Cape York to Normanton

Hi Scoey,

We tried this last year, and guided by the information on the maps we felt it 'do-able'. The last gate you encounter at the Mitchell River advises not to attempt crossing and that in the event you get stuck the recovery fee will be $500.00.

We were committed by this time, ie a long drive to get there, and walked through the river bed to the water, approx 400 mts of sandy dust etc, asked a couple of 'locals' who said you should be ok.

A long story short, after getting stuck, let the tyres right down, laid the sand mats behind the car, reversed out of the 'bog' and then spent a pleasant night camped closer to the edge of the banks and drove out and around the next morning.

A 200m approx detour. Both we and our friends, in an 80series Landcruiser got stuck, both towing CTs.

There seems to be no bottom to the 'sandy dust' that you drive through to get to the river, while we were in the area we saw others arrive later on quad bikes and the kids had to get off and push them through the river and softer parts of dry sand etc.

Unless you are set up with pretty specialised gear, ie lift, tyres, sand anchor and winch I think it would be a struggle.

Hope this helps.

Rob.

You also better read thread 76967