Travelling to the Cape

Thanks Hoyks. Really appreciate your advice.

Hi Tony F8 wow many trips and you would be seeing all the changes.Just an open question ,what is fascination with this area thanks.

Well thats a good question, I think firstly it was the adventure and the remoteness, but as the years have passed it has I suppose become a place of peace for me, sometimes if your lucky in life, you come across a place that gives you this, we go to places up there and not see anyone for 2 weeks and everytime we leave we feel revived.
I hope that makes sense and gives you an insight into my passion for the Cape.
Cheers Tony.

Thanks Tony.... So much valuable information!

Thanks Tony... Really appreciate your help. John

Hiya Tony F8 totally understand.Thanks for that.Time to hear yourself think and immerse into nature .I need to do that more often cheers

Tony, Ken from Bramwell Station emailed us and advised we can leave a van there so long as we spend a bit of time on his station campground which is fine. Still a bit confused though ( sorry ) ! The bitumen runs out at Laura according to Ken. Our van is a standard ( not off-road ) Jayco 17 ft. Although we take it on some fairly rough roads around vic and nsw we do travel at slow speeds and so far no real damage has been done apart from a rock flying through the front section of the van I fixed with a bit of fibreglass. So the question is do we unhitch at Laura or do we continue into Bramwell Station? Ken advises to leave it at Laura ?? Thanks john

Thanks Ken, starting to get the picture from you guys.

Agree regarding Punsand Bay.

Great accomodation on the beach. Excellent ablution facilities - clean an plenty of hot wate. Great swimming pool (right next to the bar/restaurant) Good for the kids or for you. Restaurant had great food (superb pizzas) at a good price.

Agree regarding NP booking system. Happened to us at Eliot Falls. Lucky the ranger showed up and moved the interlopers on.

We didn't find the food prices to bad on the way up. But we had been on the road for a few months. Couldn't fault the service we got though. They really appreciate the custom and the customer.

Water and fuel are plentiful at the spots listed and no problem with the quality of either. 150 litres will see you right. Again support the locals, next time they might not be there. Carrying heaps of fuel and water to save a few dollars is "pennywise but pound foolish".

Cheers

Anthony

The quarantine point is just north of Coen on the south bound journey. They are mostly concerned about fruit coming in from the Torres Straight islands such as Thursday or Horn. In my experience they were as much tourist ambassadors as fruit inspectors.

Robyn, I'll let you know when I have reached the magical 50 (half century), I have a feelin there could be a bit of a celebration on the cards. I have seen changes up the Cape, the biggest and most disappointing is the amount of rubbish left up there by people who supposedly love the Cape. There is a facebook site called Protect Cape York, run by Leigh Morgan, i don't usually promote sites, but this girl is doing some great things regarding the clean up of Cape York, once you have been up on what we call the standard route, look at doing some research on some of the other great areas of that magnificent place.
Drive safe.

Hi Johno,
We went from the Otways in S.W. Vic. up to the Tip of Cape York and back in four weeks. No, we do not drive fast & only one driver.
As you would imagine we didn't get to see all there was to see on the Cape.
We were towing a small off road van.

There are plenty of places to stay at road houses which are all fairly easy drives between, on the P.D.R. It will be very busy when you go, we went in Sept. as it was our holidays. It was easier to get into these places then.
Morton Tellegragh Station was a brilliant campground..
Our main aim was to get to the Top point of the mainland first & then work our way back so that if we wanted to see more at another time, we didn't have so far to go!
Planning the Tip trip so that the tide was out, was good so that we could walk back along the beach, much easier than all the rock hopping back to the car park.
Plan well cos the tide does come back in quite fast,when in turns..

We stayed at Holiday Village C.P in Siesa
and did our daily touring from there but the top of the O.T.T was left out because we were booked at a camp further down.
A sad oversight of one day in our planning! The Cape is bigger than it looks.
Iron Range National Park is nice & has cabins.NO ALCOHOL.
Nice seafood place in the Park too, at the beach.

The Peninsular road by then, was very corrugated, please drive carefully.
We came up to one accident and heard of another in the week. Sadly 1 death.
Many, just drive too fast.
Midges can be a problem so be prepared.Some people are allergic. Good repellent & first aid kit.
On the way back.
Stayed at Bramwell Station which was fantastic for a complete unwind & total cleanup. Fantastic food & great camping. From here, leaving the van at camp we went into & travelled the Southern half of the O.T.T. & made it back via the Ranger Station & P.D.R. to Our camp at Bramwell Station by night fall. The creeks were low. Always ask about the condition of the crossings & check if there is a better one.

I'm sure you'll know about the emergency things needed from your books.
Including Tic treatment for your dog if you are taking it (remember CROCS)!!!
I would not take our dog up there.
Take care, safe travels. Ma.

Tony F8 it kills ya when you see rubbish.I camped on Murray River and previous campers left nappies 2 cartons of beer bottles in camp fire.Only 100metres to Ferry which has bins or 300m to picnic ground.I lived in Nepal Himalayas .Pink toilet paper, chocolate wrappers and beer bottles along trekking routes.Travel companies would advertise trips to get volunteers to go cleanup the rubbish. Maybe some smart travel agency needs to do that here ..But I not understand if people love being out in nature why in hell can't they just put rubbish back in car .Humans hey???

Some Humans. Not all! just filthy, disrespectful ones.
We live at the end of a scenic drive,it has shops & rubbish bins at the top of the hill.
It takes about 15- 20mins to drive down the winding road.
The louts are mostly responsible for the cans, bottles , cigarette & chip packets etc. but on the last long weekend some tourist decided that our 10 acre part bush block on the corner was the place to dump the full ,large disposable nappy.

Should be made to wear it around their necks like some of the poor pooches who know no better, you see walking around the streets.!

P.S In the above followup we went South to North on the Southern half of the O.T.T. then back down to Bramwell Station on the P.D.R. You beat me to Edit LazyLux.
Take care,safe travels, Ma.

Thanks all. Great to research trips. Beats the hell out of Spending time watching crapy TV shows!

Thanks BC . We are thinking of a small tent and unhitching the van at Bramwell Station thanks john

Thanks kennel, A friend of mine was also telling me about it this morning. sounds good. Thanks john