Cape York- Average daily distances

WBS,
I have driven Lakeland to Weipa in a day no worries.That was towing a camper trailer.had originally planned to overnight at archer river but when we were there for lunch we decided to carry on to weipa.
on the same trip lots of locals from weipa were at the top on the weekend as it was a public holiday and they came fishing.
again a single days drive Weipa to Bamaga via bypass roads.
its about 450 km each day
cheers
howard

May I enquire as to the reason for the direct track to Siesia. I realise that I have answered your question with a question, but I am intrigued.

We went up mid May last year and the road had just been graded and they were still working on some sections, but we averaged 80kph for most of the way. Stayed overnight in Laura, lunch in Coen and had a leisurely drive through to Bramwell Station for an overnight. Left early the next day with a side trip to Fruit Bat Falls and then onto Punsand Bay. We didn't bother with Weipa, left it for another time. We towed our van and didn't have any problems. Two weeks later the rains hit again.
Enjoy your trip.

Cheers
Merv

We went up in October last year, and as opposed to Merv the roads definitely hadn't been graded for a while. We made almost no diversions on the way up and got to Seisia in about 2.5 days from Lion's Den Hotel.
First day: Lion's Den to Coen, including a stop in Cooktown for last minute supplies and a short break just before Laura to check out the Quinkan rock art (which I would recommend).
Second day: Coen to the top end of the southern OTL, we took the bypass road but we did go in via the ranger station just to have a quick look at the OTL, gunshot in particular. Then we went back out, but back in at the top end to camp at Sailor Creek.
Third day: Swim at Fruitbat Falls to start the day and in Seisia by lunchtime.

Not really sure how many k's that was each day, but as a guess I would say we would have averaged 80-90 kph from Laura to Bramwell Junction, and probably about 60 kph on the bypass roads.

Hi Wbs I did the Cape York trip in july larst year towing a 18 ft of road van from cook town to bamiga was a comfortable 3 day drive and even though some of the road was a bit corrugated we were able to maintain an average speed of 80 klms hr .as we are fro Western Victoria we were away for 10 weeks which included 12 days at the cape. Will be going up the center and down the west coast this winter regards mazzy1

Ok well I guess that explains it, I think it would be a shame not to take in some of the history of the Cape, it is well worth doing the 2 island tour, particularly Horn Island with Vanessa Seekee. Another option if your not interested in the Cape's rich heritage would be to hop on MV Trinity Bay, a merchant ship out of Cairns, it docks at Seisia, from there hire a vehicle, book in to a cabin at either Seisia, Loyalty Beach or Punsand Bay, do the tip and the island tour and fly back to Cairns.
The road conditions will vary greatly and depends on the road crews being able to grade, they generally try to do that before the school holidays, but the roads soon deteriorate with the volume of traffic. To give you an idea of the amount of traffic, when I first starting exploring the Cape in the mid 80's there were about 3000 vehicles per season, now that figure is up around 40,000. Do some research into the Cape's history and you may find you will want to experience some of it.

Glad to hear, the Frenchmans track can be one of the toughest on the Cape, It is worth taking the north track into Nolans Brook, it can be entertaining seeing how people cross it, it is also a very picturesque spot, and the track in is fine. Once at Someset drive the track down to the beach, walk south for about 100m along the beach and you will see the stone well that the Jardines used to draw water up to the homestead. North of where you park just up from the beach is the graves of Frank and Sana, his wife, Gordon Vidgen and Can Can, Frank's loyal servant. On the headland you can see to the north was where the army barracks were located.
Enjoy your trip.

Hi
I live in Weipa and I drive from Cairns to Weipa in around 9 hours depending on road conditions. Weipa to the Bamaga is around about 6 hours. Went for a drive to Bramwell road house today the dips were washed out but the rest of the road was good.