12 Day Self Drive Small Group Superior Cape York Tag Along Tour

Type: Tours - Cape York Tag-Along Tours

On this Cape York Tag-Along Tour you are able to visit the remarkable and world-renowned icons that Cape York is famous for, as well as many 'off the beaten track' destinations. This is a quality tour where you will travel in small groups of no more than 2 vehicles in the convoy. The company is family owned and operated and the guides are dedicated to making your trip as pleasant as possible. This trip has many bonus inclusions and special touches to make your trip, the trip of a life time.

You'll meet the animals and plants of the Australian bush in a habitat of crystal clear spring fed creeks and waterfalls, huge termite mounds and carnivorous plants; learn about the indigenous cultures and more recent histories of the region; and you'll feel the emotion and pride when you stand at the very 'top' of Australia!

Come with us to capture the emotion and romance, the tragedies and triumphs of Australia's amazing North!

How to book: This trip should be booked as far in advance as is possible. We require a deposit of 20% within 5 days of making a booking. The balance must be paid in full seven weeks prior to departure. Bookings made within seven weeks of the travel date must be paid in full within 72 hours. Please note, if you are the first to book, your tour is not guaranteed until at least three people are booked on the lead vehicle. In previous years, each tour has run, but we can not guarantee the same will happen every year.

Departure Dates for 2011:

• 19 May
• 27 Sep

This tag-along tour only ever has a maximum of two vehicles in the convoy so advance bookings are strongly advised. You can travel in the lead vehicle if you wish on this same itinerary, with no more than 6 passengers.

Tour Itinerary:

Includes Meals as coded (B= Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner) ( Laund ) - Laundry facilities.

Tour Itinerary:

Includes Meals as coded (B= Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner) ( Laund ) - Laundry facilities

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 on the upper reaches of the Kennedy River on Koolburra Station.  This stunning river has been shaped and decorated by thousands of years of floods and dries - passages carved though the sandstone stand as sentinels to the passage of time.  The sandstone escarpment above our camp holds evidence of the ancestral owners of this land and the canopy of stars adds to the mystery of this ancient location. *(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

• Lead vehicle has no more than 4-5 passengers;
• Fully equipped escort vehicle and camp trailer serving great quality camp food;
• Qualifed tour guides with extensive experience (hold Senior First Aid);
• Minimum one – maximum 2 vehicles in convoy.
• 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

Rates and Tariffs

Booking Information

Departure Dates for 2011:

* 19 May
* 27 Sep

More information about meals (because we know how important food is)
Breakfasts: We serve a mixture of hot and cold breakfast. Hot breakfast consist of meals such as bacon & eggs, pancakes, good old spaghetti or baked beans on toast. Cold breakfast consists of cereals, toast (with plenty of spreads) and fresh fruits. There is always a kettle on for steaming hot coffee or tea, or if you prefer fruit juice is also available.
Lunches: Fresh sandwiches, toasted sandwiches and wraps with fresh meats and salads are served for lunch for the most part –
there might be a couple of surprises thrown in as well. Again, the jug will be on for tea and coffee and there is always fresh fruit
available.
Dinners: Always hearty – steak, chops, sausages, chicken, stews, bolognaise – veggies and salads – good stick to your sides
camping food. Plenty of yummy desserts to finish off the meal.
Morning & Afternoon Teas (where schedule permits): A short break for a cuppa and a biscuit (or two), or a piece of cake or
some cheese and fruit.
Sundowners: As the word suggests nibbles and drinks at sunset – this will take the edge off whilst dinner is being prepared – a
really lovely way to move into the much more relaxed part of the day.
Your Vehicle
Have your vehicle checked out thoroughly by a good mechanic. Your mechanic can also check your tool kit and spares to ensure
you are carrying the appropriate gear. Remember to have the following checked on your vehicle:
· Petrol Engines – spark plugs, plug leads, points, coil and condenser.
· Diesel Engines – fuel filters, air cleaner element, injector and glow plug system.
Your vehicle must also be inspected by a 4WD specialist. This is vital as it will save you a lot of time and money by repairing a problem, before you leave for the bush. The vehicle inspection must check:
· Wheel bearings – remove, inspect and re-grease
· Brake system – shoes, master & wheel cylinders & rubbers, hand brake
· Suspension – shackle rubbers, spring sag, shock absorbers, mounts and rubbers
· Tyres – tread, spare, wheel nuts tightened correctly
· Fan belts and Radiator hoses
· Rear pinion nut
· Winch / tow points back and front (compulsory)
· After market products – including but not limited to winches, high-lift kits etc
You will be sent a Vehicle Inspection Form that will need to be completed by the mechanic and provided to us prior to departure.

What is not included on these tours
· Fuel and other vehicular costs (including cost of mechanical vehicle inspections prior to trip and any repairs to vehicles prior to and during the trip, recovery by outside source, evacuations etc)
· Camping equipment (apart from cooking and eating utensils and equipment used in the carrying and preparation of meals)
· Optional tours – except as stated on itinerary
· Ferry crossing fees. Daintree River $15, Jardine River $99.
· Alcohol and Incidentals

Booking Policy

DEPOSIT / PAYMENT: We require a deposit of 20% within 5 days of booking. This confirms your booking. The balance must be paid in full seven weeks prior to departure. Bookings made within seven weeks of the travel date must be paid in full within 72 hours.

CANCELLATIONS / REFUNDS: If cancellation occurs more than seven weeks prior to departure a cancellation fee of $150 per person will be deducted from your refund. Cancellations occurring less than one month prior to departure will incur the following charges: 15-31 days prior 80% of Total, 14 Days or less 100% of Total Price.

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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