Dion and Lindy's Trip to the Tip, take 2.
After what went down last year on our Cape York trip, we were given the opportunity to travel back to Cape York, tackling the tracks with the Tuff Touring crew.
Here is our itinerary and thoughts.
Wed 25th June – Left home, stayed at Ingenia Holidays Murray Bend (south west of Tocumwal)
Thurs 26th June - Camped at Lake Wyangan north of Griffith. A beautiful free camp on the lake, with decent toilets.
Fri 27th June – Stayed at Meralda Station in Cobar. We booked 2 nights in their retro on-site van. There was no heating or cooling in the van, so we froze overnight. The stay was still fantastic though. The amenities were very unique, rustic, lots of character. I’ll share some photos below. On the first night we enjoyed a campfire meal, with the produce supplied by the station. It was amazing! The hosts prepare it all, and supply all the cooking utensils, camp oven, and plates etc. and you cook ir yourself on your camp fire. So good! On the second night the 4 of us enjoyed a sunset bath in the Bedford Bathhouse, with some drinks and nibbles. Absolutely beautiful!!
Sun 29th June – Travelled through Bourke, and stayed in a cabin at Lower Lila Retreat, a station set on the Warrego River, 60 odd k’s north of Bourke. An incredible outback paradise, created with so much heart by Heather, the station owner. She has added 4 cabins on the banks of the river, and you can camp along the river also. Heather runs women’s retreats, holds events, and also runs an empowerment retreat for young girls. She told me a little of her story, which covered me in goosebumps, and then told me she has written an autobiography. Which of course I bought. We had ummed and aahhed about staying here or not, but we are SO GLAD we did! It was worth the 22ks of dirt track from the Mitchell Hwy. The kids enjoyed kayaking, playing pool in the immaculate camp “community” kitchen, and I enjoyed the photography opportunities. We finally got to wear shorts and thongs!! We were warm overnight too which was lovely! We got up early morning to watch the sunrise over the river. And then we packed up and headed north into Qld.
Mon 30th June – Camped at Charlotte Plains Station, approximately 40ks east of Cunnamulla. A 2 night stay. This is by far our favourite place to visit and camp at. There is a thermal bore that continuously runs, with a pool bathing area, and baths scattered at the main bore, and along the bore drain. The station was established in the 1860’s, and has been in the current family since 1923 - 102 years!!
The bore was drilled in 1892 to a depth of 561m, where thermal artesian waters started flowing. Initially flowing at 11 million litres a day, it was reduced to 2 millions litres a day in the ‘70’s. Its purpose was to supply essential water to the property and also surrounding properties. The water comes out at 42° and is enriched in minerals from the Great Artesian Basin.
Wed 2nd July – A big drive day, leaving Charlottes Plains around 9am, and arriving in Barcaldine at 5pm. We stayed at the Barcaldine Showgrounds, which had good amenities. It cost $42.50 for the night.
Thu 3rd July – Another decent drive to a Hipcamp camp ground – ‘Petes Place’, west of Charters Towers. A great little spot, on a damn/lake, with beautiful sunset views, and a drop toilet. The host was very friendly and accommodating.
Fri 4th July – a 2 night stay at Big 4 Tasman Holiday Parks Rowes Bay in Townsville. The park was good, great amenities, a pool, camp kitchen. We spend Saturday checking out Townsville as we had only driven through it last year. What a nice place to visit! We were also meeting up with the Tuff Touring crew that we often travel with. Scott in the Hilux, Paulie & Kate in the Prado, Anthony & Lexi in the 80 Series, and Ian in the Colorado.
Sun 6th July – A large 76km drive to Big Crystal Creek Campground where we set up camp and went and had a little swim. It was cold, but refreshing and beautiful. I think these are one of the campgrounds that they either oversell, or people camp there without booking, as it was very full, and hard to find a little spot to camp. But we made it work. It was a lovely little spot.
Mon 7th July – 190km drive to Blencoe Falls Campground, however the last 100kms took around 2.5-3 hours, it is slow going, and a very narrow goat track up into the tablelands.
On the way to camp, we detoured to check our Wallaman Falls. It is located 51km south-west of Ingham. Wallaman Falls is the highest, permanent, single-drop waterfall in Australia. The main lookout provides a clear view of the 268m drop of Stony Creek. Absolutely spectacular!
The campsites were beautiful and right on the Blencoe Creek. We had a 2 night stay booked here. So on Tuesday we had a slow morning, enjoyed a relax, a little swim, and tried to find the walking track. Which we had no luck with. We drove to the Blencoe Falls lookout, and wow!! Blencoe Falls is impressive!!! The top falls is 90m, and then cascades a further 230m to the bottom of Blencoe Gorge. Just stunning.
Wed 9th July – Tully Gorge – they say Tully is the wettest town in Australia, and well, it rained most of the time we were there ha-ha. The little falls we found nearby were beautiful.
Thurs 10th July – Babinda Boulders – we loved it here. There is a free camp near the Boulders, but fills up very fast! So get there early in the day if you can. Amenities were ok. And only a 300m walk to the Boulders. There are 2 designated swimming spots, and an area that is highly dangerous. We went for a swim in the main swimming area and then in the hippy pool, which was stunning! The kids were jumping off big granite boulders into the creek.
Friday 11th July – 3 night stay at Cairns Coconut Holiday Resort – a fantastic caravan park for families. You hardly have to leave. Pools, waterslides, splash park, mini golf, basketball courts, playground, bar, café, great amenities. This was a second stay, and we highly recommend.
Monday 14th July - Cairns - Lions Den Hotel via CREB Track. We found the CREB track to be relatively easy for a 4wd track, but can imagine how dangerous and hard it would be with a sprinkle of rain! Those long hill climbs on clay would be insane with a bit if dampness to it. We did take a little hard side hill climb, and ended up hitting our passenger side rock-sliders up, and we were unable to open passenger side rear door. Whoops! Haha. This was also Lindy’s birthday so we had cake and sang happy birthday at the top.
Ooooo, this was also the day they decided to set the bush on fire, without notice! So we were driving through spot fires for a couple of k’s. Which was quite intense.
The Lions Den was awesome!!! So glad we got to stay here. We had a few cold beers, and dinner. Camped out the back. The amenities were awesome!!!! Go check it out when you can!
Tuesday 15th July - Lions Den Hotel to Lakefield NP via Cooktown, and Old Laura Homestead.
We stopped in Cooktown for a look around, and get supplies and fuel. How stunning is that place! Perfect weather, magic views out to the ocean. We enjoyed some lunch at a café on the Esplanade.
Began the drive through Lakefield National Park, and visited the Old Laura Homestead, which we found to be stunning feature of the area.
We camped on the Kennedy River, and kept well away from the river bank. It gave off mega croc vibes! Haha.
Wednesday 16th July - Lakefield NP – Coen. An easy drive through the national park. Made a couple of stops along the way. We had a great campsite on the Coen River, known as the Bend Campground. We crossed the river, and camped in the river bed. Its soft sand, so low tyre pressures are handy. We all enjoyed a little dip to cool off.
Thursday 17th July - Coen - Moreton Station via Frenchman’s Track.
Frenchmans Track was pretty cool. Nothing too hard, until you get to the Pascoe River! The entry and exit to the river is hectic! And then you have to contend with fast flowing, high level waters hiding plenty of rocks and boulders under the water. Thankfully a crew had just driven through it, so they marked the best line to take through the river. I’m glad they did it, there was no way I was getting in that river! We all made it down, through, and back up again, with plenty of wheel lifts and crossing water ruts to give some entertainment. We had planned to stay at the Wenlock River campsite, but there was already a pretty big group camped up, soo we decided to continue on and head to Moreton Station. As we rolled in, there was a thick smoke haze, it was damp, hot and humid. We made camp on a large grassed area, enjoyed showers, and sat around the campfire.
Friday 18th July - Left Moreton Telegraph Station, to check in at Bramwell Station. They were fully booked for dinner, so decided no point in hanging around and we may as well start tele track to give us an extra night if we need/want it.
Water crossings- Palm Creek - the change in the entry was crazy compared to last year when we checked it out. It’s probably an extra 5m+ in length and almost inverted down! Crazy! So we went and found the chicken track lol.
Ducie Creek - nice and simple with several exits that you can make as easy or hard as you feel.
South & North Alice creeks Not long after crossing Ducie Creek, we had a mischief. The Hilux had broken a sway bar link, and had damaged the CV boot. We spent around an hour and a half removing the sway bar, and attempting a repair on the cv boot. We found a beaut campsite in the Dalhunty river where you can have a little dip near the waterfall. Turns out there’s another spot a little further along the river, that’s meant to be superb. Next time we’ll check it out.
Saturday 19 July - water crossings;
Dalhunty River
Bertie Creek
Chlomondeley Creek
Gunshot Creek - wow! So iconic! We spend a good few hours here waiting for cars to go through, deciding which way we were going to do. There are 3 main entries to Gunshot Creek – The main gunshot, a smaller gunshot, and the one with the bend in it that I’d seen so many cars get damaged because of the way the track leans into the bank. There is also a handful of other ‘chicken tracks’ to the left of the main 3. It’s a busy little area!
2 of our crew decided to take the bend entry, and we ended up having to winch the Colorado around the bend as the canopy was getting caught up on the bank. The other 3 cars, including us, decided to do the smaller gunshot. But just getting to the top of it was an ordeal! There is a massive bog hole, with a soft dirt hill to navigate. Did I mention we spent several hours here?!
All 3 of the vehicles got down the smaller gunshot with ease! We were pumped!
Cockatoo Creek – we spent a bit of time to decide the best line to take to cross this one. There are holes in the rocks and rocks to navigate around. But we all made it through no worries.
Sheldon Lagoon
The Turtle pond – River’s favorite spot to stop.
Sailor Creek
We finished the southern end of Tele Track, and headed into the northern end. We visited and swam at Elliot and Twin Falls Camped at Elliot creek campground.
Sunday 20th July - Northern end of Tele Track, A morning swim at Fruit bat falls, Plenty more water crossings including:
Scrubby Creek
Canal Creek
Sam Creek - make sure you stop here! We didn’t and I’m spewing! Crystal clear waters, a small waterfall, it’s beautiful!
Mistake Creek
Cannibal Creek
Cypress Creek (the famous log bridge crossing)
Logan’s Creek
Arrived at Nolan’s Brook creek and camped in the most perfect spot on the south side of the creek. Watched plenty of people cross Nolan’s, and a couple drown their cars. A long swim in the creek, jumping off trees, swinging off swings. This is my favourite camp on the Tele track.
Monday 21st July - Woke up early and our drivers were slightly nervous to cross Nolan’s, but they all did it with absolute ease!
And that was it! The Old Telegraph Track completed! What a bloody journey!!! I’m so stoked we got to do it!!!
We got back to the bypass road, crossed the Jardine River with no delays, and camped at Alau Beach campground (I loved this place from last year). We went into Bamaga and did our grocery shopping (the last one was at Cairns 9 or so days earlier, and wont shop again until we arrive back in Cairns in 7 days) It rained a lot. We had a long awaited shower! And watched the sunset.
Tuesday 22nd July - Left Alau, checked out the plane crash sites around Bamaga Airport, went to Seisia pier to drop a line in (no luck though). Stopped in at the croc tent, and bought new tshirts lol. Then arrived at Punsand Bay camping . We set up, sweated our arses off, and headed for a perfect dip in the pool. Enjoyed cocktails and delicious pizza.
Wednesday 23rd July - the tip! Arrived at Pajinka early morning, made the trek on foot over the rocks, to the tip. We had to wait for our turn at the sign, as there was a group already at the tip. Got our photos with the sign, and flew the drone for extra shots. A tour group arrived, which limited our time. We walked back over the rocks, back to the cars, and headed for the old abandoned resort which is only 1k or so from the tip. It’s such a shame it’s been abandoned. It would have been an incredible space to stay. The pool is full of water, but the environment is taking over. We then headed to Somerset on the east coast of the cape tip to do the 5 beach drive. It’s a pretty easy meander over headlands and beach drives. We ate lunch at the end of the 5th beach, and when we went to leave, the Prado in our crew had starter motor issues. Thankfully he had a spare stater motor, and took the group a couple of hours to swap the starter motors over. It was a success and we were on the road again. Headed back to Punsand Bay for a swim, and some dinner and drinks. I enjoyed a steak with veggies and it was delicious!
Thursday 24th July - A rest day! After continuously being on the move since Cairns (10 days) we were keen to have a slow morning, cook up a decent breakie, clean out or swags, do some washing, and just relax. It was lovely. Summing in the pool, more cocktails at the bar. And dinner with the group.
Friday 25th July - Up early and heading south! Stopped at Bamaga for a quick shop top up, and crossed the Jardine Ferry around 10am. Stuck to the Bypass road heading south. Stopped at Bramwell Junction Roadhouse for a bite to eat. Continued south to Archer River where we found a nice little campsite on the river bed around 5K From Archer River Roadhouse. Keeping croc safe, we camped away from the waters edge, and Summer surrounded her swag with chairs as protection.
Saturday 26th of July – Heading further south. Smashed out some k’s on the red corrugations, and enjoyed some of the smooth tarmac roads in between. Decided to stay at Hann River Roadhouse and was an amazing little place this was. We were meant to stay here last year but didn’t as we pushed on to make some ground. But I am really glad we stayed here this time around. Big grassy sites, toilets and showers, cold beer and hot food, so many animals, and a shipping container pool! The pool was perfect to cool off in. We were able to feed the baby goats a bottle! (River’s highlight on the trip haha) A chicken had made a nest on the roof of the fuel pumps, and the eggs had all hatched, so we watched them gather the chicks and bring them down to the ground. Dion dropped a line in the river, but no luck (he hadn’t caught a single thing on this trip haha). We highly recommend staying here.
Sunday 27th July – We left Hann River Roadhouse and continued south. Our original plan was to tackle the Old Coach Road, however with the damage some of our convoy had, and some didn’t have a spare tyre due to a huge puncture, and also hearing that Old Coach Road is VERY slow going, and not a lot to see and do, we decided this wasn’t going to be the trip to tick it off. So we took another road and headed for Maytown at the southern end of Old Coach Road. It was fairly uneventful, other than coming across some cattle that were being mustered on horseback. That was pretty cool to see. Camp for the night was on the North Palmer River near Maytown. Quite a pretty little spot. It was our last night camping all together in the bush as a group, our last campfire together after spending the last 3 weeks together.
Monday 28th July – We left the dirt roads and corrugations behind us, hit the black-top, and aired up. A bitter-sweet moment.
Made our way into Mareeba for the night were a couple of us booked rooms with aircon and beds! We stayed at Tropical Travellers Park and it was really lovely. The rooms looked brand new (I think they are 4-5 years old) and the large, grassed sites were great. The laundry and camp kitchen were awesome too. I think they just need to update their camper showers and toilets as they are still old.
Tuesday 29th July – We said goodbye to our Tuff Touring crew, as they all headed south from here. We were heading to the coast to spend 5 nights in Palm Cove before heading home.
Sun 3rd August – Balgal Beach Camping
Mon 4th August – Aramac Rec & Camping Grounds – this was awesome!! $25 for powered or unpowered site, flat sites, some with concrete pads, amenities were immaculate! Laundry facilities. Highly recommended!
Tues 5th August – Lara Wetlands just south of Barcaldine – a beautiful station stay on a lake with a thermal bore pool which sits around 43 degrees.
Wed 6th August – Back at Charlotte Plains for another 2 night stay, this time we did the homestead self-guided tour.
Friday 8th August – Cobar Caravan park – treated ourselves to a cabin.
Sat 9th August – Finley Country Club – rooms are old, but freshly painted, the hotel was lovely and meals were fantastic.
Sunday 10th August – arrived back home!
Things to note:
Bed time was between 7.30pm-8.30pm. A late night was 9pm! lol Wake up time was often around 5.30am. No alarms, just wake up to the sounds of birds most mornings. We were usually up and ready to leave by 7-7.30am.
We've travelled several times around Australia with the Tuff Touring crew. A group of friends who love to have epic adventures around Australia. Some trips together include the half lap in 2023, Simpson Desert in 2024, and other local trips.
See our camp set up in the video below.
