Cape York Preperation

All I can advise you is that if you tow a trailer with an X-Trail you will double your fuel consumption. So tenting it may be a better option.

The Savannah Way is doable in the Xtrail but there may be a fw rocky creek crossings to watch out for. Kakadu is mainly bitumen these days

Cheers

You only have a light vehicle so you need to travel as light as possible, basics only and I'd imagine that even packing very light you would be over GVM which makes it harder on the vehicle.

esarby if your intension is to head up to Cape York then your camping gear needs to be light to match the offroad ability & carrying capacity of your vehicle. With only a 500kg load limit this would mean using hiking style tents & mats & minimising weight where possible. Next option is to go with a lightweight offroad trailer like the Pod Trailer. At under 300kg it wouldn't limit the vehicles offroad ability too much but the additional weight of gear needed on a long trip could be shared between the car & trailer. These also have a camper option which are still under 750kg giving more comfort & convienience. With a car your size I'd suggest not towing any more than 750kg offroad & 1000kg on unsealed roads.
Any Jaco camper is basically unsuitable for the Cape & even the outback range are really a main dirt road camper at best. Being 2.3 metres wide & 5.6 long they are way too big for comfortable outback touring behind a small car. If you want "a bit of comfort" you have the option of roughing it in the more remote areas & going cabins & motels when near towns.
Cheers Craig............

G'day Esarby

I remember somewhere along the line that there was an issue with protection of the bottom of the radiator, may pay to do a search.

Cheers
Lotzi

esarby
If you really intend doing the Cape with that car & trailer I might suggest you think about towing the trailer to somewhere like Elliot Falls and set up camp there, this will allow you to unload most of the heavy stuff and leave it in camp and then drive the near empty car over the North & South telegraph track as day trips. Then continue up the development road bypasses back to camp & to the Jardine ferry and beyond, then repeat the same exercise at some where like Seasia for the last leg to the tip.

You can do the southern end in the same way by camping at Bramwell station or Bramwell Junction roadhouse. That way you can do the hard stuff without the extra load of the trailer. JMHO.

The Nth & Sth bypass roads should not present a huge obsticle to your rig.

Caution: Nolan's brook (the last crossing before the Jardine on the Tele Track) & the Pascoe river going out to the Iron Range N.P. MAY be just a bit too deep for the XTrail. Use Caution.

MM me If you want more info.
Colin.

Hello Esarby,
I'm like you and wanted to travel with the comfort of a camper trailer on a six-week trip to North Qld. I took my medium-weight camper only as far as Cairns and then I tented to and from the tip of Cape York. This enabled me to go places I couldn't with a trailer in tow.

The only trailers I saw beyond Lakeland were robust offroad campertrailers built to withstand the most challenging of roads, especially the corrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrugations and pulled by large four-wheel drives. I left my trailer at Ellis Beach Resort north of Cairns on the road to Port Douglas. I was glad I did for I saw folk fixing problems with their trailers (including boat trailers) along the wayside; chiefly tyre and spring problems.

Travelling light on rough roads with a light vehicle is the way to go. Just take a basic camping kit. You won't need to load your vehicle to the gills - extra fuel, water etc. - as there are plenty of places along the way where you can purchase fuel, water and food. Buying grog is a different story!

If you do decide to go with the camper trailer idea, why not visit www.campertrailers.org and ask for advice from an X-Trail owner who also tows a trailer.

The latest issue (131) of Australian 4WD Action magazine has 45 pages devoted to reviewing a wide range of camper trailers: the Annual Camper Trailer Buyer's Guide. There may be a copy left somewhere otherwise you could find it in a library.

Enjoy The Cape experience; take a fly veil !
Netnut

Just so you can hopefuly make an informed decison for yourself.. understand this about CY... If you are driving to the top and back long the main track.. you don't need a 4WD, you just need a car with heavy duty spring to handle tohe corrugations.. ie the road is flat just rough. (no difficult creek crossingor mountain climbs etcetc.. so the trailer you tow would need the same.. . if you want to go alongthe Old telegraoph track or some of the 'out of the way areas" then that is when you wil need "off road" cpability and will need same for trailer etc.. in short.. if you are ehading up the road then go the trailer and make sure ift has Heavy duty springs and mounting points for the same... but lighter is always better.. some take the kitchen sink and get away with it, others don't and other regret not taking more stuff at times..

Thanks Guys for the info. I did say that I had OME coils all-round. The X trail ST L has a 2 ton tow if the trailer has brakes. I do intend to miss the telegraph track, From what I have heard and seen on DVD's, that would be the best way of wrecking it. After travelling most of Oz, this is one place I want to see. I looking at a Aux fuel tank as I do not like to carry fuel in the vehicle. I would be looking for a heavy duty trailer. Regards