Cape York Camping
 

Cape York Camping

Good evening,

We are leaving on a 5-week trip from Cairns to The Tip in June/July 2012.

We have been told that Cape Melville is closed until August and are worried that we might have to cancel our trip. What are your thoughts on travelling at this time of year?

Also, the National Park people have stated that we must book the dates we will be staying at camp sites online prior to leaving on our trip......we are not wanting to plan our trip in that much detail and were wondering if we really do need to book first.......or is there lots of free camping spots just outside the national parks that we can stay at to avoid this issue?

Look very forward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards,
Evan and Larissa

Comments for Cape York Camping

Click here to add your own comments

Early Dry Season and NPks New Booking System
by: Katrin

Hi Evan and Larissa,

First of all, congrats - you are the first people to ask a question on these brand new forums :-)

June/July is early dry season, and while Cape York used to start opening up earlier, in April/May, in the later years, with lots of rain late in the wet seasons, even some of the main roads have opened as late as in June.

Planning a trip early in the dry season means risking that some of the roads are closed, particularly the smaller tracks such as the one into Cape Melville. Also the driving is more challenging because the creek and river waters are still up - these drop gradually during the dry season. It is a beautiful time to travel with more greenery and wildlife, but it is more challenging and you may miss out places because of the closed roads.

I do believe that the Cape Melville track may be still closed in August. There are two different roads into Cape Melville, and the one that leaves from Musgrave is heaps better than the one that starts from north of Cooktown. The road from Musgrave is likely to open earlier, however the last bit into Cape Melville, after Wakooka, is a small track that is likely to open later.

Considering that, if you do want to enjoy more remote places, it would be good if you could plan your trip for later in the dry season.

Unfortunately the national parks new camping system is also true. Up until the last season you could use the self registration stations, but from February 2012 the new system kicked in and all camping has to be booked online or by ringing 13 74 68.

This makes it very hard for Cape York travellers as it is virtually impossible to plan a Cape York trip with so much detail. You can make a booking at your arrival provided there are vacant camping spots, however the problem is that in most national parks you don't have any mobile phone or internet reception to be able to do it.

There are places outside most national parks to camp, however, considering the large sizes of many Cape York National Parks, camping outside still leaves you with a day visit in the national park itself as most outside camping spots are too far to use as a base for discovering the park for longer than a day. You wouldn't drive such distances in and out too many times.

If you are interested in more details, i recommend you get yourself a good map so that you can see exactly where the national parks boundaries are; and also i am just about to release my Cape York Travel Guide which goes into detail with FREE camping spots, including where to camp outside national parks if you haven't made a booking (as i said just before they are not all that close). The guide will be available on this future page shortly.

Hope it helped and thanks for posting :-)

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Cape York Travel Forums.


cape york travel

Plan Your Trip... the FREE Cape York Travel Pocket Guide

Get this 50 pages guide totally for FREE. It contains information that helps you getting started with planning of your trip. You get to make early-stages desicions such as when to go, how long time you should take, how to get there and get around, where to stay (general info), what will it cost.. and a short insight to what is there to see and do in Cape York.

Plan and Bring to the Trip... the full Destination Cape York Travel Guide

visit cape york

This complete 300 pages travel guide is all you need before and during your trip. Besides the background chapters on the peninsula's history and wildlife; and the comprehensive detail about all the places (down to prices, opening hours and full contact detail), it has invaluable information on at least 10 four wheel drive tracks, at least 30 guaranteed FREE camping spots on the Cape (and at least 150 on your way to the Cape), at least 40 best swimming holes, all mapped; as well as practical things - from fuel, roads, wireless internet and mobile phone reception, how to deal with the national parks booking rules; and Aboriginal land entrance and camping permits and alcohol restrictions - to vehicle preparation and accessories and necessary recovery gear by my vehicle-recovery-guy partner). Not to mention locals' tips on how to spot that croc and palm cockatoo ;-)



If you liked the books or this website, let others know about it! 

Link to it from your website, your blog, your forum post... Share it on Facebook, Tweet about it...



Every link helps other travellers!

Thank you for doing the right thing and letting others know :-)

Return to Top

Return Home to Cape York Australia


destination cape york

Latest Pages

Notice Board

Ask a Question

YOUR Adventure

YOUR Cape Memories

Keep yourself updated
on the latest -
weather, roads,
free travel tips,
and get the
FREE Cape York
Pocket Guide!
Email

Name

Then


Don't worry - your email address is totally secure.
I use it only to send you the Cape York News.

Get the FREE Pocket Guide:
cape york travel free pocket guide

Get the Big Destination Guide
destination cape york book

Available with the Big Destination Guide:
cape york dog caravan trailer
 
FEEDBACK Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
 
cape york businesses

loyalty beach