Cape York - sleeping bags or no sleeping bags?

You decide... if you are lucky you will get 16 degrees at night, but more likely just a bit higher.... this is from Cairns up

Personally I hate sleeping bags......if you got the wrong one you ere either too hot or too cold.

As you travel north the weather can be so changable.

We travel north many winters to visit family.

leaving brisbane at 5 am it can be arround 15 deg.....by the time we get to Gympie arround 7 am it can be 5C. and it varies up and own from there.
In Mackay it can be quite pleasnt walking arround in shorts and a shirt.....if you ran inland to broken river on the same night it will freeze ya bits off by morning.

Even worse it can be warm...realy warm, then a cold front will come thru and the temp will plumet or vice versa.

Sheets and blankets let you regulate the temperature as required.

I run a traditional bed roll for that reason.

A double sheet and two double blankets will cover almost every eventuallity for a single sleeper....that gives two layers of sheet and 4 of blanket....lay em on and peel em off as needed.


cheers

Couple of sheets and a thin blanket - 90% of the time just your jocks.
That is Cairns and north May to September.

Hi Litlbalt. It depends if you are a warm or cold sleeper. I personally am a cold sleeper and use a sleeping bag. If it is a warm night I use it as a doona. Sleeping bags pack down and do not take up much room. We stopped at Kuranda for 2 nights on the way up in Sept 03 and it was cold and damp and we were grateful for the doona. Enjoy your trip and make use of your time at the Top. There is much to see there and it will take more than 3 days, even though I have friends that were there for 2 nights one day and said they saw it all.

Litlbait

Don't hold back, go for Quailty, and a back up bag will also come in very handy
We have 2 sleeping bags each, the main one is -10 rating sleeping bags (minimum), with zippered sides.
Sometimes we use a cheapie, as a "throw-over", for traveling the deserts of Oz, where it can get down to -7c.
I camp up in the Victorian High Country, sometimes in the snow, and frosts, ect, and that's even colder.

Same bags we used in the Kimberley, and in Cape York.
You can always open them up, or lay on top of them.

If you can't stand the restrictions of a sleeping bag, then get a Doona, they work just as good.

Cheers
Bucky

We had 3 degrees in karumba in August a couple of years ago. Make your own mind up.

Are you in a swag, tent, camper trailer, caravan or just lying on the ground?
A bit more info would help.

Can still get surprisingly cool up there in winter. Personally, Id be reluctant to travel that far that time of the year without a good bag.

(Mind you "we" enjoy sleeping out under the stars in just a good bag - no bugs, clear skys nice fresh air on your face.....) Adventure!

Thanks all, looks like the sleeping bags will stay packed.

We are in a canvas tent just on self inflating mattresses on the floor, our kids are in swags in the tent.

As soon as you go inland you can count on it getting cold at night especially up and around the Atherton Tablelands, you can open up your sleeping bags like a quilt and just kick it off if you feel to hot.

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Our kids use their sleeping bags when tent camping in the cape in June-Aug. We live in the cape.