* 12 Day All Inclusive Quality Cape York Camping Experience Safari - maximum of six passengers

Type: Tours - Cape York Camping Tours

Visit the remarkable and world-renowned icons that Cape York is famous for, as well as many places beyond. On this 12 Day Cape York Safari there are only ever a maximum of six people per trip so you can ask the guide to see what you are interested in most, to a larger extent, than on bigger tours. 

This camping safari provides not only a comfortable night sleep but also a relaxed pace, with plenty of free time to enjoy the experience. You will have overnight stops at campsites and cattle stations - where you have the use of facilities; and 'bush' camps - to ensure you experience the solitude and remoteness of the top end. Your home away from home is twin-share, full height, safari tents with sewn in floors, comfortable stretchers with mattresses and linen provided. Our full equipped safari trailer provides the comforts of home and portable, sit down, toilets and showers are
provided for bush camps.

Tour Dates for 2012:

• 28 May – 8 June
• 13 June – 24 June (booked out – private charter)
• 6 July – 17 July
• 22 July – 2 August
• 8 August – 19 August
• 25 August – 5 September
• 11 September – 22 September

Click here to see other tour Departure Dates for ALL the Cape York Tours in 2012.

How to Book:  A Deposit of $400 per adult is required to confirm your place with the balance due 60 days before departure. Bookings made within 60 days of the travel date must be paid in full within 72 hours.  You can book online via the rates table's "Add to Itinerary" button. Click on it and follow the prompts, or, call to book on + 61 7 4044 9792 from outside Australia or 1800 681 685 (free call) from within Australia.  Your booking confirmation/ receipt will be emailed to you shortly after your booking request and deposit payment has been received.

Click here to jump straight to the price tables for this tour!

More Information:

Cape York is an area of wonderful contrasts. From the expansive red outback, to the lush green rainforests. From the golden beaches, to the magnificent Great Barrier Reef with it's rich coral kaleidoscope. Within this amazing diversity there are things to do and see that will fascinate everyone - from relaxed pleasure to active adventure.

You'll experience the best that Cape York has to offer. Whether you're exploring the spectacular scenery and unique ecology of Cape Tribulation by 4WD or discovering the sandstone cliffs around Cook Town and Laura or the lush tropical wetlands in Lakefield National Park, it will be an extraordinary adventure. From renowned icons such as Cape Tribulation, Daintree National Park, The Great Barrier Reef and the tip of Cape York. To experiencing an outback cattle station or stepping back in time thousands of years as you view ancient Aboriginal paintings and shelters - this trip you will go beyond the norm and take you to the extraordinary.  

Tour Itinerary:

Includes Meals as coded (B= Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner) ( Bush = Bush camping)

Day 1: The adventure begins.  We will collect you from your accommodation in Cairns before the start of our journey into one of the last remote areas of Australia - the Cape York Peninsula.  We travel along Qld’s version of the great ocean road before moving inland to the sugar town of Mossman, on the edge of the world famous Daintree National Park.  Further along we cross, by cable barge, the Daintree River, home to one of the North’s largest crocodile populations, and make our way along the coast to Cape Tribulation - where the rainforest truly does meet the sea.  After a break for lunch we leave the tarmac roads behind and traverse the Bloomfield Track through some of the most magnificent rainforest in Australia.  At the Aboriginal Community of Wujal Wujal we cross the Bloomfield River, stopping at Bloomfield Falls.  It is on to the historic Lions Den Hotel for an afternoon ale before making our way into Cooktown, our destination for the day.  Discover the history of Cooktown as you stroll the Esplanade and meet Linda at the Croc Shop, a real life Crocodile Dundee.  After a visit to the James Cook Museum you will be amazed by the view from Grassy Hill Lookout, where Cook encountered his first Gungaru (Kangaroo).  Tonight we stay at Endeavour Falls Tourist Park where you can hand feed a Barramundi. *(L / D)

Day 2: Say goodbye to the tarmac - from here on its dirt roads.   The lush pastures of the Endeavour Valley soon give way to eucalypt forest as we make our way into the Battle Camp Range.  This recently upgraded road will take us past the stunning Isabella Falls and reveal picture perfect panoramas from the top of the range.  Continuing on through Battle Camp Station we come to Lakefield National Park.  At 537,000 hectares (1.25 million acres) this is Queensland’s second largest national park.   Open savannahs, water lily covered billabongs and a mosaic of forest types support a diversity of wildlife and birds and a large population of  salt water crocodiles.  There are so many beautiful places to stop in Lakefield it becomes hard to choose however we will be stopping at The Catfish Hole, White and Red Lilly Lagoons and the Nifold Plains.  We also cross the Laura, Hann and Morehead Rivers.  Our Camp tonight is on the banks of the stunningly beautiful Saltwater Creek where you can try your luck for a Barramundi.  Tonight our campsite will be decorated with a chandelier of stars. *(B / L / D / Bush)

Day 3: Our destination for today is the Archer River, one of Cape York’s largest river systems.  With its headwaters in the Great Dividing Range on the eastern side of the Cape this magnificent river flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria on the Western Cape.  After a relaxed start we join the Peninsula Development Road (PDR) at Musgrave Station Roadhouse, one of the few remaining original telegraph stations.  The telegraph stations were built as fortified outposts and you can still see reminders of this bygone era.  Continuing north we come to the town of Coen, once a thriving centre for the gold rush days.  You may want to spend some time in the Coen Historical House or meet the locals and fellow adventurers at the sExchange Hotel.  The beautiful Coen River is the place for a dip to cool off before travelling on to the Archer River Roadhouse, a green oasis beside the Archer River.   Prepare to be amazed when you view the flood level marks on the side of the Roadhouse. *(B / L / D)

Day 4: A leisurely start today - our next destination, Bramwell Junction Roadhouse, is only two hours up the road.  Road conditions permitting we will take a side tour to the Wenlock River Falls.  We continue north to Moreton Telegraph Station, another of the original telegraph stations.  Situated on the banks of the Wenlock River, Moreton is steeped in the history of the pioneering days of Cape York.  Take a stroll along the tree lined banks of the river where clear water flows over a sandy bottom, watch for Archer Fish as they shoot insects off low branches with jets of water or just sit and enjoy the sounds of the abundant birdlife that inhabits the river valley.  This deceptively calm river becomes a raging torrent during the wet and until the introduction of the bridge was one of the major impediments to travel along the Cape.  The campground at Bramwell Junction Roadhouse, set amongst a backdrop of giant termite mounds, is one of the prettiest on the Cape. Our hosts, Jamie and Gail are real characters and can have you in hysterics with their stories of life on the Cape.  *(B / L / D) 

Day 5: Today we take on the Overland Telegraph Line (OTL).  The last remaining sections of the original OTL begin at Bramwell Junction.  Our first challenge for today will be Palm Creek with its almost vertical approach and a steep rutted departure. The OTL is a place to slow down and take time to enjoy the magnificent wilderness that we are travelling through. Further up the track we stop at the Delhunty River for a morning tea to be remembered.  Rejoining the PDR we continue on to Fruit Bat Falls for a refreshing swim followed by a visit to Twin and Elliot Falls.  Continuing north we come to the Jardine River, Australia’s largest perennial river.  Even at the peak of the dry this river flows at approximately four million litres of fresh water a second (no - that is not a typo).  Tonight we camp beside the river and once again have a chance to wet a line in the hope of gaining bragging rights. *(B / L / D)

Day 6:  There is a lot more too Northern Cape York than just visiting the Tip (Pajinka).  During World War II this area played a strategic role in the defence of Australia and today we will visit some sites that are a reminder of that era and the men and women who committed to that effort.  Starting at Jacky Jacky Airport we visit the wreck of a Beaufort Bomber and the remains of the American base that it operated from.  Then it is off to the DC3 wreck that crashed, with no survivors, on approach to the runway.  Muttee Heads is our next stop where the radar tower stands as a silent sentinel to the past.  This part of the journey also takes us to secluded beaches and the mouth of the Jardine River.  At almost a kilometer wide it truly is a site to behold.  Today’s journey also takes us through the various communities that were established by Torres Strait Islanders who moved to the mainland after WWII.  Each of these communities is named for the island that was their ancestral home.  This afternoon we finish off the day with sundowners on the beach and hopefully, a magnificent Torres Strait sunset. *(B / L / D)

Day 7: An early start today to catch your private charter boat for a trip through the Torres Strait to Thursday Island.  The island has been populated for thousands of years by the Melanesian Torres Strait Islanders, who named the Island Waiben, thought to mean 'no water or place of no water', owing to the scarcity of fresh water. In 1877, an administrative centre for the Torres Strait Islands was established by the Queensland Government. By 1883 over 200 pearling vessels were based on the Island.  During World War II, Thursday Island became the military headquarters for the Torres Strait and was a base for Australian and United States forces. As a result, the Island was bombed by the Japanese in 1942, which saw the evacuation of civilians. Following the conclusion of the War the Island tradition of ‘no footwear’ was reinstated in respect for the ancient spirits believed to reside in the Island.  Your journey today will also take you to Horn Island and the Heritage Museum. *(B / L / D)

Day 8: Cape York, named by Cook in honour of the Duke of York is properly known as Pajinka, commonly referred to as ‘The Tip’, whatever you call it, there is a magical feeling to stand at the end of our continent and know that there is no-one further north than you on mainland Australia.  On the way we pass through Lockerbie Scrub, isolated pockets of monsoonal rain forest more at home in Papua New Guinea than Australia.  We also visit Somerset, the failed Singapore of the Pacific, established by the famous (and sometimes infamous) Jardine family.  We complete the day with a drive along the Northern Beaches interspersed with craggy headlands and giant termite mounds that stand defiant to the battering of the winds. *(B / L / D)

Day 9: Time to pack the bags and head south.  After crossing the Jardine River and continuing along the Northern Bypass Road we come to Heathlands Reserve.  This vast, remote wilderness is an ancient sandstone landscape. Sediments laid down when the area was a shallow sea have been shaped over millions of years of weathering to form today's gently undulating landscape. Clear fresh water is abundant, not only in the mighty west-flowing Jardine River, which dominates the landscape, but also in swamps, boggy gullies and numerous smaller streams. This, along with the absence of food for horses and cattle, prompted early European explorers to call this place the ‘wet desert’.  A break at Bramwell Junction has us completing our Northern Peninsula Circuit before we retrace our journey on the PDR to Moreton and Batavia Downs.  It is here that we leave the PDR for a journey to Weipa and the world’s largest bauxite mine.  While in Weipa we visit Red Beach, with its extensive Aboriginal Shell Middens.  Our campground for tonight is on the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria. *(B / L / D)

Day 10: Start the day with a tour of the bauxite mine where one rail car of bauxite will make 1.2 million aluminum cans. After the tour we rejoin the PDR for our journey to Musgrave Station Roadhouse, our destination for today.  Musgrave was first built as an overland telegraph station in 1887, along with Palmerville, Fairview, Coen, Mein, Moreton, McDonnell and Paterson.  It was named after Sir Anthony Musgrave (1828 - 1888) who was Governor of Queensland from 1883 to 1888.  Called a repeater station, it had great banks of batteries and a generator to boost the power in the telegraph line.  During the early years when the aborigines were hostile the centre of the house was taken up with water tanks as it was unsafe to venture outside at night.  Holes were made in the walls of the verandahs for shooting from when the aboriginals staged an attack.  The old wooden pole at the front of the house near the public phones is one of the few original remaining poles erected when the line went through.  Under the ancient mango tree across the airstrip are the graves of some of the early pioneers.  Depending on the time of year it is possible to spot freshwater crocs in the dam behind the campground.  Wildlife abounds around the dam and includes wallabies, wallaroos and a range of bird species. *(B / L / D)

Day 11: Twenty kilometres south of Musgrave we once again leave the PDR and travel through a number of cattle stations with names such as New Dixie, Kimba, Killarney and Koolburra. We also visit the Alice River Goldfield and processing plant. This is one of the largest gold mining leases in Australia covering an expanse of 2400 square kilometres. Our camp tonight is by exclusive permission of one of the local landowners. The campsite sits above a stunning river that has been shaped and decorated by thousands of years of floods and dries - passages carved through the sandstone stand as sentinels to the nature of time.  The escarpment above our camp and a canopy of stars at night add to the mystery of this ancient location. An amazing place to spend the last night of your tour. * (B /L / D/ Bush)

Day 12: Rejoining the PDR we make our way into the small town of Laura.  Step into the Laura General Store and you will feel that you have stepped back in time.  Have your photo taken with the fully restored Baby Austin, the same model of car that made the first overland trip to the Cape setting a record of twenty five flat tyres in one day.  While in Laura we visit the Quinkan Cultural Centre to learn more of the indigenous history of the area before visiting Split Rock to view some of the world renowned art that this area is famous for.  At Lakeland we return to tarmac roads however our journey is not yet over.  Crossing the Byerstown Range we are treated to stunning views both back up the Cape and to the south.  We cross the Palmer River, once the site of one of Australia’s richest alluvial gold rushes, before coming to the regional centre of Mareeba.  As we travel down the Kuranda range we will pause for a spectacular view of Cairns and the surrounding coastal plains where your journey ends and your unforgettable memories begin. *(B / L)

Where our schedule permits - Morning Tea, Afternoon Tea and Sundowners (Nibbles & Drinks at sunset) are provided.

On this journey we are travelling to very remote regions.  Occasionally things happen which may require a change to the itinerary.  To enjoy the full benefit of your journey you should be flexible, open-minded and prepared for the unexpected - because, after all, this is outback Australia.

Features & Inclusions

• Modern, comfortable, air conditioned 4WD vehicles / no fuel levy
• Large off-road safari trailer
• Ice boxes for cold drinks (water supplied)
• 2 minute, full height, twin share tour tents (sole use available)
• Stretchers, comfortable camp mattresses with pillows, sheets and sleeping bags
• Towel, facer washer, wet bag, personal torch and tent lighting
• All National Park, site & ferry fees / accommodation costs / camp fees
• All the necessary camping equipment to make your trip comfortable and enjoyable
• Small Groups - Max of six people
• Qld’s version Great Ocean Road
• Mossman, Daintree National Park & Ferry Crossing
• Cape Tribulation, Bloomfield Track & Falls , Lion’s Den Pub
• Black Mountains, Little Annan River Gorge, Cooktown (James Cook Museum)
• Endeavour & Isabella Falls, Battlecamp Range
• Lakefield National Park
• Old Laura Homestead, Coen
• Archer, Wenlock, Laura, Hann & Morehead Rivers
• Musgrave & Moreton Telegraph Stations
• Bramwell Junction Roadhouse
• OTL (Old Telegraph Line)
• Palm & Dulcie Creeks, Delhunty River
• Fruit Bat, Elliot & Twin Falls
• Jardine River Ferry Crossing
• Seisia
• Cape York & Somerset - The Tip!
• Thursday Island, Torres Strait & Horn Island (Heritage Museum)
• Jacky Jacky Airport – Beaufort Bomber, DC3 wreck
• Muttee Heads & Mouth of the Jardine River
• Heathlands Nature Reserve
• Weipa (including Mine Tour)
• Gulf of Carpentaria
• Batavia Downs, Alice River Goldfield
• Kennedy River
• Laura
• Quinkan Aboriginal Cultural Centre
• Split Rock Art Site
• Lakeland Downs
• Byerstown Range
• Kuranda Ranges

Specials & Packages

Rates and Tariffs

Booking Information

Tour Dates for 2012:

28 May – 8 June
13 June – 24 June (booked out – private charter)
6 July – 17 July
22 July – 2 August
8 August – 19 August
25 August – 5 September
11 September – 22 September

Please note, if you are the first to book, your tour is not guaranteed until at least three people are booked. In previous years, each tour has run, but we can not guarantee the same will happen every year.

A key point of difference from other tours to Cape York is that this tour includes all your camping equipment. The price includes many things others do not, so make sure you are comparing apples with apples. Some of the key value added inclusions are:

• Intimate Thursday Island Tour (including vessel charter, TI tour, Horn Island Heritage Museum and lunch)
• Entry into James Cook Museum
• Weipa Mine Tour
• Entry to Quinkan Rock Art Site and Cultural Centre
• Fishing equipment for the enthusiasts

Booking Policy

How to Book: A Deposit of $400 per adult is required to confirm your place with the balance due 60 days before departure. Bookings made within 60 days of the travel date must be paid in full within 72 hours. You can book online via the rates table's "Add to Itinerary" button. Click on it and follow the prompts, or, call to book on + 61 7 4044 9792 from outside Australia or 1800 681 685 (free call) from within Australia. Your booking confirmation/ receipt will be emailed to you shortly after your booking request and deposit payment has been received.

CANCELLATIONS / REFUNDS: If cancellation occurs more than 60 days prior to departure an administration fee of $400 per person will be imposed. Cancellations occurring 60 – 30 days prior to travel: a 25% cancellation fee applies. Cancellations occurring less than one month prior to departure will incur the following charges: 29 - 14 days prior 50% of total, less than14 days prior 100% of total.

INSURANCE: Travel insurance is strongly recommended to cover against the possibility of a substantial financial loss. An emergency medical evacuation might cost you as much as $3000. Last minute cancellations can mean loss of the cost of the tour. This makes it extremely important to obtain travel insurance as soon as you book - or even before. There are several good insurance policies which are designed for travel within Australia. See the Travel insurance link on the left hand side navigation bar of this web page. (scroll up, look to the left)

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