Melb to Cape York,most direct route,how far?

Remember the quickest way may not be the shortest. We have found up through the middle is of NSW and QLD is easy going. Through lightning ridge etc.

Pooley

Hop onto Travelmate it's about 3680 Ks there. Travelmate will plot out your route and give you other attractions on the way. Not that you'll have much time to see anything else with only 3 weeks to do it in?

Site Link

We did the trip from the ACT through central NSW ie. Coonabarabran - Goondiwindi to Rocky and along the coast to Cooktown and then onto the Cape. All up we travelled 10000kms in 6 weeks but since your only going for three weeks you wont be able to do a lot of side tripping. Add the 750ish kms each way Melb - Canb and you should get a fair idea of what sort of mileage your up for.

My advice, if you can take longer, the Cape is a magical place your not going to want to leave in a hurry.
Joe

Very long way for 3 weeks you would be driving all the time,If you got the cash Fly to Cairns and go on return trip on forby tour up and back exactly what ya doin takes about 5 days each way I think.Then you would enjoy the trip.
Just a suggestion

Bob,

If I were doing it, I would head straight up the Newell Hwy, through Dubbo, Goondiwindi and then on to Miles and up through Emerald, Clermont then up to Charters Towers, across to Townsville and on to Cairns that way. Don't know if it is exactly the shortest in distance but all the roads on this route are in pretty good shape, allowing you to sit on the speed limit the whole way. It would have to be 3 and a half thousand k's to Cairns and then a further 1 thousand to the top from there.

The three week time frame would be a worry for me, I spent three weeks north of Cairns on my cape trip and thought that was rushed in the end. Possibly could have spent another three weeks there comfortably without seeing the same things twice. If you are used to long distance driving, the Melb Cairns thing could be done in three days each way but if you are not accustomed to distance driving, add more to this guesstimate. Which basically leaves you a maximum of two weeks north of Cairns and you will be knackered when you get back to Melb on this time schedule so I hope you don't have to go back to work the following day.

Cheers and best of luck, Trevor.

Bob,

I don't think people are sending you far enough west. Bourke is actually east of the tip of Cape York.

I would go Bourke, Charleville, Longreach then the Kennedy Development Rd up through Hughenden, west of Charters Towers and on to Laura. If you stay on the DCS road you will have time to get to the top but that is all. Save the sight seeing for the way home if you have time.

Personally I would be looking for somewhere closer to home if I only had three weeks.

The other problem is that in May the roads could still be closed. In med May 99 the Archer River was 7m above the causeway and the Wenlock was 4m above the crossing.

Travelmate will give you good indication of distance but not time.

Duncs

Hi Bob

Did that trip in 3 weeks couple of years ago , actually only took 21 of possible 23 days, went pretty well everywhere like Creb track etc.

3 long days up via more coastal path , and a more lesurly 3 1/2 days back inland.


MELBOURNE-CAIRNS
Day 1 Goondiwindi ,Day 2 MACKAY via Rockhampton ,Day3 Cairns 6pm

CAIRNS - MELBOURNE (Inland )
Day 1 Emerald, Day 2 Goondiwindi ,Day 3 Nathandera ,Day 4 Melb 11am

Full sequenced day by day stop notes with GPS reference in our yahoo site under files.

Also gps plots in waypoint+ text format

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Robin Miller

We went up in June this year - we went up:
Day 1 - Melb - Dubbo - great free camp on the outskirts of Dubbo called something like Thermangomine Reserve
Day 2 - Dubbo - Theodore - great free camp with showers at Junction Creek
Day 3 - Theodore - Rockhampton - Airlie Beach (because we wanted to check it out - you could get further this day)
Day 4 - Airlie Beach - Cairns

I reackon you could make it in 3 long days ending up at Cairns or Port Douglas mid way through the 4th day to stock up on food, fuel ready to go north. I also think it would be quicker and easier to stay inland longer - we hit the coast at Rockhampton but i would go inland as far as you could because its quieter.

In the past we have found that the trick to getting places quickly is to be prepared - we take our meals for the first 4 - 5 days already made, healthy things like Stew & Mash, lasanga, stirfry, apricot chicken & veg - all packaged in containers easy to reheat - use foil containers and just pop them on the camp fire to reheat - no dishes! Start each day early - dawn at the latest - the hours in the morning as always easier than the arvo driving we find. On the first day try to be out of the state by breakfast time!! we left at 4am - its easy to have an early start the first day that it is after camping.

We spent 12 days on the cape but i think ideally it would be good to have a few more days up there. We went up the OTL, to the tip, out to Virlya point and through Lakefield NP. But we didn't go to chilli beach or captain billy's landing as they were still closed when we were there.

If you could get a few more days other than the 3 weeks then that would be ideal - 4 days to get up, 4 to 5 to get back and 2 weeks up there would make it more worthwhile.

In terms of timing, in prior years May is popular because its quieter but the risk is the roads won't be open. This year we started the Cape on 7th June and roads were still opening up. We also caught the end of the 'wet' season weather so the humidity was very high and camping was uncomfortable. The plus side was we got the 'gap' between the roads opening and everyone else coming. Not liking crowds we found it amazing as we could spend all day and not pass a single car. The camp sites were quiet and empty. However of course the down side is that some roads may not be open or indeed the whole cape may not be open at all!

enjoy your planning! we found it a wonderful trip!

Draff

Melb - Cairns is definitely do able in 3 days, providing you are used to long distance driving. When I went from Sydney we left Windsor about 4AM stopped at Emerald about 9PM, then next morning headed north coming in through Charters Towers to Townsville then up the coast to Cairns, arriving in daylight. So you will lose 6 days in transit to & from the region and 15days of touring the Cape. We did the Cape in 19days including spare days and while you can never get enough of the Cape it was definitely enough for a good overall view.
Day 1 Cairns to Lions Den Hotel
Day 2 Lions Den to Lakefield NP
Day 3 Lakefield NP
Day 4 Lakefield NP to Wenlock
Day 5 Wenlock to Iron Range NP (Chili Beach)
Day 6 Iron Range NP
Day 7 Iron Range NP to Bramwell Station
Day 8 Bramwell to Twin Falls
Day 9 Twin Falls
Day 10 Twin Falls to Seisia
Day 11 - 13 Seisia
Day 14 Seisia to Bramwell Station
Day 15 Bramwell to Weipa
Day 16 Weipa
Day 17 Weipa to Laura
Day 18 Laura to Chillagoe
Day 19 Chillagoe to Cairns

Dave.

Thank you all very much for your time and responses,would love to sit around a camp fire with you all to hear your exciting stories and adventures.What if??? Thanks again..

From BP Somerton to the top via the shortest way Finlay,Griffith,Goolgowie,Hillston,Cobar,Burke,Augathella,Aramac,Hughendon,The Lynd,Mt Garnet,Mt Molloy is 3628klm

the fastests way is 3897klm