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Destinations > It's A Long Way To The Top
It's A Long Way To The Top
Issue: April 2009
Words and photos by Steve Starling
Starlo tackles one of Australia's iconic 4WD treks in his quest for a memorable tropical fishing fix.
Somewhere out along the blacktop between Moree and Boggabilla, AC/DC reached out of the Toyota's stereo speakers and handed me the title for this yarn. It was obvious, really. No one could argue that it's a bloody long way from my home on the NSW far south coast to the very tip of Cape York Peninsula. About 4200km, to be exact... Each way!
I've been travelling to the top of Cape York at least once and often two or three times every year since 1991. I love it up there, and the fishing rocks. But, to my growing shame, I'd never driven to the Cape. I'd always flown. First to Cairns, then aboard smaller aircraft for the final leg to either Bamaga on the mainland, or Horn Island out in Torres Strait. On every flight (cloud cover permitting), I'd push my nose against the perspex, gaze down at all that khaki country unspooling beneath me and wonder. What would it really be like to do the big drive? How hard would it be? Would it be worth the effort?
These days of course, driving to the Cape is hardly frontier stuff. Every other old pop in a Pajero, granny in a Grand Cherokee or hoon on a Honda seems to have done it. In fact, I was getting downright embarrassed about admitting that I hadn't!
At the end of July 2008, I finally set off to rectify that situation, and to tick what is arguably Australia's most iconic 4WD trek off my personal 'bucket list'. Six weeks later I was home, with a new set of wonderful memories that were even more persistent than the patina of fine red dirt that still clings to some parts of my HiLux many months and multiple washes later! The Cape leaves its mark on you in so many ways.
Hundreds of far more experienced bush drivers and rugged outdoor-types than me have done the Cape journey and written in detail about their experiences over the years, but I figured that Overlander 4WD readers might enjoy the first-time perspective offered by a very casual 4WDer like myself, piloting a bog-standard, non-tricked-up, automatic, petrol-drinking Toyota HiLux from the far south coast of NSW to the pointy end of Australia and back again, primarily in search of a few fish... So, here it is!
A Simple Plan
My plan was simple enough. Push through to Cairns in three or four long days at the wheel - via Goondiwindi and Miles, then across to the coast at Rocky and north from there - pick up my 25 year old son Tom, and 23 year old daughter Amy, from Cairns airport, then take a leisurely five or six days to reach Bamaga and Seisia. Once there, we'd use Seisia Campground as our base to explore the Tip and surrounds for a few more days before the kids flew south and I stayed on to spend two-and-a-half unforgettable weeks aboard Carpentaria Seafaris' luxurious mothership 'Tropic Paradise' with my old mate, Captain Greg Bethune. I'd be fishing and exploring the northern Gulf halfway between the Tip and Weipa.
At the end of this very fishy sojourn, I was to climb back into my HiLux and head south again. This time via Atherton, Charters Towers, Emerald and Biloela, with stop-overs further south to visit friends at Noosa and a night as the guest of Overlander 4WD stalwart John Denman, at his home near Lismore.
I had some flexibility built into my schedule, and I'm glad I did. I ended up tacking an extra day onto the drive up to Cairns and this made it a much more leisurely affair, as well as saving me from one of my pet hates - night driving. One thing it didn't save me from, however, was my only speeding fine of the trip, picked up just south of the Tully turn-off in a mind-boggling maze of alternating speed limit zones and post-cyclone roadworks. I was clocked at 91km/h in a poorly defined 80km zone, costing me a hundred bucks and a point off my licence. I'd normally cop such a penalty with a resigned shrug and a "fair enough, I deserved that", but I must admit to feeling just a little hard done by this time, especially after sticking so rigorously to the limits all the way north (And frequently being overtaken!). For the sake of the exercise I took note after that and recorded something like 14 speed limit changes in the next 20-kays, many of them marked with temporary signs, often placed in awkward, hard to see places. Seems a bit crazy to me, unless it really is intended as a revenue-raising exercise. Anyway...
My donation to Queensland's consolidated revenues aside, the trip went remarkably smoothly to Cairns, and it was with great expectation and just a tiny tinge of trepidation that I filled the icebox with tucker and picked up the kids (If you can still call a pair of 20-somethings 'kids'!). Now the real adventure was about to begin! How would we fare, I wondered?
North To Adventure
From Cairns we tracked along spectacular coastline to the Daintree Ferry crossing and on to Cape Tribulation for our first camp out. Cape Trib' is a totally gorgeous spot and the weather was treating us extra well at this stage, although I was a little surprised at how tightly the tent sites were shoe-horned into the busy campground behind the beach.
Next day we tackled our first stints of reasonably serious dirt in the rugged rainforests on the way to Cooktown, and it was a relief to find that the Coopers-shod HiLux took even the steepest climbs and descents easily in its stride. After brief stops at the historic Lion's Den Hotel in Helenvale, and a pause for an ice cream in Cooktown, we pushed out along the heavily-corrugated Battle Camp Road, eventually choosing our next camping spot on the sandy banks of the Normanby River, where Amy opened our angling account early next morning by catching and releasing a small spangled grunter on a lure before we resumed travelling, traversing Lakefield National park with various stops and side trips for sight-seeing and photography.
Home the next night was a campsite I'd phoned ahead and booked from Cairns. It was located at Hann Crossing, near the northwestern boundary of Lakefield National Park. This is a wonderful spot right by the water, with something of a reputation for shore-based fishing, but apart from jumping off a tarpon (ox-eye herring), getting a brief glimpse of our first crocodile for the trip, and having a few small grunter and long toms tail our lures, we remained scoreless here, despite the very 'fishy' appearance of the deep, green waterholes. Next time...
read on below advertisement
From Hann Crossing we proceeded to Musgrave Roadhouse for lunch, after being briefly side-tracked by a barramundi and a mud crab spotted from the crossing at Saltwater Creek (Both of which somehow evaded capture!), then it was north to Archer River Roadhouse, where we made camp for our third night on the Cape.
Next day was one of considerable adventure, as we encountered a reasonably serious bushfire on the Telegraph Track not far north of Bramwell Junction. This blaze had northbound traffic backed up for some distance, but we arrived just as one adventurous crew (with radio contact to vehicles in the clear up ahead of the fire) made a break for it. We joined them, and while the dense smoke and 4-metre high flames appeared dramatic in several places, there was never any real danger, at least according to my son Tom, who spent several years with the Rural Fire Service on the NSW south coast and was involved in fighting the tragic 2003 Canberra blazes. It was reassuring to have his insight and cool head on board, as I know both Amy and I were more than a little nervous about driving into that maelstrom!
Fires, snakes, creek crossings and various photo opportunities ensured that it was late in the day when we finally reached Eliot Falls and pitched camp just a short walk from the beautiful Twin Falls, where we swam and cooled off both that evening and next morning. No wonder this is a 'must-see' destination on the lists of so many veteran Cape travellers! We absolutely loved it.
Next morning, as we continued north, we had our first 'recovery situation' of the trip when I picked a poor exit line out of the Canal Creek crossing and hung the HiLux up over some deep ruts and big boulders on the very steep northern bank. Within minutes, vehicles and grey nomads came from all corners, unfurling snatch straps (some still in their original packaging), revving up winches and arguing over likely rescue strategies. I politely asked them to hold fire for just a sec', got out, kicked a couple of rocks in around the spinning tyres, climbed back in, selected low range and crawled out under my own steam. The looks of disappointment on the faces of my bevy of would-be rescuers was both palpable and highly amusing!
In all seriousness, one of the great things about a Cape trip is the camaraderie of your fellow travellers and their willingness to offer help and advice. Always take the time to have a yarn to other folks at roadhouses, campsites or river crossings along the way. You'll not only get valuable tips on the condition of the various tracks and bypasses, you'll also forge track friendships that will stand you in good stead come fire, high water, flat tyres and slippery rocks. For me, this was one of the greatest lessons of the journey.
Later that day, with the Jardine River Ferry behind us (and my wallet considerably lighter for its fee!) it was an easy roll into Bamaga and then on to Seisia and our pre-booked cabin at the campground. Hot showers, flush toilets and food we hadn't cooked ourselves... Bring it on!
Tip Top Time
The next few days were great fun and very relaxing, with various forays to the Tip and Punsand Bay, a boat ride with friends down to the mouth of the Jardine River, some fishing off the jetty, plus a bit of obligatory socialising and souvenir buying. Too soon, however, it was time to drive Tom and Amy to the airstrip at Bamaga and wave them off on their flight home, but that also meant I was a day closer to steaming out of port on the 'Tropic Paradise' for a couple of weeks of casting a line into my favourite waters on earth.
I've written many times in various fishing magazines (particularly in Overlander 4WD's sister publication, Modern Fishing) about my annual trips with Greg Bethune's Carpentaria Seafaris charter operation. It remains my favourite fishing holiday and I hope I can keep doing it until I'm too old to want to any more. It really is that good!
Naturally, week-long live aboard mother-shipping with four star meals, fine wines and a dedicated fishing guide and outboard-powered skiff for each two or three anglers doesn't come cheaply, but if you reckon you deserve to be spoilt, check out www.seafaris.com
If your budget is a little tighter, there are several other options, including day trips and local guides operating out of Seisia, Punsand Bay and Thursday Island, as well as hire boats.
My back-to-back trips with Greg Bethune's operation in 2008 were the usual blur of tuna, trevally, barra, jacks, Spanish mackerel, cobia, sharks, mud crabs and various reef fish, interspersed with drinking beers and eating numus or sashimi on the top deck of the mothership while watching perfect sunsets over the Gulf of Carpentaria. Magic.
The drive home was almost an anticlimax after all that excitement and adventure. I did manage to get stuck once more, this time while climbing the precipitous southern bank of Palm Creek. This time there wasn't a snatch-strap-waving nomad in sight, either, and it took 40 minutes of shovel work and a few litres of sweat to extricate myself! Fortunately, all ended well.
Apart from some interesting encounters with giant road trains on the development road down between Charters Towers and Emerald, the return leg was incident (and speeding ticket) free. It felt strange to come home to the cold, green south eastern seaboard in early September, with all my gear still caked in that red dirt and smelling of the dry, dusty northern savannah. It gets under your skin that country, in more ways than one.
If the Cape York trek is a 4WD trip you've been contemplating for years but putting off, then for goodness sake, stop procrastinating! After all, you're a long time in the ground. Sure, it's an iconic journey and sure, it has been done to death and written about ad nauseam, but trust me when I tell you that it still feels like a grand and noble adventure the first time you do it, and that you will experience a little swell of pride when you stand there at the top of the continent, knowing you made it under your own steam. It feels good.
In closing, I'd offer one final, simple comment. If I can do it, so can you!
Words and photos by Steve Starling
Starlo tackles one of Australia's iconic 4WD treks in his quest for a memorable tropical fishing fix.
Somewhere out along the blacktop between Moree and Boggabilla, AC/DC reached out of the Toyota's stereo speakers and handed me the title for this yarn. It was obvious, really. No one could argue that it's a bloody long way from my home on the NSW far south coast to the very tip of Cape York Peninsula. About 4200km, to be exact... Each way!
I've been travelling to the top of Cape York at least once and often two or three times every year since 1991. I love it up there, and the fishing rocks. But, to my growing shame, I'd never driven to the Cape. I'd always flown. First to Cairns, then aboard smaller aircraft for the final leg to either Bamaga on the mainland, or Horn Island out in Torres Strait. On every flight (cloud cover permitting), I'd push my nose against the perspex, gaze down at all that khaki country unspooling beneath me and wonder. What would it really be like to do the big drive? How hard would it be? Would it be worth the effort?
These days of course, driving to the Cape is hardly frontier stuff. Every other old pop in a Pajero, granny in a Grand Cherokee or hoon on a Honda seems to have done it. In fact, I was getting downright embarrassed about admitting that I hadn't!
At the end of July 2008, I finally set off to rectify that situation, and to tick what is arguably Australia's most iconic 4WD trek off my personal 'bucket list'. Six weeks later I was home, with a new set of wonderful memories that were even more persistent than the patina of fine red dirt that still clings to some parts of my HiLux many months and multiple washes later! The Cape leaves its mark on you in so many ways.
Hundreds of far more experienced bush drivers and rugged outdoor-types than me have done the Cape journey and written in detail about their experiences over the years, but I figured that Overlander 4WD readers might enjoy the first-time perspective offered by a very casual 4WDer like myself, piloting a bog-standard, non-tricked-up, automatic, petrol-drinking Toyota HiLux from the far south coast of NSW to the pointy end of Australia and back again, primarily in search of a few fish... So, here it is!
A Simple Plan
My plan was simple enough. Push through to Cairns in three or four long days at the wheel - via Goondiwindi and Miles, then across to the coast at Rocky and north from there - pick up my 25 year old son Tom, and 23 year old daughter Amy, from Cairns airport, then take a leisurely five or six days to reach Bamaga and Seisia. Once there, we'd use Seisia Campground as our base to explore the Tip and surrounds for a few more days before the kids flew south and I stayed on to spend two-and-a-half unforgettable weeks aboard Carpentaria Seafaris' luxurious mothership 'Tropic Paradise' with my old mate, Captain Greg Bethune. I'd be fishing and exploring the northern Gulf halfway between the Tip and Weipa.
At the end of this very fishy sojourn, I was to climb back into my HiLux and head south again. This time via Atherton, Charters Towers, Emerald and Biloela, with stop-overs further south to visit friends at Noosa and a night as the guest of Overlander 4WD stalwart John Denman, at his home near Lismore.
I had some flexibility built into my schedule, and I'm glad I did. I ended up tacking an extra day onto the drive up to Cairns and this made it a much more leisurely affair, as well as saving me from one of my pet hates - night driving. One thing it didn't save me from, however, was my only speeding fine of the trip, picked up just south of the Tully turn-off in a mind-boggling maze of alternating speed limit zones and post-cyclone roadworks. I was clocked at 91km/h in a poorly defined 80km zone, costing me a hundred bucks and a point off my licence. I'd normally cop such a penalty with a resigned shrug and a "fair enough, I deserved that", but I must admit to feeling just a little hard done by this time, especially after sticking so rigorously to the limits all the way north (And frequently being overtaken!). For the sake of the exercise I took note after that and recorded something like 14 speed limit changes in the next 20-kays, many of them marked with temporary signs, often placed in awkward, hard to see places. Seems a bit crazy to me, unless it really is intended as a revenue-raising exercise. Anyway...
My donation to Queensland's consolidated revenues aside, the trip went remarkably smoothly to Cairns, and it was with great expectation and just a tiny tinge of trepidation that I filled the icebox with tucker and picked up the kids (If you can still call a pair of 20-somethings 'kids'!). Now the real adventure was about to begin! How would we fare, I wondered?
North To Adventure
From Cairns we tracked along spectacular coastline to the Daintree Ferry crossing and on to Cape Tribulation for our first camp out. Cape Trib' is a totally gorgeous spot and the weather was treating us extra well at this stage, although I was a little surprised at how tightly the tent sites were shoe-horned into the busy campground behind the beach.
Next day we tackled our first stints of reasonably serious dirt in the rugged rainforests on the way to Cooktown, and it was a relief to find that the Coopers-shod HiLux took even the steepest climbs and descents easily in its stride. After brief stops at the historic Lion's Den Hotel in Helenvale, and a pause for an ice cream in Cooktown, we pushed out along the heavily-corrugated Battle Camp Road, eventually choosing our next camping spot on the sandy banks of the Normanby River, where Amy opened our angling account early next morning by catching and releasing a small spangled grunter on a lure before we resumed travelling, traversing Lakefield National park with various stops and side trips for sight-seeing and photography.
Home the next night was a campsite I'd phoned ahead and booked from Cairns. It was located at Hann Crossing, near the northwestern boundary of Lakefield National Park. This is a wonderful spot right by the water, with something of a reputation for shore-based fishing, but apart from jumping off a tarpon (ox-eye herring), getting a brief glimpse of our first crocodile for the trip, and having a few small grunter and long toms tail our lures, we remained scoreless here, despite the very 'fishy' appearance of the deep, green waterholes. Next time...
read on below advertisement
From Hann Crossing we proceeded to Musgrave Roadhouse for lunch, after being briefly side-tracked by a barramundi and a mud crab spotted from the crossing at Saltwater Creek (Both of which somehow evaded capture!), then it was north to Archer River Roadhouse, where we made camp for our third night on the Cape.
Next day was one of considerable adventure, as we encountered a reasonably serious bushfire on the Telegraph Track not far north of Bramwell Junction. This blaze had northbound traffic backed up for some distance, but we arrived just as one adventurous crew (with radio contact to vehicles in the clear up ahead of the fire) made a break for it. We joined them, and while the dense smoke and 4-metre high flames appeared dramatic in several places, there was never any real danger, at least according to my son Tom, who spent several years with the Rural Fire Service on the NSW south coast and was involved in fighting the tragic 2003 Canberra blazes. It was reassuring to have his insight and cool head on board, as I know both Amy and I were more than a little nervous about driving into that maelstrom!
Fires, snakes, creek crossings and various photo opportunities ensured that it was late in the day when we finally reached Eliot Falls and pitched camp just a short walk from the beautiful Twin Falls, where we swam and cooled off both that evening and next morning. No wonder this is a 'must-see' destination on the lists of so many veteran Cape travellers! We absolutely loved it.
Next morning, as we continued north, we had our first 'recovery situation' of the trip when I picked a poor exit line out of the Canal Creek crossing and hung the HiLux up over some deep ruts and big boulders on the very steep northern bank. Within minutes, vehicles and grey nomads came from all corners, unfurling snatch straps (some still in their original packaging), revving up winches and arguing over likely rescue strategies. I politely asked them to hold fire for just a sec', got out, kicked a couple of rocks in around the spinning tyres, climbed back in, selected low range and crawled out under my own steam. The looks of disappointment on the faces of my bevy of would-be rescuers was both palpable and highly amusing!
In all seriousness, one of the great things about a Cape trip is the camaraderie of your fellow travellers and their willingness to offer help and advice. Always take the time to have a yarn to other folks at roadhouses, campsites or river crossings along the way. You'll not only get valuable tips on the condition of the various tracks and bypasses, you'll also forge track friendships that will stand you in good stead come fire, high water, flat tyres and slippery rocks. For me, this was one of the greatest lessons of the journey.
Later that day, with the Jardine River Ferry behind us (and my wallet considerably lighter for its fee!) it was an easy roll into Bamaga and then on to Seisia and our pre-booked cabin at the campground. Hot showers, flush toilets and food we hadn't cooked ourselves... Bring it on!
Tip Top Time
The next few days were great fun and very relaxing, with various forays to the Tip and Punsand Bay, a boat ride with friends down to the mouth of the Jardine River, some fishing off the jetty, plus a bit of obligatory socialising and souvenir buying. Too soon, however, it was time to drive Tom and Amy to the airstrip at Bamaga and wave them off on their flight home, but that also meant I was a day closer to steaming out of port on the 'Tropic Paradise' for a couple of weeks of casting a line into my favourite waters on earth.
I've written many times in various fishing magazines (particularly in Overlander 4WD's sister publication, Modern Fishing) about my annual trips with Greg Bethune's Carpentaria Seafaris charter operation. It remains my favourite fishing holiday and I hope I can keep doing it until I'm too old to want to any more. It really is that good!
Naturally, week-long live aboard mother-shipping with four star meals, fine wines and a dedicated fishing guide and outboard-powered skiff for each two or three anglers doesn't come cheaply, but if you reckon you deserve to be spoilt, check out www.seafaris.com
If your budget is a little tighter, there are several other options, including day trips and local guides operating out of Seisia, Punsand Bay and Thursday Island, as well as hire boats.
My back-to-back trips with Greg Bethune's operation in 2008 were the usual blur of tuna, trevally, barra, jacks, Spanish mackerel, cobia, sharks, mud crabs and various reef fish, interspersed with drinking beers and eating numus or sashimi on the top deck of the mothership while watching perfect sunsets over the Gulf of Carpentaria. Magic.
The drive home was almost an anticlimax after all that excitement and adventure. I did manage to get stuck once more, this time while climbing the precipitous southern bank of Palm Creek. This time there wasn't a snatch-strap-waving nomad in sight, either, and it took 40 minutes of shovel work and a few litres of sweat to extricate myself! Fortunately, all ended well.
Apart from some interesting encounters with giant road trains on the development road down between Charters Towers and Emerald, the return leg was incident (and speeding ticket) free. It felt strange to come home to the cold, green south eastern seaboard in early September, with all my gear still caked in that red dirt and smelling of the dry, dusty northern savannah. It gets under your skin that country, in more ways than one.
If the Cape York trek is a 4WD trip you've been contemplating for years but putting off, then for goodness sake, stop procrastinating! After all, you're a long time in the ground. Sure, it's an iconic journey and sure, it has been done to death and written about ad nauseam, but trust me when I tell you that it still feels like a grand and noble adventure the first time you do it, and that you will experience a little swell of pride when you stand there at the top of the continent, knowing you made it under your own steam. It feels good.
In closing, I'd offer one final, simple comment. If I can do it, so can you!
