km out of town, book direct.

A farm-stay operation that beats the in-town caravan parks on price, space and quiet. Big level sites, friendly hosts, free-range chickens and direct access to the gorge road without fighting Katherine traffic. The trade-off is a 10-minute drive into town for supplies, which is no trade-off at all.

The Highlight

Katherine is the highlight: the first proper resupply town since Cairns. Coles, Woolworths, three fuel stations, mechanical workshops, tyre shops and a hardware store. The Katherine Hot Springs in town are worth a soak if Bitter Springs left you wanting more.

Rob’s Tip: The farm stay is a working property so respect the gates. Drive slowly on the access track, keep dogs on leads if you are travelling with them and shut every gate behind you exactly as you found it. Open is open, closed is closed.

Days 10–11: Katherine Hub and Resupply

Days 10–11: Katherine Logistics

The Drive

Katherine local | day trips of 30–60 km return | sealed bitumen

On the Road

Use Katherine as your final logistics base before the WA border. Restock food, refill gas bottles, check tyre wear (the Limmen run will have aged them), service the rig if anything is overdue and refill water tanks before you leave. WA border quarantine at Kununurra is ahead, so don’t over-buy fresh fruit and vegetables: anything you don’t eat by the border will be confiscated. Buy what you will use in 4–5 days, no more.

Katherine is also the jumping-off point for the Darwin, Kakadu and Litchfield loops, which we cover in detail in our Northern Territory Road Trips guide. If you have an extra fortnight, the Top End loop out of Katherine is a logical extension before pushing west.

The Stay

Katherine Farm Stay: 2 more nights at the same site as Day 9, paid powered and unpowered.

Stay put. Moving sites in Katherine to save a few dollars wastes a half-day on setup and pack-down at a point in the trip when you should be conserving energy for the WA leg.

The Highlight

Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk National Park) is the headline attraction, but it comes with a caveat. From the bank, the visibility into the gorge proper is restricted by the angle of the cliffs and the bend in the river. The best of the gorge is hidden from the day-use area. Our honest take: only do Katherine Gorge if you take a paid boat tour to get on the water. The boat tours run from 1-hour orientation cruises up to full-day trips through the upper gorges, and the longer ones are the ones worth doing.

If your budget allows, below are experiences at Katherine Gorge that we think are worth considering. We only recommend experiences that genuinely complement a self-drive caravan trip.

If the tour budget is tight, skip Katherine Gorge entirely and drive the 60 km north to Edith Falls instead. Edith Falls is a series of permanent waterholes below a sandstone cascade, free to enter as a day-use visitor, swimmable in the lower pool, and a 2 km walk to the upper pool, which most travellers never bother with. It is a better day out for a small-rig budget. If you do Katherine Gorge, consider staying an extra day to visit Edith Falls.

Rob’s Tip: Plan your Katherine fresh-food shop around the WA border check. We bought two days of fruit and vegetables in Katherine, ate through it at Lorrngurl Campground and the gravel pit, and arrived at Kununurra with a near-empty fridge and nothing to declare. Trying to “use up” a full fruit bowl in the last 24 hours before the border is a recipe for either food poisoning or losing $40 of produce at the inspection point. Plan smaller and shop again in Kununurra.

Deviation to Darwin

From Katherine, many will be interested in visiting the Top End. An excellent option is to travel to Darwin via Kakadu National Park. This trip is covered in our Kakadu for Caravans Itinerary. For the return journey, visiting Litchfield completes a loop of the Top End. The trip through Litchfield is covered on our Darwin to Katherine itinerary.

Days 12–15: The Border Run to Kununurra

Days 12–13: Katherine to Giwining / Flora River Nature Park

The Drive

Katherine to Lorrngurl Campground (in Giwining / Flora River Nature Park) via the Victoria Highway | approximately 135 km | 1.5–2 hours | sealed bitumen on the Victoria Highway with an unsealed access track into the campground featuring heavy bulldust.

On the Road

The Victoria Highway west of Katherine is good-quality sealed bitumen through cattle country. Fuel is available at Victoria River Roadhouse and Timber Creek; both are reliable but priced for the captive market.

The unsealed 46 km access track into Giwining / Flora River Nature Park is where the day gets interesting. Heavy bulldust in long sections: the fine, talcum-powder dirt that hides washouts, conceals rocks and turns into a brown cloud the second you touch it. Bulldust is the unsealed surface that punishes complacency more than any other. Drop tyre pressures (24 PSI on the van, 26 PSI on the ute), maintain a steady speed, don’t brake in the dust patches and watch for the colour change from grey-brown gravel to fine red-brown powder. Anything road-spec will struggle here. Anything off-road with momentum and the right pressures will roll through fine.

When you hit a bulldust hole, check your side mirrors for a laugh.

The Stay

Lorrngurl Campground: 2 nights, low-cost bush camp with basic facilities, first-in basis.

The camp itself is a bit unkempt: long grass, a slightly tired toilet block and the general feel of a site that has not been graded recently. The setting is good, with a permanent waterhole and decent privacy between sites. It’s a park that seems to be forgotten about.

The Highlight

The waterhole near Lorrngurl Campground is the genuine drawcard: a permanent freshwater pool surrounded by paperbark and sandstone. Birdlife is good at first and last light; we watched a pair of brolgas working the far bank for half an hour with a beer in hand. We did find a crocodile trap there, so I wouldn’t recommend swimming.

Day 14: Giwining / Flora River Nature Park to Ferdinand Gravel Pit

The Drive

Lorrngurl Campground to Ferdinand Gravel Pit | 217 km | 2.5–3 hours | sealed bitumen on the Victoria Highway after the unsealed exit from the nature park

On the Road

You retrace the bulldust track out of Lorrngurl Campground in the morning (when the dust settles fastest and the corrugations are most visible) and back onto the Victoria Highway for the drive west. Timber Creek is the practical fuel and supplies stop: one roadhouse, one small store and the last reliable diesel before the WA border.

The Ferdinand Gravel Pit is a roadside informal camp on a gravel-extraction pad set back from the highway. Easy to find with a maps app loaded with WikiCamps, and marked on our accompanying map.

The Stay

Ferdinand Gravel Pit: 1 night, free informal camp on a gravel pad, no facilities, no fees and no booking. The standard dust-bowl.

This is a transit camp, nothing more. Flat gravel, easy to pull into and out of, and quiet enough at night despite being close to the highway. No water, no toilets and no rubbish bins. Pack out what you pack in and treat it as the staging camp it is. We rolled in mid-afternoon, set up in 10 minutes and were ready for an early start to the border the next morning.

The Highlight

The proximity to the WA border and the camp’s simplicity are the highlights. After a week of paid stays and one night scrubbing bulldust off the rig, a free flat pad with a clean view of the western sky and an early-night turn-in is exactly what you need. The sunset over the escarpments to the south-east is excellent.

Rob’s Tip: Use the gravel pit as your fruit and vegetable purge night. Cook every piece of fresh produce you have left, eat what you can and bin what you cannot in the rubbish bag you carry out with you. Cooked vegetables and most processed foods clear the WA quarantine without trouble; raw fruit, fresh vegetables, honey and seeds do not. Doing the purge at the gravel pit means you arrive at the inspection point in the morning with a clean fridge and a clear conscience.

Day 15: The WA Border and Kununurra

The Drive

Ferdinand Gravel Pit to Kununurra via the WA border quarantine point | 208 km | 2.5–3 hours | sealed bitumen on the Victoria Highway with a 15–30 minute stop at the WA quarantine inspection

On the Road

The final drive west on the Victoria Highway takes you through some of the best country on the entire NT leg: sandstone escarpments, the Saddle Creek lookout and the gradual change of vegetation as you approach the Kimberley. The road is well-sealed and well-maintained.

The WA border quarantine at Kununurra is a fixed inspection station that all westbound vehicles must stop at. Officers check your fridge, esky, food stores and any green waste for prohibited items: fresh fruit, vegetables, honey, seeds, soil, plants and a few less obvious things like used beekeeping equipment. The inspection takes 5–15 minutes if you have nothing to declare and longer if you do. We have done this border crossing a couple of times and never had an issue, but the keys are an honest declaration and a clean fridge.

If you have a spare day or two, consider deviating north to Keep River National Park before crossing the border. The Keep River turnoff is 3 km east of the WA border: a small NT park with sandstone formations, a couple of bush camps and walks that compare favourably to the Bungle Bungles for a fraction of the access cost. It is on our list for the next trip, and the feedback from other small-rig travellers is uniformly positive.

The Stay

Kununurra has multiple caravan parks, all paid, ranging from in-town powered sites to lakeside park-style options on Lake Kununurra. Book ahead during peak season (June to August): Kununurra is a major stopover, and sites fill up fast. We typically stay at the Hidden Valley Caravan Park, which sits next to Mirima National Park with great views of it.

The Highlight

Crossing the border into Western Australia is the headline. You have driven from Cairns to Kununurra in a small caravan on a route most travellers either skip entirely or rush through in pieces. Kununurra is the gateway to the Kimberley: the start of the Gibb River Road, the access point for Lake Argyle and El Questro and the practical resupply town for the next leg west.

Rob’s Tip: If you plan on staying at Lake Argyle, book it in advance as it does book out during peak season.

Interactive Northern Territory Savannah Way Map

Below is our free interactive map. It shows campground locations, points of interest, starting points for walks, and fuel locations. Zoom in to see more details. Click the markers for more information.

For those who jumped to the interactive map, you may return to the static map: click to return.

Special Road Notes for the NT Leg

Bulldust Management

Bulldust is the defining surface of the NT Savannah Way: fine, dry, talcum-powder dirt that behaves nothing like ordinary gravel.

It conceals washouts and rocks under a smooth-looking surface. A steady speed and a committed line are the only safe approach.

It cakes onto every hot surface (brake discs, exhaust, wheel hubs) and bakes hard. Wash it off at the first sealed-road town.

It defeats most cabin air filtration. Run the air conditioner on recirculate, close every window and tape over the fridge vents on the van exterior with masking tape before you hit unsealed road.

It abrades wheel-bearing seals faster than ordinary dust. Check bearing temperatures at every fuel stop on bulldust days.

Fuel Points on the NT Leg

Borroloola: Full service, the practical mid-leg refuel point.

Roper Bar / Mataranka: Mataranka is a full-service stop with competitive pricing for the region.

Katherine: Multiple stations, town pricing, the best value on the entire leg.

Victoria River Roadhouse: One pump, expensive but reliable.

Timber Creek: Full service, last reliable fuel before the WA border.

Kununurra: Multiple stations on the WA side, town pricing.

Carry a 20 L jerry can minimum from Borroloola through to Mataranka. Diesel can hit $2.60 a litre (prior to the current fuel crisis).

WA Border Quarantine at Kununurra

The WA quarantine inspection at Kununurra is non-negotiable for westbound travel. Prohibited items include fresh fruit and vegetables, raw nuts in shell, honey, seeds, plants and soil. Used beekeeping equipment is also prohibited, as is any item carrying live insects or larvae.

Permitted items include cooked vegetables, processed and packaged foods, hard-cooked eggs and most pantry staples. The full list is on the WA Department of Primary Industries website. Declare everything you are unsure about; the officers are far more lenient with travellers who declare than with those who try to hide an apple under the dog bed.

Budget Breakdown: 15 Days on the NT Savannah Way

Worked at our pace for two adults in a 13 ft hybrid, here is what the Northern Territory leg costs in real numbers (2025 pricing):

Camping: 6 nights free or low-cost camping (Towns River overflow, Ferdinand Gravel Pit, Lorrngurl Campground x 2, Wearyan transit) plus 9 nights paid at an average $35 a night = $315

Fuel: Approximately 1,500 km plus side trips into Limmen and Edith Falls. At average $2.30 a litre and 18 L/100 km combined consumption towing = $660

Tours and entry: Limmen NT Parks bush camp fees, optional Katherine Gorge boat tour ($110 each) and Edith Falls day-use = $290

Food and supplies: Roughly $85 a day fed from the van fridge with two pub meals = $1,275

Total for the 15-day NT leg: approximately $2,540 for two people. Achievable on a small-rig budget if you commit to the bush camps and self-cater out of Katherine.

Conclusion: Bridge to the Kimberley

The Northern Territory leg of the Savannah Way is the part of the route that separates the travellers who say they have done the Savannah Way from the ones who actually have. The 15 days from Wearyan River to Kununurra take you through gulf country, the Lost Cities of Limmen, the thermal springs of Mataranka, the resupply hub of Katherine and the bulldust country of the WA approach, all linked by a road that rewards rigs built for it.

From Kununurra, the road heads west onto the Gibb River Road and into the Kimberley proper: another 700 km of remote red-dirt country with creek crossings, gorges and some of the best small-rig camps in the country. We cover that section in detail in our Gibb River Road for Caravans itinerary.

For more Northern Territory routes, including the Darwin, Kakadu and Litchfield loops out of Katherine, head to our Northern Territory Road Trips hub.

Pack the rig, weigh it honestly, top up your jerry can and head west out of Wearyan River. The Savannah Way Northern Territory itinerary is the leg that earns you the right to call yourself a Savannah Way traveller.

Other Legs and Information on the Savannah Way

Below is a list of more information on the Savannah Way:

• Savannah Way Hub
• Queensland Savannah Way
• Western Australia Savannah Way

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