davmac452 posted:

The quickest way from Wollongong I reckon is out to the Newell and up though St George, Emerald and Charters Towers. if you shop at Charter Towers then you can bypass Cairns from Undarra on the way up

Undarra lava Tubes is well worth o look and an excellent spot to stay.
Recommend the coast road from Mossman through Daintree, Cape Trib to Cooktown. Then out to Lakefield np.

Archer river has excellent camping. Also bush camp just north of Coen.

Punsand Bay is a gorgeous spot to camp also.

Chilli beach is nice to stay but not a lot there and the road is slow and rough. We had 3 punctures on 2 vehicles on the way out. Allow a few days around Bamaga

If doing the old telegraph track find a group to travel with at Bramwell Roadhouse, some of the creek crossings can be challenging. We found that the telegraph track could almost be a day trip without the camper, the southern section is only 3 hours and the bypass road back is quick.

Roads should be ok as the worst of the traffic wont have cut them up. LEAVE UHF RADIOS ON CHANNEL 40

GOODLUCK AND DRIVE SAFELY. we did Ballarat to the tip and back to Cairns in 15 days for a quick survey trip so 5 weeks should be good and relaxing.

davmac452 posted:

Hi Bluespot.

South of Laura was ok, Did not really stand out as particurlarly rough so i suppose i was sitting on about 90-95 k's.

Seemed a bit quiet but it was my first trip up that way so hard to judge, and being early in the season it is a bit hard to tell. Certainly did not have trouble finding campsites etc.

davmac452 posted:

Maybe not a written rule as such, but just "common sense". Anyway i am not going to argue with 140 tons of ore truck at 100 km/h on a 16ft wide bridge.

The other thing is if they fall off the 3m wide strip of bitumen between Charters towers and Townsville the size of rocks will be a windscreen replacement.

P.s A little bit of courtesy to these drivers makes life a whole lot easier for all !

Off-track posted:

DIO up around this way on narrow sections of tar you will find quite large road signs informing road users to move off the blacktop so that the oncoming truck doesnt have to put their wheels into the dirt/mud.

I wont teach anyone how to 'suck eggs' by explaining why.

davmac452 posted:

Should not have any trouble finding a fellow traveller/s. We ended up with 2 differebt groups. The theory is, if you get stuck be in the middle of the track, then other have to help you out so they can get past you anyway !!

You can start looking from about Laura onwards. PS, if bats are about camp under the trees, if in the open you will bat crapped on.

Fuel is about $1.70 in Cairns, $2.10 at Archer River and Musgrave
drops to $1.85 at Jardine Ferry and i think $1.85 at Bamaga.

All supplies are trucked in as far as Weipa and Archer River, the fuel come by boat to Bamaga hence lower transport costs to Jardine.