Sign in with Facebook- Join for free
- Sign In
Sign in with Facebook
Helpfulness
Of course the farmers living on the Cape York peninsula can't go to Cairns all the time to pick up their mail, as driving there takes a whole day and more, and in the wet they often get stuck on their stations for months. That's why there's a mail service - a plane is going to the stations every thursday, delivering mail, freights and also vegetables.
It is possible for tourists to go with this plane!
I did the trip in 2006, although not as a tourist. So whether you are a tourist and just want to experience Cape York from the air, visiting some of the cattle stations, or whether you have a job on one of the stations: I really want to recommend this trip. Of course it is expensive - in 2006 it was about 600AUD - but if you don't mind spending this, then you can have a real, authentic Aussie experience. You see the cattle stations, the vastness and grandeur of the Cape York outback. You really can imagine then how it is for the people to live in this remote areas, as you see their houses, see the little kids playing in the sand and can also have a chat to some farmers if they have the time. I say it is an authentic experience, because this trip was not invented for tourists - the plane goes anyway, you just have the chance to participate.
The whole trip - starting from Cairns until being back to Cairns - takes about eight hours, during which you will visit about eight cattle stations. Of course if you stay on one of them, your trip will be shorter.
I recommend you book the trip way ahead. The plane is very small and therefore seats are very limited.
Updated Sep 22, 2011
Phone: 4035 9399
Website: http://www.capeyorkair.com.au/
Helpfulness
We didn't bother getting one fitted and I never felt I needed one. They might be necessary at the beginning of the dry season but, in my experience, not at the end of the season. As usual, it depends where you want to go. I can’t comment on what is required on side roads off the OTL or bypass roads e.g. Lockhart River or the Iron Range National Park. It appears to me that a lot of snorkels fitted to vehicles in Australia are more of a macho accessory than a real necessity.
Updated Sep 28, 2005
Helpfulness
If you were to take the bypass roads, it would be possible (but probably not advisable) to get to Cape York in a 2WD vehicle at the end of the dry season. It would take a sturdy vehicle since the corrugations in places are some of the worst I've seen anywhere in the world. The worst at the moment are on the Southern Bypass road heading north between the Heathlands Ranger Station turnoff and when you rejoin the route of the Old Telegraph Line - about 55 kilometres of the corrugations from hell.
Better to have a 4WD and then you can bypass the bypass ! Although everyone seems to think you need an expensive 4WD with a gas-guzzling engine (read Landcruiser or Patrol), this is definitely not the case. We did it in a Subaru Forester X in a minimalist style. No trailer, no roof-rack. If it didn't fit under the cargo blind at the back, it didn't go.
Updated Sep 28, 2005
Helpfulness
Reading the books on Cape York and following their extensive lists of ‘vital’ spares and tools, you would spend more on spares than the whole trip would cost. I’m not sure whether this is because they really believe it or because they wish to avoid the attentions of those boils on the backside of humanity, the legal profession. Most seem to recommend spare hoses, drive belts, filters, coolants, brake lines & fittings etc etc. Our vehicle is only 6 months old and when I went to the dealer in Cairns to seek their advice, they advised me to take nothing ! Good advice. We took nothing. Sod’s Law says that whatever you carry won’t be the thing that goes wrong anyway. They said that there were regular delivery trucks heading up to Cape York and they could get anything I might need to me in about 2 days. Good enough for me. Anyway, I would have no idea how to change a drive belt even if I had the spare and tools. My advice is to forget them and join the RACQ instead.
Written Sep 26, 2005
1 - 4 of 4
Reviews and photos of Cape York attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Cape York sightseeing.
Reading the books on Cape York and following their extensive lists of ‘vital’ spares and tools, you would spend more on spares than the whole trip would cost....
Q: Can anyone please advise what the OTT is like these days and if it is advisable for a 4wd to travel ALONE on this track looking at...
A: Hi,sorry to take so long in replying. The OTT is a rough track in places,you need a 4wd imho to access some of these tracks and also to cross the many creeks and major...
Read 3 Replies
1
Cape York - the great northern peninsula
After spending a week on a cattle station near Richmond, I left there because I simply could not get along with the owners and just felt lonely and sad there. My next job was a cattle station on the...
2
Cape York - a real travel experience
A trip from Brisbane to Cape York and back is an experience you will never forget. Almost 7,000 kilometres of driving, assuming some deviations from the direct route. We did it in our Subaru Forester...
3
Towns at the tip, Weipa, Bamaga and Wenlock River.
(Please note. As far as I can ascertain technically the Peninsula itself begins just below the bottom of the accompanying map. The Cape is the part (very roughly) from the Jardine river up to the...
4
In september 2000, myself and six others rode dirt bikes from a remote town called Weipa to the northernmost point in Australia and back again. It took about one week to complete and was an absolute...
Build your own Cape York page
