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Cape York - For the non-4WD'er!

Updated: Oct 2, 2019

AT A GLANCE:


Duration : 2 - 3 Weeks, couple thousand KM's.


Itinerary: Mt Carbine - Coen River - Canal Creek - Mutee Head - Alau - The Tip - 4 beaches drive - Lakefield National park - Elim beach - Cooktown - Cape Tribulation - Mt Carbine.


Favourite Free Camps : Coen River, Canal Creek, Mutee Head, Isabella Falls (Elim beach).


Essential Camping gear : Tents, blow up mattresses, pillows, sleeping bags, gas stove, fire bin ( excellent for cooking on!), car fridge, table, camp chairs, Wacaco minipresso!


Travelling with a Dog : Is very easy - a few National Parks they're not allowed into, but on a whole the Indigenous owned land is very dog friendly, which was a breath of fresh air after dealing with months of restrictions from the Australian Government run parks!



Okay lets get started!

First of all let me start by saying two things - 1. Don't waste energy on fearing the Cape like we did, and 2. Don't feel pressured to do the Old Telegraph Track if you really don't want to!

We spent weeks before our trek to the Cape stressing about whether or not we would attempt the OTT. Sometimes we were made to feel like you HAD to do it to truly experience the Cape. We are not keen 4WD'ers and we weren't heading up with a crew, so our anxiety levels were quite high! Until one day we just made the decision to not even worry about the OTT, its not the be all and end all of the Northern Peninsular, in fact when you look on a map, it is but a teeny tiny part of Cape York!


Certainly if you love 4WDing or you are keen to give it a crack - go for it! It looks like so much fun, and the atmosphere is very friendly, everyone chipping in to help each other!


However if you are don't fancy putting your car (and your nerves) through the ringer, there is plenty to see and do on the Cape, and we are so happy with our decision to skip the OTT and enjoy the Northern Peninsular in other ways!


We started our journey at Mount Carbine Caravan park. This is where we left our van while we took the tents to the cape for a few weeks! Nikki and Darryl run a great park here, they allow free van storage as long as you stay with them the night before you leave and the night you return, they'll even store your fridge food for you! How awesome is that! $35 unpowered for 2 adults and 2 kids.


From there it was 6 hours driving up the Peninsular Developmental Road (PDR) to Coen River, the first stop on the way north. Theres a lot of tarmac on this section, but also a lot of corrugations, its very dusty and quite busy! It was a long, hard 6 hours driving so be prepared with lots of snacks and activities to keep the kids occupied!

But, what a beautiful little spot we scored here, free camping right on a river that the kids (and dog) had a ball in! This is Coen River North Bend.


Our next camp stop was to be on the OTT - Canal Creek, another 6 hour drive away. Its accessible from the PDR. Just a small section of the OTT 4WD track to get to this gorgeous area, and a great spot to spend a few days exploring Fruit Bat Falls, Elliot Falls and Twin Falls. Plus the Creek itself is great for a swim (or a wash!). The drive from Coen to Canal Creek was another 6 hours of hard driving, corrugations and dust have become part of life at this point!

En route to Canal Creek we stopped in at Bramwell Roadhouse, took a couple of snaps and watched people enter and exit the OTT.

Number plates at Bramwell Junction


Swimming at Canal Creek Free Camp (Dog Friendly!)


We spent a few days at Canal Creek, it was very handy having the water just there to use for washing up, and washing ourselves!

We spent a day at Fruit bat Falls, and a day at Twin Falls / Elliott Falls. These really are beautiful spots and we highly recommend spending a couple of days to enjoy them, rather than just having a quick look and getting back to the dust!

Pip wasn't allowed at any of these spots so she chilled at our shady camp!


Way too much fun at these places, so so beautiful!


Next up was a couple hours drive to get to Mutee head, near the river mouth of the Jardine River. We crossed the Jardine River ferry ( $100 return) early to avoid the midday line up and turned left to Mutee / Injinoo.

This was a stunning beach camp, but unfortunately no ocean swimming thanks to crocs, so it made tent camping rather difficult. We had to watch our water consumption, if we were in our van I think we would have found it hard to move on from this spot! Plus the FLIES! My goodness, insane!


Right on the beach at Mutee Head!


Next up we decided to stay at Alau Bech Campground. Its the cheapest campground in the Tip area. We had a lovely flat beach front site (unpowered) for $32 p/n. It has a pool for cooling off, showers, toilets and a laundry. Everything we could need! Plus the best coffee at The Tip round the corner - Thupmul coffee in Umagico!!

From here we explored the tip!


First up on the list of things to do - The Tip! Its not a very long drive out to the Tip, and its beautiful! Mostly through lush, dense tropical forest, lots of corrugations!

Once you're at The Tip, check out the beach there, its stunning, but don't swim or go anywhere near the water in fact!!

Hiking to the tip is simple, up a hill, down a hill and over one last hill! A bit of a scramble over rocks in places, so take it easy! Dogs allowed on this walk too! Yipeee!


We made it !!


After hiking to the Tip, we hopped back in the car for some fun! We drove out to Somerset Beach to do the '5 Beaches Drive' - basically a 4WD beach track (and some inland parts) that takes you along 5 different beaches! We had a blast doing this track, a couple of nervy parts, but on a whole, very doable for those of us who don't much enjoy 4WD'ing!


Lots of Fun!


Next we drove to Punsand, with a quick stop at The Croc Tent - famous for all things Cape York - daggy t-shirts, stubby holders and much more that you really don't need! ha!

We stopped in at Punsand Bay Campground for beer o'clock. You don't need to be staying there to use their bar / restaurant.

Coming here made us very pleased with our choice to stay at the cheaper Alau - twice the price here for the same service.


Seisia is a nice little spot, a cute little coffee shop (got nothing on Alau though!) and a jetty where if you're lucky you can spot Crocodiles, Bull sharks and Grouper in the insanely beautiful turquoise waters (such TORTURE!!)


Just look at that water!!



Well after 5 days at the Tip, we got to know a few of the lovely locals in Umagico and enjoyed many a beautiful sunset. But the tent gig was getting old fast, so we started making tracks back south.


On the way down the PDR we stayed in a different spot - Moreton telegraph station, which actually turned out to be one of our favourite camps on the cape! So many birds, clear, quiet starry nights, and lush green grass! It was a tropical oasis after the dusty corrugations!


We loved this bush camp at Moreton Telegraph Station.


Next day we pushed to get to Cooktown through Lakefield National Park! This was a hard slog, but with the help of The Hobbit on Audiobook, we managed to get through the hours!

Be sure to stop at a few places in Lakefield for wildlife viewing - we saw so many types of birds, including huge wedge tail eagles, goannas and even a croc!!




We stopped for a couple of nights at the free camp next to Isabella Falls, about 1/2 hour before Cooktown. This was beautiful, we based ourselves here to explore some of Elim Beach. Pay $10 for a day pass to drive around some great 4WD tracks on local man Eddie's land at Elim Beach, here we discovered a few very secluded and deserted beaches, as well as the coloured sand cliffs! It was epic, definitely worth the $10!


Just look at this place! A highlight for sure!


A few days in Cooktown to check out the James Cook Museum (very informative and great for the kids!), the botanical gardens, a sunset at Grassy Hill and also quick restock of the fridge, before we headed down to Cape Tribulation via the Bloomfield Track.


We also did the Mount Cook lookout hike, which was a very steep and strenuous climb but totally doable (and again, dogs allowed!!). The views from the top were amazing!


Sunset Grassy Hill, Cooktown.

Mount Cook Lookout.


A quick stop at the legendary Lions Den Hotel and another dog friendly waterfall walk into Bloomfield Falls before we hit the track! The drive to the Bloomfield track is absolutely stunning, and keep your eyes out for crocs in the rivers, we saw a very active one here, walking around on land and then swimming in the river! Terrifying!


Bloomfield Falls and Lions Den Hotel.


The Bloomfield Track was a lot easier than I thought it would be, a few water crossings and some very steep hills, but nothing to get the palms sweating! And the views! My goodness the views coming into the Daintree were magic!

We free camped near the start of the track at Woobadda Creek, which was good for swimming.


Bloomfield Track.


And finally we have arrived at Cape Tribulation! Bucket list tick! Such a stunning place!

We rocked up at Cape Trip beach early in the morning and the crowds were just arriving as we left at 10:30. Keep your eyes peeled for wildlife! We saw baby sharks swimming in the shallows and huge Goannas in the bushes!


Cape Tribulation Beach.


We set up camp down in Diwan at the Lync-Haven rainforest retreat! Equipped with cafe / restaurant, kids play park, quiet bushy sites and oodles of wildlife (including mating pythons in the trees out front!!) we loved our stay here!

One of the best secret spots in this area is Cape Kimberley Beach! Not a soul in sight and dog friendly!

Cape Kimberley Beach.


On our way back to Mt Carbine, we stopped in at Mossman for a cute little Saturday morning market, and also had a peak in at Port Douglas - which with its plethora of resorts and hundreds of holiday makers, was a huge shock to our systems after 3 weeks in the wilds!!


So there you have it, a few epic weeks on the Northern Peninsular! Everything from red dirt to turquoise water, white sand and lush tropical rainforest! What an astonishing place! We crammed so much into our trip, but still there is so much we missed - Weipa, Chili beach, Pennefather, but I guess we had to leave some things for a return trip!!



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About

Hi, we are Oliver, Joanna, Jameson and Evelyn. As a family we have always had a passion for travel. Like most wanderlusting families we would work hard for 10 months of the year to go adventuring for the other 1-2 months. In 2017 / 2018 all that changed when we suddenly had a desire to stick it to the man and break free from the confines of the busy life we had constructed for ourselves. We started to feel like we were wasting our kids early years, working and schooling, and generally being away from each other for the majority of our time. So came the hard decision to close our business, sell our house and most of our belongings. We are now officially living in a caravan, living, learning and loving on the road.

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