Heading to the Cape? Here are our helpful hints….

Over three weeks we travelled from SE Qld to Mackay, Cairns, Laura, Archer River Roadhouse, Bramwell Station, Up OTT, Elliot Falls, Punsand Bay, down PDR, Moreton Telegraph Station, Weipa, Hann River Roadhouse, Cooktown, Cairns, Charters Towers, Comet, Roma then home to SE Qld

But before I start my leg by leg blow of our trip to Cape York (with info and photos) I thought I would share a couple “hints n tips” that our crew came up with along the way.  I am sure there are a million more and I will cover them as I think of them but this is what we have so far.

Ready, set, go

Toilet paper – have it handy, ready to go especially for the women and children.  We came across a few of the “public” loos that were out of stock.  Also if you need to cop a squat then bury your paper.  So many grubs out there just leaving their loo paper lying around for the world to see. 

Wet Ones AKA Baby Wipes AKA Bum Wipes – have them handy too for hand wiping and freshening up when there are no showers or waterfalls. 

Hayfever Meds – you are a long way from anywhere if the dust gets up your nose, so if you suffer from sinus then stock up before you go.

Vacuum Packed Food – this is seriously my new best friend.  For 12 out of the 13 camping nights we ate pre-cooked vac packed meals. Curries, Strogs, Spaghetti, Chilli Con Carne etc.  We vacuumed and froze them all before we left, defrosted them in a fridge bag in the car during the day while we were driving and then popped them in a big pot of water to heat the meal through.  We then dished the meals into plates straight from the opened bag and served them with microwave rice (heated in a frying pan – instructions are on the rice packet), pasta n sauce or frozen veges.  The empty vac pag went into the big and the hot water from the pot went into the washing up bucket – bugger all mess and meals as delicious as the day they were first cooked.  I have now started doing this at home so I have some meals on hand during the week when I have to work.  Winning!!

VacPacked Meal

Ziplock Bags (all sizes) – these are just handy for everything…fish, wet clothes, rock and shell collections….

Fresh fish in ziplock bags

Dry Bags – Due to limited storage room inside our vehicle we purchased dry bags/sacks to carry our clothes in.  A little packing expertise was required to make them as functional as possible but they certainly kept everything clean and dry while travelling up on the roof racks.  We also took some cheaper (lesser quality) ones to cart our dirty clothes around and to put the rubbish bags in until we got to a dump site.  They all worked a treat – not dust, water or mess.  Winning!!

Dry Bags

$1 Coins – We washed at every possible opportunity and all the machines took $1 coins.  Prices ranged from $4-$6 per load for both washers and dryers (if using dryers clean out the lint filters – this will help the dryer work more efficiently)

Driving Safety – HEADLIGHTS – put em on when you are on the road especially when travelling on the dirt and UHF –invest in a UHF, this will enable you to talk to other travellers and warn of any issues ahead ie cattle, bull dust holes, breakdowns etc.  We wouldn’t leave home without one.

Maps – We took the good old Hema Cape York Map which was great but I also purchased the Hema 4WD Maps App for our iPad which was super handy as well – for us it was $100 well spent.

 4WD Accessories – we had max trax, winch, tow straps, big D shackles on the tow bar,  yellow towing bits under the front, water bras, compressor, generator and probably a heap of other stuff I had no idea about. (please excuse my 4WD accessory ignorance but this stuff wasn’t on my list of things to “give a toss” about – I worried about food, money, clothing, destinations, accommodation, kids etc etc.  The boys worried about the vehicles)

Anyhow we used the tow strap once to help out our travel buddies and we used the water bras a couple of times and that was about it.

We had a 60l ARB fridge/freezer in our vehicle (which died day 7 and was resurrected  on day 10) and our friends had an 80l Waeco which we used as a freezer and a 35l Waeco which we used as another fridge.

We both carried extra water.  We only had one spare tyre and our friends had two.

Last of all take your rubbish with you when you leave…only leave your footprints.

Rubbish at Cockatoo Creek

If there is anything specific you think I can help you with please let me know.

 

Days 3 to 9

Day 3 to Day 9

Day 3 

Left Cairns for Laura at 8am.  

Stopped in Mareeba for some last minute shopping (mainly a long sleeved work short for me because somehow I managed to leave behind the 5 I have at home).

The road to Laura looks a lot different now to when I travelled on it 13-15 years ago.  It is all bitumen now.

Leg stretch (aka long walk) up to the rock art at Split Rock which was very interesting.

We got into our camp at Old Laura Homestead at about 3.30pm.

Our campsite was perfect.  After we got set up we went for a look around the old homestead - tonnes of interesting stuff there too.

Dinner eaten and into bed by 9pm ready for the next leg of the journey.

Old Laura Homestead 

Cape York 4Real

Day 4

Left Laura at 9am heading to Archer River Roadhouse

Stopped at Musgrave Roadhouse for an early lunch of hot chips which luckily for the man child lived up to their reputation.  He kept telling everyone for days that they were the BEST chips - according to those who at them, they were.

Onto Coen for a quick bevvie at the (S)Exchange Hotel and then we pulled into the Archer River Roadhouse at 3.45pm.

We were greeted by a lady who looked a little familiar and upon enquiry we found out that she (and her travel buddies) hailed from our home town - it is always nice to see a familiar face when you are a long way from home.

We had a shower - yay! and a special dinner with a frozen cake found in Coen for the other man child's 17th birthday then hit the sack ready for another big day on the road.

Exchange Hotel Coen

Fellow Beauy locals on their way back while we were heading up.

The dodgiest birthday cake ever but a cake nonetheless.

Day 5

Left Archer River Roadhouse for Bramwell Station just after 9am.

We stopped at the Moreton Telegraph Station for a look - very pretty and may camp there on the way back.

We arrived at Bramwell Station by lunch time (our shortest travel day so far).

Booked in for the dinner and entertainment and were treated to a delicious meal and a great show by The Bagman (not sure of his real name - will put that in the big blog when I get to it).

Checked out the pet Brolga that took a disliking to the lil princess and took a million photos of their "Cape York" cattle.

It rained a bit overnight - dry in the tent but a little damp everywhere else.

Giant ant mound

Bramwell Station Entrance

Day 6

Left Bramwell Station for Eliot Falls (a trip of approx 100kms)

We had a quick stop at the Bramwell Junction Roadhouse before we hit the Telegraph Track.

Well - what a day - took us 6hrs to travel approximately 100kms through creek crossings and some pretty rugged terrain (I will elaborate on this in my big blog once I get home and on my laptop).

We got in, set up camp and then went down to the falls - AMAZING - we were swimming in the waterfalls at 5.45pm - yep that is correct - in the middle of winter.

That was our shower for the night.

A relaxing night in camp know that we didn't have to get up, pack up and move on the following day - just a trip a few km's back down the Tele Track to Fruitbat falls.

Twin falls

Day 7

Relaxing start to the day as we didn't have to move on today.  Some dramas going on with the fridge but for the minute it is still going.

After breaky we jumped into the vehicles and made the trip back to Fruitbat Falls - OMG - what a treat.

Back to camp for lunch and then a very slack afternoon of swimming, blog drafting, reading and sleeping (for some).

Another bath in the waterfalls, dinner and then bed - the rest of the Telegraph Track to be done the following day then over the Jardine River on the ferry and onto the Tip of Australia via Bamaga (a quick shop stop).

Fruitbat Falls

Fruitbat Falls

Day 8

Departed Eliot Falls at 8.25pm for "The Tip" (Punsand Bay)

Several beautiful (yet potentially treacherous) creek crossings (will elaborate in the big blog).

Crossed a dodgy log bridge, made it through Nolans Brook with relative ease, followed the map to the Jardine River - then turned around and went back to turn off 1km past Nolans Brook (make sure you turn LEFT 1KM PAST Nolans Brook - although the wrong turn we took was super interesting and led us to the Sth Jardine camp ground.)

We went for a ride on the Jardine Ferry (all 1 min of it).

Arrived in Punsand Bay at 3.45pm after a quick stop in Bamaga to stock the pantry.  We did pass police checking cars for grog - we didn't get pulled over which was good.

We had a beach front campsite with great views, the sunset was AMAZING and we were also treated to a turtle laying her eggs that night.

Turtle nesting

The view from our tent

Day 9

We awoke to a gorgeous sunrise, it was a little blowy overnight but the weather was pretty good.

The boys did a spot of fishing but only caught a toad fish, the lil princess swam in the pool and the other man child was treated to a helicopter ride for his birthday day earlier in the week.  

We made our way to "The Tip" via the Croc Tent for souvenirs. The most northern point of the Australian continent was worth the trek up and over the rocks.  We sat and took it all in for a while and then made our way to the Sommerset ruins which we found rather disappointing (we later found out we had not gone far enough).

Late in the afternoon the locals came by in a boat selling fresh crayfish.  The boys bought a couple (one was huge) and our travel buddy enjoyed fresh cray for dinner (I wasn't game to try it given my prawn allergy.)

It was our last night at the top of Australia before making our way back down.

Huge cray

The Tip