If you are looking for great things to do in Australia, a Cape York trip is a fantastic adventure outdoors. Cape York is not far from Cairns, but it's real Australian outback and feels like very remote Australia. There are some great four wheel drives, river crossings, Aboriginal rock painting and some spectacular wilderness scenery in the Lakefield, Iron Range and Jardine River National Parks. There are the historical Cooktown, mining town Weipa and Cape York – the northernmost point of Australia; and off the coast are the Torres Strait IslandsHere is some information about the place, and in the end of this page is a Cape York map.
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Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
How to Get to Cape York Australia There are two roads in southern Cape York Peninsula – either you drive north from Mareeba through Mt Molloy, Mt Carbine, Lakeland and Laura, or you drive the coastal way up from Cairns, past Port Douglas, Daintree National Park and Cooktown. This is the less used way which takes you right to Lakefield National Park, but Cooktown is worth a visit in any case and it is also reachable by a side trip from the more usual inland way up to the Cape York Peninsula - turn right towards Cooktown in Lakeland.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Cooktown Australia - Cape York Australia Cooktown is the largest town on the Cape York Peninsula and it claims to be the place for the first European settlement. In fact it was a temporary camp of Captain Cook and his companions while they were repairing their ship Endeavour. But there are some beautiful old buildings in town and a lovely lighthouse on top of the Grassy Hill. There is the James Cook Museum, a James Cook statue, and a statue for the first kangaroo that Europeans ever saw when they first came to Australia. There are also a few galleries such as Charlie Tanner Gallery and Vera Scarth-Johnson Gallery; a beautiful botanic gardens in Nature’s Powerhouse, and an interesting cemetery. You can climb the Mt Cook (413m), visit the Black Mountains National Park just south of the town, or have a few beers at the Lion’s Den Hotel outside the town – worth turning in! There are a few good pubs in Cooktown too, and you can stay there, or you may like to stay at Pam’s Place, Seaview Motel, Alamanda Inn, Hillcrest B&B, Tropical Breeze Caravan Park or Peninsula Caravan Park.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Lakeland and Laura - Cape York Australia Back in Lakeland, the road continues north towards Laura - a small settlement with a pub and a grocery store in the post office, famous for some of the best Aboriginal rock painting sites on the Cape York peninsula. There are about 1200 galleries around Laura, but only Split Rock and Guguyalangi galleries are open to the public. Both galleries have many overhangs and there is a path from the car park that first leads to the Split Rock, and then up to a lookout point on Turtle Rock. From here there is another walk to Guguyalangi group of galleries. Across the road from the Split rock and Guguyalangi are Giant Horse Galleries, which you can visit with a guide from Laura Visitor Centre. The Aboriginal rock painting in all galleries is fantastic – as good as the famous Aboriginal art examples in Kakadu in Northern Territory. You can camp near Laura River, or you can stay at the Quinkan Hotel.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Lakefield NP and Old Laura Homestead - Cape York Australia North from Laura is Lakefield National Park. Lakefield is Queensland’s second largest national park and one of the best national parks in Cape York. It covers 537,00ha of wetlands, mudflats, and river estuaries with both saltwater and freshwater crocodiles and eucalypt and paperbark woodlands with hare wallabies and plenty of birdlife. There are many bushwalks and camping sites throughout the park, as well as Aboriginal history and European heritage in form of the Old Laura Homestead. The New Laura Homestead houses a ranger’s station where you can get information about the park. Be croc-wise: don’t go close to waterholes in this park to swim, canoe, camp, clean fish or prepare food at the water’s edge – Australian crocodiles here are deadly.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Musgrave, Coen and Archer River - Cape York Australia North of Lakefield National Park is Musgrave, where there is a telegraph station, and north from here is Coen - the third largest town on the Cape York peninsula after Cooktown and Weipa. There are a few grocery shops in Coen, and you can stay at Coen Camping Ground, Exchange Hotel, or Homestead Guest House. West from here is the Mungkan Kandju National Park with some good camping in the eucalypt woodlands and Melaleuca swamps but there are no facilities so you have to be self-sufficient. There are no bushwalking tracks either but you can walk along rivers and around waterholes, just watch out for crocodiles. Other wildlife includes wallabies and wallaroos, palm cockatoos, and waterbirds such as pelicans and jabirus. At Archer River there is the Archer River Roadhouse where you can stay over the night or just stop for a cold beer and a hamburger.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Lochart River and Iron Range - Cape York Australia As you continue driving north after Acher River, on your right-hand side is a turnoff to Lochart River and Iron Range National Park. Lochart River is an Aboriginal community where there is a shop, and Lochart River Arts and Culture Centre. You don’t need a permit to enter this community but you are not allowed to take photos. North of Lochart River is Iron Range National Park – a park of international significance. It protects the largest area of lowland tropical rainforests left in Australia and has a variety of vegetation and a fauna that is similar to that of Papua New Guinea: cassowaries, palm cockatoos, eclectus parrots and green pythons. There is a 10km walking track that starts from the Rainforest camping area which takes you through the rainforests and woodlands where you can see the wildlife. There are camping areas at Rainforest, Gordon Creek, Chilli Beach and Cooks Hut. The park is only open during the dry season from June to November.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Weipa - Cape York Australia Back on the main road there is a left-hand turnoff to Weipa – the largest town in the northern Cape York Peninsula. The reason for 's size is the world’s largest bauxite deposit that is mined here, but there is also a shop, a post office, an ATM and a golf club, and you can go on fishing tours or take a scenic flight to see the area from the air. You can stay at Heritage Resort, Albatross Bay Resort or Weipa Camping Ground.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Old Telegraph Road - Cape York Australia Back on the main road towards the tip of the Cape York Peninsula, you’ll pass the Wenlock River Bridge, Moreton Telegraph Station, Bertiehaugh Homestead and Bramwell Homestead before you come to the start of the adventurous Telegraph Road. There are bypass roads around it in case you are not a very adventurous driver. Only choose to drive the Telegraph Road if you know how to operate a 4WD properly and be prepared for some rough road and river crossings. In the southern part of it you cross the Dulhunty River and in the northern part there are the beautiful Twin Falls and Fruit Bat Falls. If you choose the bypass roads, in the northern end there is the Jardine River Roadhouse and a ferry that takes you across the river.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Jardine River National Park - Cape York Australia East of here is the Jardine River National Park - another amazing national park on the Cape York Peninsula with unique flora and fauna with Gondwana origins (Remember that the animals with Gondwana origins include the deadly saltwater crocodiles..). Birdlife reminds of Papua New Guinea with species like Torresian crows, red-bellied pitta and paradise kingfishers. Other animals in the Jardine River National Park include spotted cuscus, giant treefrogs and knob-tailed geckos. There are a few short walking tracks in the park and you can camp here but you need to book with EPA.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Bamaga and Mutee Heads - Cape York Australia North of Jardine River is the township of Bamaga where there is a shop, a petrol station, a newsagency and the Resort Bamaga. South-east of Bamaga is Mutee Heads where there is the wreck of a small airplane that crashed here during the WWII on its way to New Guinea. North of Muttee Heads is the Injinoo Aboriginal Community (permit required), and Umagico where there is a shop and an eatery.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
The Top of Cape York Australia North of Bamaga is New Mappoon and a road that takes you through Lockerbie to the tip of Cape York Peninsula where there are Somerset, Punsand Bay with some good camping at Punsand Bay Safari & Fishing Lodge; Australia’s northernmost rainforest in Lockerbie Scrub; Paijinka where there is the Pajinka Wilderness Lodge & Camping ground run by Aboriginal People; and Cape York – the northernmost point of Australia.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Torres Strait Islands - Cape York Australia Back south on the western coast is Loyalty Beach with Loyalty Beach Campground, and Seisia - an islander town where there is Seisia Holiday Park and Seisia Seaview Lodge, and Peddells’ Ferry Service that takes you to the interesting and multicultural Torres Strait Islands. Thursday Island is the most populated of the islands, with a town of 2300 people, where there is the Japanese Pearl Memorial, Green Hill Fort, a museum and the All Souls Quetta Memorial Church.
Courtesy of Tourism Queensland
Thursday Island - Cape York AustraliaYou can stay at the Grand Hotel, Federal Hotel, Rainbow Motel or Jardine Motel and there are plenty of eateries. There is also a Boat Club, a Bowls Club, a post office, an ATM and a few shops. Horn Island is larger but less inhabited. It has the Torres Strait Heritage Museum & Art Gallery, a shop and a restaurant, and you can stay at the Elikiam Holiday Park or Gateway Torres Strait Resort. McDonald Charter Boats takes you here from Thursday Island, or you can fly Qantas daily from Cairns.
Here's a Cape York map, where I have tagged the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can click on the tags to see what places they are, and double-click anywhere on the map to zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the map to move around, and if you want to see the satellite image with Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top right hand corner.
NOTE: This website is written in British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all correct in the language used in Australia.
