Cape York and Tropical North by 4WD

INSIDER EXPERIENCE

An Indigenous guide takes you through Quinkan Country, which UNESCO ranks as one of the top 10 rock art places in the world. The guide introduces you to Split Rock, the most famous of the Quinkan sites, where illustrations of spirit being figures, native animals and totems were painted between 15,000 and 40,000 years ago.

Following your Quinkan Country visit, continue to the heritage-listed Old Laura Homestead. Later, drive into Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park, where you will find a range of animals, including crocodiles and wallabies, as well as plentiful bird life.

Stay: Musgrave Roadhouse

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Explore the old gold mining town of Coen, where the precious metal was first discovered in 1876. When the Great Northern Mine was established in 1893 Coen underwent a boom period, but by 1916 the mine was closed and the town resumed its quiet existence. Afterwards stop at the Archer River Roadhouse for lunch, halfway along your day’s travels. Then resume your journey to the town of Weipa, the largest community on the Cape York Peninsula.

Stay: Weipa, Albatross Bay Resort

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Today you can enjoy a relaxing boat trip from Weipa (additional charge), learning about the area’s ecology, mining industry and Indigenous culture as you look for saltwater crocodiles. Afterwards, travel to Bramwell Station.

Stay: Bramwell Station

• Breakfast
• Dinner

INSIDER EXPERIENCE

Walk this morning to the tip of Cape York Peninsula and revel in standing at the northernmost point of the Australian mainland. The views over the turquoise sea and offshore islands of Torres Strait are sublime.

Today, celebrate being among the most northerly people on the Australian continent as you wind along a 4WD track to Frangipani Beach, on the western side of Cape York just below the tip. Later, continue to historic Somerset Hill, the site of a station established by John Jardine in 1863 – the first European settlement on Cape York. From Somerset Beach there are fine views of Albany Island, just offshore. Here, learn the stories of ‘Jackey Jackey’, an early Indigenous guide, and Frank Jardine, the son of the station’s founder, who became the local police magistrate and was involved in numerous killings of Indigenous people.

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Take the ferry across the picturesque Endeavour Strait to fascinating Thursday Island. Once a pearling centre, Thursday Island became a major defence post during World War II. The labyrinth of tunnels and rooms at Green Hill Fort now house the Torres Strait Museum. You’ll then take the local ferry to Horn Island, where you will board your flight to Cairns, enjoying the magnificence of the Great Barrier Reef from a bird’s-eye view en route. Your journey ends at Cairns Airport.

• Breakfast