AS THE LIGHT FADED at the end of a long day of riding, I flicked on the LED headlights of my all-terrain vehicle (ATV) so I could see better as we meandered in convoy through a tunnel of dense vegetation. The rainforest is reclaiming the track from all directions in this remote, rarely accessed part of Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland. A voice over my two-way radio let me know we had conquered the last ridge, just as we started our descent to the coast. Despite the dark, I noticed a change in the vegetation from lush vines and a dense canopy to a more windswept coastal environment. The track soon leveled out and I could feel soft sand beneath the ATV’s tyres that signalled the coast was close.
There are very few places in Australia that feel as far away, rugged, and ancient as the McIlwraith Range. Covering about 3000sq.km, this part of Cape York Peninsula lies roughly 15km east of Coen and 550km north of Cairns. The landscape here is punctuated by peaks – the highest of which reaches 824m – that form part of the Great Dividing Range. These support rainforests that cascade down escarpments and into valleys where rich river systems flow, separating vast open areas of bushland. The rainforests here are the wettest and most elevated on the Cape, offering refuge to a number of endemic species. They have close ties to the tropical rainforests of New Guinea and represent the southernmost limit for some of the plants and animals found there.
