2009 Cape York Trip

G'day Nev,

We visited Cape Melville last year a group of four towing camping trailers. This is the third time for us and I can say that there should be no problem providing the trailer is a genuine off road variety (ie not a garden type). There are lots of advantages in taking the trailer and very few disadvantages.

Let us know where you are planning on visiting to give you better feedback.

Have a look at my blog photos to see what the roads are generally like going to Cape Melville anyway. The trip is punctuated by corrugations - lots of them.

Kind regards

Hi Nev,

We have been twice - once on 2002 with tent, then again in 2007 with an Aussie Swag Camper in tow.

If you are comfortable taking your camper in the rough stuff and have sufficient recovery equipment to extracate yourself then I would recommend taking your camper (this would be to travel the OTL of course and not the Bypass which you could do on in a GoGo Mobile). WTR to recovery equipment, this would mean a working winch with gear such as extension straps and block (pulley) for double line pull. Take it slow, pick your line, walk hard sections including water crossings and use a spotter if possible.

We love going to the Cape and am thinking about going again this year. If we do it will again be with the Aussie Swag Camper.

I am still writing our trip report for the 2007 trip but our 2002 trip can be seen on our website -> Cape Your 2002

Regards
David

Gaday Nev. What type of tow vehicle & camper trailer do you have?
A Jaco Dove behind a Ford Falcon or possibly a Track T Van behind a 200 series? Makes a big difference to the rely ;-)
Cheers Craig............

Hi Nev,

I did the track in 2008 and had a great time. I did not tow a trailer but many did and had no problems. I was warned about the frenchmans track to chilli beach, i would check with others if this is possible with a camper. The plan of attack is to goto chilli beach from the south and exit to the north, this made some river crossings easier.
It is also far easier to tackle the OTL from south to north NOT north to south.

Expect large corrugations even on the OTL and large wash outs on some crossings. I had a spotter on some of these to make sure tyres landed in the right spots. Overall it was a real adventure and would do it again in a heart beat.

Cheers

Marco

When I did my Cape trip I found the site listed below an invaluable source of info. As well as exploroz of course.

http://capeyorker.com/forums/

Cheers

If you paid all that money for the trailer - USE the damn thing. Make it work for its money.

You should have no problems as long as its rated for 4x4 use. I would personally run the tyres at low psi though - tyres do most of the suspension work.

You would also be stressing your vehicle less by transferring more weight to the trailer, rather than having a heavily loaded vehicle - stress on drivetrain, suspension, etc.