Offroad caravans and Cape York

Bob,
My answer will be no. I have only taken a camper trailer. Kedron have a video on their trip via the Telegraph track,but it was an epic and I doubt if the average caravanner would attempt it without a backup crew.
I have always thought that with care a caravan could be taken via the bypass road. Though that is just a thought,no meaningful effort put into it.
Contact Kedron in Brisbane and ask for the video.
Jim

One of the members of the Kimberley Karavan Owners Group from Yahoo took one and said he had no issues really. It would max at 2 tonnes though against a possible 3+ for the others.

Bob driven slowly the developmental road is quite doable for any van with true offroad suspension, raised tow hitch and a good departure angle. Quite a few sharp dips but in general just a long very rough road that will test how well the van was put together. After late May the creeks usually aren't an issue for depth.
There is a video getting about of a Kedron being skull dragged to the top via the Telegraph track but really that was just a publicity stunt and not something any sane person would seriously attempt.
Personally I'd be leaving a big van back at Weipa or better still Cooktown as the road has the potential to wreck them. I've literally seen the wheels fall off several so called offroad campers north of Weipa. Many of the best destinations on the Cape are just off the beaten track so a big van would only limit where you can go.
Cheers Craig..............

Bob S

The following is from the bushtracker website:

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 10:09 pm Post subject:

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Hi Steve and Sandy.
We took our 21' BT all the way to Punsard Bay along with another 21' BT and a similar sized Kedron in September06. The roads at that stage were still being repaired after the damage from cyclone Monica( and years of neglect). The only real rough patch then was the southern bypass from about 40ks north of Bramwell Station to the crossover to the northern bypass. There was a lot of work going on at that time on the roads so it may well be a bit better. All three vans were none the worse for the trip and it just comes down to driving to the conditions.
A few good camps starting from Mareeba would be
1. Turn right just before the McCloud river bridge, walk down and check for space first.
2. About 3 ks north of Coen on the right, camping on the creek but if your going too fast you will go straight past as it is on a sweeping bend.
3. Anywhere you can find a spot far enough off the road to get away from the dust or failing that, the ones that charge are Archer River road House, Moreton Telegraph Station, Bramwell Station.
4. Elliot falls is a National Park pay as you stay and stick to the bus tour sites if you have a biggish BT, there are only two or three normal campsites that you will fit in. Well worth the drive in and don't be put off by the creek crossing, it's not as bad as it looks!!
5. After that it is an easy trip up to the ferry and onto either Seisha Beach or Punsard Bay, the latter is definately the better in my opinion.
Hope this helps, bad spelling and all.
Regards
Peter

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UncleDodgy



Joined: 24 Jul 2007
Posts: 3
Location: MAREEBA
State:: Queensland
Current Bushtracker owner:: Yes Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:36 pm Post subject: Cape York

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We took our 19ft Bushtracker to the top in Sept 2006.
The road was still being worked on in many places,and we found about half of the road was excellent, (80 to 100km/h) while the other half was either rough to very rough.
The worst corrugations were of the order of about 75 to 100mm deep, requiring lower tyre pressures, 1st gear low range at just above engine idle through the worst of it.
Had some fine & coarse dust enter through the bottom fridge vent on the worst sections. Just a minor irritation.
Stayed 4 weeks at Loyalty Beach (Between Seisia & Punsand) Lovely place, very helpful people, powered and unpowered sites with reticulated town water. Pets allowed under control.
A great spot to sit and watch the tide come in and go out.
Recommend going up there before September as the winds tend to increase from then and plays havock with the fishing.
The shortcut road from Batavia Downs to the Weipa road for those venturing to Weipa on the return trip, can also be very corrugated in places, but worth the perserverence for the distance saved.
By all means give it a go, but preferably starting around May June, and as Kingy says, drive to the conditions.
_________________
John & Sharyn AKA Uncle Dodgy
Takin' the long way home, towing a Bushtracker

RnR

Bob
We spent 4 months this year towing our bushtracker up to Cape York. If you take your time you will not have a problem.
Rig photo was taken on the road into Elliot Falls on the
telegraph track.

Always raise a smile from the caravan that tried to get into KFC when the track needed work. Dragging it out with the grader would have hurt.

Cheers

Bob,

Plenty of BT's etc go every year.

BUT, VERY few do any part of the OTL with the van (some of the best fun 4wding up there).

I love the Kedron trip, they seriously had no idea what they where in for...still had the WDH attatched for the first part of the OTL!! They never gave up though and you have to give them 10/10 for guts! I would do it too-with their van.

Now, you think once would be enough.....Looks as though they've done it againhttp://www.thegallboys.com/ !!!

At least this time they have a tow vehicle with some power and tyres with some decent tread rather than the grandslick cheesecutters they used last time!!

I love it and will be buying the DVD no doubt. I'd never do it with my van though....I have to keep it.

Take it up and park it at Punsand Bay or similar and go exploring in the 4WD.

Matt

It depends how far you wanna push your van. You could take your time and nurse it throught some pretty rough stuff - or you could be like those Gall boys from Kedron and do the Kimberleys and back in three weeks. To do that you've got to be travelling fast and that means hitting some potholes/washouts at high speed = damage. They even did some rough stuff and didn't take their wdh off. How dumb is that? Broke the towing hitch clean off. They did some pretty bold driving on Fraser too. Still, they can get the van back to the yard and tart it up and sell it on. You could say they were pushing the vans to their limits so they can know the limits. Few of us can afford to do that. Back to the original question: it depends whereabouts you want to go and how quickly you need/want to do it. It's surprising how far you can go in a 2wd if you take your time - on the other hand you can wreck a good 4by (and maybe somebody's life) if speed is important to you.

Bob

Best thing you can do mate is get hold of a copy of the Gall Boys "Kedron" CD and make your own mind up ....but make sure you take note of the support crew those guys had, I have a good mate who lives in Queensland who is a good friend of the Galls , actually owns one of their vans , he reckons everything they do on the CD'S is for real ...Nots staged.


Cheers......Dave

P.S I would loved to have ben with them when they did those trips

How about Lakefield NP up there? What would the roads be like taking it straight through between say Laura, Lakefield then onto Musgrave?

With the same type of vans listed above?