Cape York Complete

Itinerary

Day 1 Cairns

Gateway to Far North Queensland, tropical Cairns is the best place for ocean exploration.

Day 2 Quinkan Country

Hitting the road in Cairns, watch World Heritage-listed tropical rainforest give way to rolling savannah and you're in 'Quinkan Country', named after the local Aboriginal spirit figures that decorate 30,000-year-old rock art galleries. Seek them out by climbing a sandstone escarpment to Split Rock, then camp by the riverside in Lakefield National Park.

Day 3 Merluna

Spend the morning exploring Lakefield's waterlily-garlanded billabongs, eyes open for animals and birdlife. Then drive onwards past Musgrave's historic telegraph station to the Cape outpost of Coen and the famous Archer River Roadhouse where truckies chow down on burgers. Camp on a family-operated cattle station at Merluna.

Day 4 Moreton

Visit the massive bauxite town of Weipa, a lively industrial outpost, before heading east through Batavia Downs Cattle Station to Moreton Telegraph Station, a traveller's oasis on the Wenlock River for more than a century. Look out for that showpony of parrots, the Great Palm Cockatoo.

Day 5 Indian Head Falls

Slip into your swimsuit, because today you'll splash in spring-fed creeks along the Telegraph Track. Forge through dense, picture-perfect terrain before stopping to camp at Eliot (Twin/Indian Head) Falls. Bushwalk, swim, or just soak up the Cape ambience.

Days 6-8 Torres Strait Camp/Cape York

Drag yourself away from that frothing waterfall to ford the Jardine River by cable ferry. The civilised comforts of your tropical camp are no mirage - take time to explore the beach. Bushwalk to the Lockerbie Scrub monsoon rainforest. Then it's time to set foot on Australia's northernmost tip, Cape York itself. On days 7 and 8 choose your own adventure: a tropical Thursday Island cruise, a professionally led fishing adventure, a spot of bird-watching or a lazy stint at the beach or the pool.

Day 9 Moreton

Enjoy lunch and a refreshing swim at Fruit Bat Falls, before forging on through Cape York's wilderness to tonight's campsite.

Day 10 Chili Beach

If conditions are right, splash across the Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers into Iron Range National Park, Australia's biggest intact area of tropical lowland rainforest. Look out for cassowaries and the monkey-like cuscus as you camp at Chili Beach.

Day 11 Archer River

Explore the Iron Range rainforest's secrets before leaving through Tozers Gap to travel through Batavia goldfields, the peninsula's richest during the 1930s Depression. Camp under paperbark trees on the sandy banks of Archer River.

Day 12 Lakefield National Park

Heading south, put on your art critic's hat and prepare to be wowed by more mysterious Quinkan rock paintings.

Day 13 Cooktown

Delve into the history and traditions of the region's first inhabitants on a morning rock art exploration, then walk in the footsteps of Captain Cook in heritage-filled Cooktown, a former gold boom town with a multicultural history. Climb Grassy Hill to a lookout with stunning views of the town, river and sea.

Day 14 Cairns

See friendly faces at the Lion's Den Hotel and marvel at the stupendous square granite boulders in Black Mountain National Park, then motor along the rainforest-lined Bloomfield Track to Cape Tribulation. Gaze in wonderment at the World Heritage-listed Daintree rainforest before arriving in Cairns.