Escape to Cape York

Driving to the tip of Cape York is a ‘must do’ for any intrepid Aussie traveler, and tackling the Old Telegraph Track along the way is a rite of passage for any red-blooded 4WD enthusiast.

My family – wife Megs, and two ‘tweenager’ sons – have been working our way through Australia’s iconic off-road expeditions since we purchased a Toyota Prado (120 Series) some years back.

We’ve crossed the Simpson Desert, have clawed our way through Victoria’s High Country and explored South Australia’s Flinders Ranges but now, from the depths of a southern winter, it was The Tip – or the northernmost tip of Cape York, Queensland – that was firmly in our sights.

Of course, planning for anything in these COVID times is fraught with frustration but somehow, amidst all the lockdowns, border closures, and the ensuing logistical chaos, the stars aligned and we were off – yours truly setting out from Melbourne in June, the family flying direct to Cairns to meet me a week later.

For me, this meant that this road trip was actually three trips in one – a two-week family holiday on Cape York, book-ended by two week-long solo trips to get the car to and from Cairns, straight up the guts of outback NSW and Queensland. Everyone’s a winner!

Preparation the key

Like any big off-road trip, preparation is crucial. With two 90-litre fuel tanks as standard in my Prado, I didn’t need to carry any extra, but I did carry 40 litres of water, several spare parts, tools, and recovery gear.

I packed a second spare wheel too, which I transferred to a mate’s rack on his Volkswagen Amarok before collecting my family from Cairns Airport. Doug and his family had driven up from Sydney for this adventure, while Mike – like Doug, another high school mate – and his family had come up from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast in their Ford Ranger, with a camper trailer in tow.

After negotiating lockdowns, border closures and even a mice plague en route to Cairns, it felt almost surreal as well all set out to begin the trip proper.

Cairns to Cooktown

Towering rainforest typified the first leg of our journey, with a cooling dip in the crystalline waters of Mossman Gorge, near Port Douglas, followed by the prehistoric landscape of Daintree National Park.

We took the most popular route north here – hopping on the punt over the Daintree River, then following the coastal Bloomfield Track – with a quick stop-off at Cape Kimberley before continuing to Cape Tribulation.

That night, with pizza and beer in hand by a roaring bonfire on the palm-fringed beach, the stresses of city life were well and truly behind us. The only issues here were tripping over a fallen coconut in the dark, and the perhaps the local giant croc who emerges from the sea from time to time to salivate over curious tourists.

Pushing on through this unique UNESCO World Heritage area, the Bloomfield Track presents no big challenges. The occasional creek crossings are shallow and the steepest sections over the various ridges have been concreted. Those looking for a bigger 4WD test favour the inland CREB track, but hey – we were only at the start of a very long journey…

Before you know it, the Daintree is behind you. Just north, Wujal Wujal Falls is well worth the 10-minute hike to view it. This also helps work up an appetite for lunch at the historic Lion’s Den Hotel at Rossville, a watering hole full of character on the road to Cooktown.

Cook’s charting of the east coast of Australia nearly came a cropper here in 1770 when his ship, Endeavour, struck the reef and damaged its hull. He sought shelter here at the mouth of what is now the Endeavour River and repaired the ship over seven weeks, before setting sail and threading his way through the reef to the open waters beyond.

These days Cooktown is far more hospitable – the beer at the Cooktown Hotel is cold and the seafood at the Cooktown RSL tasty – yet it still serves as the last major outpost for travellers heading north.

Lakefield National Park to Bramwell Station

From here we headed east to Rinyirru, or Lakefield National Park, where we camped on the Normanby River. The fishing is said to be excellent here, especially the barramundi when in season, but care is needed because the threat of crocs is very real. We didn’t see any by day, but a sweep of a torch after dark revealed some tell-tale points of reflected light, suggesting we weren’t the only apex predators scanning for visitors...

Rinyirru is a wild and beautiful place, its vast plains dotted with termite mounds and wetlands teeming with bird life. Black cockatoos and brahminy kites wheel overhead, along with several types of crane and, if you’re lucky, the tall, slender and graceful brolga.

After taking a wander around the ruins of Old Laura Homestead we popped out on the Cape’s main arterial, the Peninsula Developmental Road (or PDR), at Musgrave Roadhouse, before heading north to Archer River Roadhouse.

Even Archer River’s large camping area was pushed to its limits by the hordes of holidaymakers this year, with the ban on international travel putting the great Aussie road trip back on the agenda for many. But the roadhouse kitchen and bar stepped up to the challenge, and the river itself is a superb spot to cool off and wash away the dust.

Actually, compared to when I first came this way 15 years ago, the sections of sealed road have increased significantly. But further north, especially north of Archer River, it’s the never-ending dirt corrugations that prevail – both of the dental-filling-loosening variety, and the long corrugations that, when taken at speed, cause your vehicle to ‘porpoise’ in hair-raising fashion. Take it easy – this is the last place you want a vehicle rollover...

The Old Telegraph Track

Bramwell Station was our final stop before the Old Telegraph Track, which begins just behind the roadhouse. Known up here as the OTT, the OTL (Overland Telegraph Line) or, more simply, ‘the Tele’, this rutted and narrow path spears arrow-straight toward the tip of Cape York, and finishes at the Jardine River.

It was the service track to establish and then maintain the telegraph line that connected Brisbane to several Cape York settlements and Thursday Island for the best part of a century from the 1880s.

Today, it rates among Australia’s most iconic 4WD trips, and while technically speaking it's not especially difficult, its remoteness and potentially extreme recovery costs demand a thoughtful, unhurried approach.

Adding to this unique landscape, with its endless savannah, vivid ochre clay, and thick scrub, are the numerous creek crossings. But while these stunning interludes interrupt the track regularly, accompanying their sublime beauty are water levels that can vary wildly depending on the season and recent rainfall, plus entries and exits that vary from gentle slopes to sheer drops.

Those heading north receive an abrupt introduction at Palm Creek, just a few minutes north of Bramwell Roadhouse, with its deep, muddy and rutted entry dropping you into a nearly bonnet-deep creek before a slick, steep and twisting exit.

We copped some minor side panel damage on the way in, then got stuck just a few metres from the top on the way out, but were rescued by a kindly bloke whose winch-equipped ute was just nearby.

He’d winched several people over the previous couple of days, as his group waited for a replacement radiator to come up from Weipa for their mate’s stricken Toyota LandCruiser.

While he attached the winch, another chap, Terry, gave us some prescient Tele tips: “Always walk the crossings first mate, or you’ll get yourself stitched!,” he warned with a grin. Terry said he came up the Cape most years, and that this first crossing put plenty of people off.

“A lot of people check out Palm Creek and then end up taking the main road instead,” he said. “But after this the crossings are easier, and you’ll see some really beautiful country.”

The help we received here was really typical of the Telegraph Track, and also one of its highlights. Everyone helps each other up here, and does what has to be done to get people moving.

That was apparent when Mike and his trailer got bogged in soft sand on another creek exit. While Doug put his winch to good use, a veritable pit crew of onlookers got to work with recovery tracks and shovels. They were just killing time while their mate replaced a broken CV joint – they wouldn’t even accept a few beers recompense after a good 45 minutes of effort.

Tropical delight

It’s great country up here, as Terry had said. The low savannah is punctuated by termite mounds, palms and ferns, along with serene creeks that are destinations in themselves. Swimming at places like Eliot Falls, Twin Falls and Fruit Bat Falls is an absolute highlight – guaranteed croc-free zones, apparently – while perhaps less inviting is the infamous crossing at Gunshot Creek.

Anyone heading to Cape York will already know of ‘Gunshot’, a near-vertical drop into a deep, muddy chasm that threatens major structural damage, and the possibility of even flipping a vehicle on its roof.

People head to Cape York for many reasons but we were there for a family holiday, rather than 4WD bragging rights. It was great to actually see Gunshot for ourselves, but also a case of ‘thanks, but no thanks’, so we took the bypass track around it.

For similar reasons we avoided the crossing at Nolans Brook. This is notorious as the deepest crossing on the Tele, and hearing the locals at Bramwell Station mention they’d just had the wettest wet season in 28 years effectively sealed our decision. Later seeing a couple of drowned 4WDs at a workshop at Bamaga, near the tip, confirmed in our minds that we’d made the right decision!

The Tip

After reaching the PDR it was a short hop to the Jardine River Ferry ($100 return!) and then Bamaga and the tip (or Pajinka). Bamaga is a rustic frontier town; it’s good for supplies and fuel, and for checking out the WWII aircraft wrecks near the airport, but most travellers stay at either Punsand Bay, closer to the tip, or Loyalty Beach, just north of the nearby port of Sesia (pronounced ‘Say-sha’).

After a night at Punsand Bay, which was heaving with holidaymakers, we drove the final 20-odd kilometres through lush jungle to the tip. After the previous six days since Cairns, it felt like a major achievement to stand next to that sign proclaiming, “You are standing at the northernmost point of the continent of Australia”. We were now far closer to Papua New Guinea than to any major Australian town or city.

The following day we got even closer, chartering a boat to Thursday Island, Horn Island, and Roko Island. This gave us a glimpse into the Torres Strait Islander community that most mainland Aussies never see.

Of course, for us, the trip was only half done. We still had to make it back to Cairns and then, for me, onward to Melbourne.

A road trip to Cape York is very much still an adventure, rather than a holiday. But despite a variety of mechanical issues (all overcome, thankfully), the vagaries of the weather (‘dry season’ is a misnomer – it should be called the ‘less wet season’), and the grind of setting up and then packing up camp most days, it was all well and truly worth it.

Top Tip: get in quick!

In our increasingly santised, safety- and convenience-obsessed world, Cape York is still a wild, sparsely populated and remote place, but history dictates it won’t stay that way forever. Moves are afoot to seal ever more sections of the road from Cooktown to Weipa, and the road north to Bamaga will at some point invariably follow.

While this will undoubtedly provide growth and opportunities for far-flung Cape communities, it will also change the Cape’s nature forever.

I feel lucky to have seen the Cape as it still is, and to have shown my family this unique part of Australia. If you have a 4WD and a thirst for adventure, you should too...

Traffic jam at Cape York crossing

Tip Top: A Caped Crusade

Cape York with a caravan