Babinda
After leaving Hervey Bay we stayed at a brilliant free campsite in
Babinda (just outside Cairns) that had free toilets and showers and a huge
grassy area next to a creek. Loads of people were camped there including grey
nomads and backpackers, and everyone was really friendly. There was a real
sense of community with groups of people strumming guitars and singing, or
playing soccer.
Cape York
For those of you
who have never heard of Cape York (I certainly hadn’t before we started researching
our trip), it is a large remote peninsula in Far North Queensland. There are a
range of different landscapes in Cape York including large sections of tropical
rainforest, dry eucalypt-wooded savannahs, huge mountain ranges and stunning
waterfalls. It is a mostly unspoiled wilderness area, and was one of the last
corners of Australia to be explored by European settlers. Of course, Aboriginal
people had inhabited Cape York for about 50,000 years before white people came
along. Now the population is about 18,000, with 60% of that Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people.
Cape York is now
made up of Aboriginal land, mining lease land, and National Parks. The
Aboriginal land is separated into different shires, and each shire or community
has different rules about who can enter and how much alcohol (if any) you are
allowed to take into that area. I was surprised to learn that huge fines and
jail sentences apply if you are caught with more than the allowance! Though we
didn’t meet anyone who had had their car searched.
The distance from
Cairns to the tip of Cape York is 1085 Km. It doesn’t sound like that far, but
the road conditions mean that it takes a long time to drive. Dust,
potholes, creek crossings, corrugations, livestock and native animals on the
road are all things to watch out for. Corrugations are ripples that run across
the road and they shake your vehicle like you are driving over thousands of
mini speed bumps! Most of the top end is accessed only by four-wheel drive
vehicles, and in the wet season a lot of the roads are completely impassable.
Supplies and groceries are delivered to towns via plane or boat.
We drove on the Peninsular Development Road up
the middle of Cape York, passing through tiny settlements and roadhouses every
couple of hundred kilometres. The roadhouses previously functioned as telephone
exchanges on an old telegraph line, and are now places for travellers to top up
fuel and camp for the night. The food on offer usually consists of greasy
hamburgers and unidentifiable fried food, but the staff are always friendly and
willing to share local knowledge. We stopped just outside the town of Laura at
Split Rock to see some amazing Aboriginal rock paintings, then camped at the
Musgrave roadhouse overnight. From Musgrave we drove through Coen and Archer
River all the way to Weipa.
Weipa
Our first major stop was in Weipa, which is a mining town and
fishermen’s mecca on the west coast of Cape York. It is the peninsula’s largest
settlement, and it was our last chance to access a major supermarket before
heading into the really remote areas. However, the Woolworths there received
deliveries only twice a week by boat, so the food was not that fresh!
Apparently to get fresh milk and bread you have to be there on Monday or
Friday, which we weren’t.
There was only one campsite in Weipa and it was packed with travelers
either heading up to Cape York or coming back. It was interesting to see the
set-ups that other people had, including a range of 4WDs, camper trailers,
rooftop campers and even motorbikes with swags. There was a real feeling of
camaraderie amongst everyone, like it was a rite of passage to do this
adventurous trip. There weren’t any grey nomads (though there were some older
people doing it in groups) and there were definitely no backpackers up here! A
lot of people were travelling with their families, which looked like a lot of
work. Some groups had taken things a step further with their set-ups, and had
things like ‘Team Kent 4WD’ and ‘Cape York 2014’ written in stickers on their
vehicles. In some ways it felt pretty cool to be a part of it all, in other
ways I felt a bit out of place amongst the macho Aussie blokes and rough
looking sheilas! It was definitely all part of the experience though, and it
was interesting to see this subculture of hardcore four-wheel drivers.
Weipa was a great
place to take the boat out, with a large river mouth and plenty of small creeks
to explore. We saw a crocodile and two sharks on our first day out on the
water! I caught my first fish of the trip, a small school mackerel, and we had
a delicious dinner that night.
