Roads from Normanton/Karumba to the tip

i am not sure of your dates but all of us up here had the "wet" finish at the same time and it was very wet over at Karumba, there are some creeks and rivers still flowing and some VERY boggy sections that will not be drying out in any hurry, we had some trucks sink through the Savannah way near Wollagerang last week, it was still soft under the road......
May be why no up to date replys are in yet and if basing it on a trip from last year i would take into account low lying swampy tracks may not be passable for a while yet ...
Cheers
Joe

G`day CJ,

I am heading to CY in two weeks and have been gathering some info re roads etc.
One bit of info was that t Mitchell Crossing near Dunbar can be very difficult and if you get stuck the extraction fee charged by the folks at Dunbar is $1000.00.

Apparently there is a warning sign there advising not to attempt crossing there but to go Eastward and cross the Mitchell at Damboola approximately 170 km upstream.

From this crossing the road heads Northerly via King Junction after which there are several options, or North Westerly joining the Burke Dev. Road about 19 km North of Dunbar.

A detour of about 355 km to gain 19 km.

I have no info regarding the actual road conditions.

Be safe and enjoy.

Scrubby.

I had a look at Kollatah Crossing(north of Dunbar) at the Mitchell last year. Walked it and decided that even if I wasn't towing anything I would give it a miss as I was on my own. Its doable BUT risky.

According to Ron Moons Book(latest update) on Cape York the track between Kowanyama and Pormpuraaw is pretty ordinary with long stretches of bulldust. No doubt with the long wet this year parts of it may still be wet. Best give Kowanyama Council a call.

Cheers

Spero

Thanks guys. Not many people travel these roads as it is out of the way and not the normal route to CY.

Scrubby, in your reasearch, does the riad from Burke Dev Road north crossing the Mitchel at Mt Mulgrrave and on to Palmerville have a mention? It appears as if this one or from Gamboola are my two Northbound choices.

Cheers,

CJ

Thanks guys. Not many people travel these roads as it is out of the way and not the normal route to CY.

Scrubby, in your reasearch, does the riad from Burke Dev Road north crossing the Mitchel at Mt Mulgrrave and on to Palmerville have a mention? It appears as if this one or from Gamboola are my two Northbound choices.

Cheers,

CJ

Last year we went up to the Cape through Karumba. We had a look at the Mithchell River crossing at Koolatah. The Station ute was stuck in the middle and another of their utes on the other side was stuck in the sand. They had three snatch straps between them and neither were going anywhere. They were waiting for the grader to pull them out. We asked if we still had to pay $1000 for the grader to get us across and they said, "yep".

We went up to Gamboola and crossed the Mitchell there. It is pretty easy with a good concrete causeway. We camped up the top of the crossing and next day got to Musgrave for lunch. The roads pretty good, rough in spots with a bit of bulldust but a lot of gates. Not much traffic either. We passed two utes until we came to a grader crew just before the PDR.

The road through Kowanyama is doable with a camper trailer. There is a great trip report on the 4wd Action Forum by Bushie that covers that track. He said some of the road conditions were the roughest and dustiest he came across on the Cape, but then, generally the road conditions on the Cape aren't too bad. If you want to check his report on the forum, type Bushie Cape York into the search box, click the 2010 Cape York Trip under his name and it's all there. The Kowanyama bit is on page 2 because they did it on the way down the Cape.

You could give Kowanyama Shire Council a call on (07) 40837100 and Gamboola Station on (07) 40948344.

Hope that helps.

eighty matey

This site might be of interest. As at 03/06/11 the Dunbar - Koolatah Koolatah - Oroners road was closed to all vehicles.

We're heading up that way in August but taking the Burke Development Road through to Chillagoe.

http://www.carpentaria.qld.gov.au/lifestyle/documents/CSC_Road_Report.pdf


Best wishes

Viv

Thanks eighty matey and Viv