TO CAPE YORK AND BACK –A KIWI ON OZ’S MOST FAMOUS 4X4 TRIP
Idon’t know about you, but for me – at least – my journey to Cape York started over 30 years ago. Back in the 1980s I subscribed to an Australian 4WD magazine called ‘Overlander’. I used to read this Journal from cover to cover every month. My favourite articles were great adventures into the Australian interior – the most memorable being the trips up the legendary ‘Old Telegraph Track’ to Cape York. Names like ‘Nolans Brook’, ‘Palm Creek’, the bridge over ‘Cyprus Creek’, the Jardine River and of course ‘Gun-Shot’ were legendary for me.
NOT EASY!
Of course, reading about someone else doing the trip, is very different to doing it yourself. The logistics, for a start, are huge. Naturally number one was how to get there? No Rental Car company in Australia, for instance, allows any sort of ‘unsurfaced’ road driving, simply because of how extremely bad their ‘unsurfaced’ roads can be. The corrugations are so bad you will lose your dental cover off your travel insurance as they can often rattle the fillings out of your head!
Take your own vehicle? The cost of transport and compliance to land your vehicle in Australia is not way over the top – but, it is not a cost (or effort) you would want to indulge simply for a two week trip to the ‘Tip’.
Then you have the issue of exactly where to go? Yes, there are heaps of articles and websites and instructions which is marvellous IF you have the time to sort through the volumes of testosterone fuelled BS you find online.
Where to stay? ALL camping areas north of Cairns must be pre-booked. Some more popular places have ‘waiting lists,’ such is the draw of the ‘Cape’ for Australians.
There is
