Up date for the Cape

Thanks for the update Neil & Margie, a great place and heading up there next July with a crew on our two yearly expeditions.

Cheers peter.

The Main Roads Department says the Peninsula Development Road through Cape York should be opened to four-wheel drives by the end of the month.

The road was extensively damaged by flooding after Cyclone Monica with towns like Coen forced to rely on food and fuel drops by air.

The Main Roads peninsula district manager Bruce Gould says there is still a lot of work to be done before the road is opened to heavy vehicles.

"Our target at the moment is about end of August providing there is no rain. Our biggest problem to date has been the rain. We have a mountain of construction equipment sitting there ready to go. But we haven't been able to mobilise it all because of the ground conditions," he said.

Cape york locals are getting through now but the Coen police were still advising tourists not to travel. They have pushed tracks around the worst sections but the trip is still no picnic and requires a lot of care. The Archer is still hanging around the one metre mark but should start to slowly drop now as we the east coast is getting less rain.
From the " Y " to the Tip still has some deep water crossings which have been good swimming for us but will take another few weeks for the ground to dry before trying to get around the bypass tracks.
Nearly time for us to start sharing our back yard with everyone again for several months.
Welcome.
Cheers
Cape Kid.

Hi all - thanks for the info. Can someone please clarify one query for me - does this mean that by the weekend you will be able to get to the end of the PDR & start of the bypass roads/OTL but no further north for another month?

We are still trying to work out whether to go north or not but like most others getting to the tip is a large part of the trip so we are better off putting it off if we can only get halfway!

We're another one watching for updates with interest - our time is flexible luckily, but we had intended to be in Cairns by last week June and then head off for the Cape after we'd gathered some local feedback and met qall the Exploroz folk!

so, my question is, would it be best to be one of the first through? Or wait til late July say, assuming that as more groups go through any trouble spots are mostly sorted - or, would it be that stuff like corrugations and creek crossings get worse with wear and tear by the end of the season?

As you can see, I am a novice really - probably my questions indicate the extent of my ignorance!

Also, just how many people DO go up to the Cape in June and July? Twenty a day? Twenty a month? We are travelling alone with kids and always on the lookout for company to travel with. (and thanks to the members who have offered to look out for us, and Crazy Dog in cairns).

Well, we'll just continue to take life as it comes...

Liz, Dave and the four kids
now 7 months into an open ended trip around Oz

We are heading for the Cape early June (5th time) and are hoping the road will be open.
Cook shire has a web site for the road works whic I look at every couple of days It is Site Link