CAPE YORK TRIP - Winter 2011

[Steve F]

Just noticed the dates are last years its 6th to 8th this year so ignore the opera in the outback bit

Cheers
Steve

[Dave]

Oh well, there are campfire activities around the communal fire every night, so I'm sure there will be something for all to enjoy.

Dave

[glend]

I have a few options depending on how things work out: I may be towing a small caravan around Qld for most of the winter. If not in total Grey Nomad mode I'll be up in Qld from mid-August onward (at my son's place in Dysart and doing light tours out from there. like to Longreach, etc). I was in Cairns in 2008 and can recommend the route up the Gregory Development Road to Charter Towers. For those that haven't been to Charter Towers its a beautiful town with lots of old gold mines around the area. From Charter Towers its a nice short drive down to Townsville, and the country really changes on that road. Thinking of going on up the Gregory to the Kennedy Development Road and to Cairns via the Atherton Tablelands. People do park their caravans or camper trailers at the Cairns Caravan Parks for storage while they head up to the Cape. I'll be doing DIY servicing of the KJ in Cairns and already have most of my spares (from the Desert Trip), and new gear is going on now (like new shocks last week).

If there is a split of the group into two trips I can go with the earlier one because I will be there already and don't have to contend with a 'leave roster'...... hahaha.
Cheers
Glen

[Steve F]

I'm with Glen, I've done the Gregory Development road up to Charters Towers and its certainly the quickest and nicest way to get to Cairns. We did Sydney to St George, Emerald, Charters Towers and then Cairns, total trip 2 1/2 days

Spares wise I have some engine pulleys, fan belt and hoses and will continue to replace bits and pieces and keep the old bits as spares since most of them are being replaced just as a matter of course. I also plan for new shocks as well as upper control arm bushes etc and will probably take the old ones along just in case.

I think I'll also do the CREB as I've done the Bloomfield before, obviously it does depend on the weather as well as the status of the track at the time also if anyone else wants to do it. Not keen on doing it by myself

Cheers
Steve

[Dieselcon]

The Gall boys take their CVan everywhere. Amazing checkout the link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk6KJ...e_gdata_player

Wish I was going with you guys
Cheers jose

[Steve F]

Looks like it took winches and two vehicles to drag that thing most of the way

Cheers
Steve

[Hunno]

Good effort thou. Makes me think an off road camper wouldn't be to much trouble

[glend]

Cape trippers might want to keep an eye on what's happening with cyclone Yasi in FNQ as it seems to have the potential (due to its scale) to drastically change all the creeks, water crossings, and roads in the Cape for a considerable time to come.

[Dave]

Good points Glen, but lets not worry yet. There is still 8 months before we go (unless people are going before Sept). Qld is encouraging visitors so I'm sure they will do their best to reopen tourist 'drawcards' and infrastructure ASAP.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Larry in March 2006, closely followed by Severe Tropical Cyclone Monica in April 2006 caused huge damage to the Cape York region, but the Cape was all open later that same year. Here is a link http://members.iinet.net.au/~rwindeyer/WebCYTrip2.pdf showing a 4WD trip from July 2006 (pretty wet!), and check out http://wildgeese.org.au/BMWSafariToCapeYork2006 from August 2006 for a good read.

If you want to check out data on the 2006 storms, see http://reg.bom.gov.au/cyclone/history/larry.shtml for Larry and http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/history/monica.shtml for Monica .

"Severe Tropical Cyclone Larry crossed the tropical north Queensland coast near Innisfail as a Mid Level Category 4 during the morning of Monday 20 March 2006. Fortunately, no lives were lost and no serious injuries were reported. However, between Babinda and Tully, damage to infrastructure and crops was extensive with the total estimated loss upwards of half a billion dollars. To a somewhat lesser extent, damage also occurred in areas north to Cairns, south to Cardwell and on the Atherton Tablelands.
Extensive damage to infrastructure and crops in the area around Innisfail was estimated at upwards of AUS$500 million. About 10 000 houses were damaged. Flooding disrupted road and rail access for several days."

"Severe Tropical Cyclone Monica caused significant impact on the Australian coast in April 2006. It crossed the Queensland east coast south of Lockhart River as a Category 3; moved into the Northern Territory and impacted on the small islands north of the Arnhem Land coast as a Category 5; before finally making landfall on the northwest Arnhem Land coast, just 35km west of Maningrida as a Category 5 cyclone."

Yasi is now a Category 5 and will be when it crosses the coast near Cairns - and it will cause a lot of damage and destruction, but we are still very early in the year...

Dave

[Hunno]

You know what it means to me - More Adventure!!!