Cape York 2009 – Trip Summary.

Executive Summary

From the Gold Coast to the tip of Cape York and back the trip took 24 days, of which 4 days were basically consumed by travel. Over that time I travelled almost 7,500 kms and used close to 840 litres of diesel, giving a fuel economy of 11.25 l/100km, which I'm pretty happy with. The worst economy was 12.8 l/100km travelling from Weipa to Seisa and included some pretty rough stuff along the Old Telegraph track and some beach and headland hopping around Somerset near the tip.

The roads on the whole were pretty good, especially the development roads and the bypasses with a lot of road work being done to improve the worst bits. They were however very dusty and made travelling in convoy unpleasant at times. Some of the worst roads were the tracks leading off to interesting places like Captain Billy Landing. The weather was generally fine and dry with only one or two overnight showers, unfortunately it was also overcast a bit of the time, especially when we wanted good light for photos of the various waterfalls.

The cars didn't really have any problems apart from a tyre blowout for Brett. The two Cruisers made very easy work of the rough stuff and the Pajero did everything they did but probably not with the same ease, although I think my fuel economy was probably the best.

Highlights

• The waterfalls at Twin/Elliot Falls and Fruit Bat Falls.

• Actually getting to the tip of Cape York

• Driving the iconic Old Telegraph Track

• The scenery on a beach walk at Captain Billy Landing, although not the wind

• The company, thanks to Richard, Ross and Brett for making the trip so enjoyable

• The Pajero performed beautifully and did all that was asked of it.

Lowlights

• No fish were caught

• dust and corrugations

• No fish were caught

• People who insist on using their Generators 24 hrs a day at a lovely remote camping spot

• No fish were caught

Dramas

The only major drama was Brett having a tyre blow-out and then losing a windscreen on the way home. There was no reason we could see for it as there was no puncture and the valve seemed to be seated OK. This happened on the bitumen road not far out of Cooktown so a quick detour and an unplanned day in Cooktown resulted. The only other minor dramas were that I snapped one of the folding joints on my OzTent when I was packing up in Seisa but I had my little travelling tent as a back up and Richard deleted a folder of photos by mistake but he should be able to reconstruct them from the memory card when he gets home.

Participants

• Richard and Ross – Landcruiser 2005 TurboDiesel, snorkel, locked, raised, etc
• Brett – Landcruiser Sahar V8 Petrol, snorkel, raised
• Me – NS SWB Pajero diesel, snorkel, Auxiliary fuel tank.