Cape York to Thursday Island

We are taking 5 vehicles and occupants from Cairns to TI and Seisia on the MV Trinity Bay departing on 4th July with a seven Hour stopover at TI. I've heard that seven hours are sufficient to see TI but a week might get a bit boring??
I'm not sure that there are any vehiclular ferries from Seisia to TI and it seems from my research that TI is small enough not to require personal transport. I'm told there is a very good resort at Punsand Bay which should be secure for vehical storage for a price. I hav'nt researched passenger services to and from TI.

Gazza

If you go from Bamaga you can leave it in the Police Compound and this is proberly the best solution. There is no secure place at Punsand.

You don't need a vehlcle on TI or Horn Is for that matter, take a bus tour or walk.

When I was there in 2000 there was a vehicular ferry from Seisia to TI, in fact we watched two trucks being loaded onto the ferry.
I am not sure I would trust them with my 4wd though.
As a previous post mentioned, we stayed at TI for a day with plenty of time to check everything....
Will

During our time at the 'Tip' in Sep 2001 we spent 6 days camped at Seisa. This was an excellent home base for exploring the surrounding area. I don't recall there being a routine car ferry from the mainland to TI although there are periodic deliveries of vehicles to both TI and Horn. Given the limited time we had we just did a day trip to the Islands - bought the ticket (I think it was $45 each) at the park office. The boat left at about 0900 and returned at 1630. The ticket price included a bus tour of TI, a water taxi ride to Horn, lunch (and what a top lunch) at the See Kee's motel on Horn and a tour of the WW2 sites on the island. We also had access to the excellent War museum being put together by the See Kee (spelling??) family. On a scale of 1-10 I'd rate the day as a 9.9 and well worth the $45 ticket price.
The boat will also pick up at Punsand Bay which is also a very nice camping spot. We are heading back up again in Jul-Aug 2004 and this time will be spending at least 4 weeks on the cape.
The drive is taxing, especially from just north of Coen to the Weipa turn off - and then from the Wenlock to the Jardine. The OTL is shorter and slower but much more pituresque and comfortable. The by-pass roads - well to give an example of the effect of the corrugations - we carried 3 x 30 packs of Carlton mid-strength beer in cans. When we got to Seisa an opened these - most of the cans were just polished aluminium all but a few spots of colour had rubbed off.
If I was to make one suggestion to others with a Patrol (or any vehicle with barn doors on the back) it would be to take a good feather duster to get the dust off before opening the doors. This will keep 80% of the dust out of the cabin.
Be careful of some of the gooses in hire vehicles - they'll be the ones coming around the corner at 100 plus on the wrong side of the road.
Enjoy the trip and let us have an account when you get back.
Regards
Pete