Cape York

If you wait till July you may not see much water at all in the crossings and the fish will be more off the bite.

May/June is the best time for a few reasons.
The creeks are more interesting - as in higher but still passable with what you have got, the Barra may still be taking their last bites, less people hording the best campsites along the OTL.

The only downer is the more humid weather and the odd rain in the evenings whilst trying to cook dinner lol.

If you want a great experience,, plan to go early June at the latest..

Keep an eye on the weather and if the last 25mm days have stopped a month before then its all go.

Ben as said above but work around the school holidays.
The funny thing is the wet season is lasting longer each year.


All the best Eric

While I would generally agree with Voxson and Eric you can get caught.

We looked at when people had managed to get to the top for hte few years leading up to our trip and figured that leaving Sydney in late April and taking our time should see us on the Cape with plenty of water and little traffic but with the roads all passable.

In 1998 the first people arrived at the tip on AZAC day, we felt pretty safe.

We were in Bourke on ANZAC day and spent about a week getting to Cairns. On arrival we started checking on river levels. The Archer was 7m above the causeway and the Wenlock about 4.5m deep at the crossing. The Archer dropped quickly but did claim a couple of victims, impatient fishermen.

We crossed the Wenlock on the barge, we were the third group to use it. We did manage to get to the tip on May 25, but access to most areas of the Cape north of the Jardine was impossible.

1999 was the wettest season in 43 years, according to what the locals told us in Weipa. A low pressure system sat in the gulf for most of March and simply poured water onto the norht end of the peninsula. Most of the OTL remained impassable until late June or early July. We knew people who left 6 weeks after we got back and winched for 2 days south of Cockatoo Ck.

Having said that we had a great trip. All the usual excitement that a big trip brings and we made friends with some great people who we still have contact with from time to time. It still rates as my wifes favourite holiday of all time. The places we missed out on seeing give me an excuse for another trip sometime.

Duncs

I've just got back 2 weeks ago and we had a blast.. the weather was great (winds are strong on the East coast this time of year) Even thiough we are well into the dry, the last Ck crossung before the Jardine on the OTL was still over my bonet (2" lifted GU patrol) and that was the deepest.. all others were easy although the Pascoe was fast it didn't come over the bonet. also never had to share a cmaping spot with anyone (although we do go out of our way to avoid the popluar spots) ie we drive up the creek bed at Big Stewart about a K to get away form the rod etc.. so if that helps you at all regarding this time of year for travel..

Mate, just go, leave the missus and ferals at home, pack the fridge, and have a blast!!!