2013 Navara Cape York Adventure!

G,day folks!

I am planning to head back to Cape York in 2013. My family and friends and I had a ball on our last trip June/July this year. This was my third trip and first with my family.

I am just interested if you Navara muster attending, bull slapping yodelers are interested in organising a trip to Cape York in 2013. The reason I ask is this, on my recent trip, I was amazed our many 4x4 clubs were up at the Cape this year enjoying the great adventure to be had.

I came to thinking, that a dedicated Navara Asia Cape York trip would be a pisser!

It also gives everyone 2 years to properly prepare!

What do you all think!

Regards,

RLI

That's not a bad idea. Be nice to see some pics of the rigs taken up there, and have a list of stuff that is considered essential for the trip. How far away are fuel facilities etc - I don't know that we'd be up for it ourselves, but you never know.

We're looking at a Birdsville Races run Sep '12, and that might become an annual thing. I'm up for that run, it should be relatively easy.

In '12 and '13 we might have the muster in a different location on a different weekend. Everything about the muster really does depend on numbers and thoughts/opinion/feedback from this inaugural event in October this year.

As for making stuff officially part of the navara.asia thing - Dylan would need insurance etc if he was to put his name to it. We're having a hard enough time with insurances for the muster, and know how expensive it could be, but once we ARE insured, I think you'd find it more convenient to say "National Navara Muster through its association with navara.asia is holding a trip to ..." because then you're covered.

The big issue with an organised event held in the name of an entity (like this web site) is that the entity becomes legally responsible for some incidents that may occur during the event. If we can get the Muster committee insured in a nice way, and we can afford to pay for that, then THAT is the avenue I'd be pursuing as a collaborating body.

It only means that we need the committee to sign off on the event and that's not unreasonable. If you'd like to pursue that line, let us know and we'll hammer out the idea at our next meeting.

Old.Tony said:

That's not a bad idea. Be nice to see some pics of the rigs taken up there, and have a list of stuff that is considered essential for the trip. How far away are fuel facilities etc - I don't know that we'd be up for it ourselves, but you never know.

We're looking at a Birdsville Races run Sep '12, and that might become an annual thing. I'm up for that run, it should be relatively easy.

In '12 and '13 we might have the muster in a different location on a different weekend. Everything about the muster really does depend on numbers and thoughts/opinion/feedback from this inaugural event in October this year.

As for making stuff officially part of the navara.asia thing - Dylan would need insurance etc if he was to put his name to it. We're having a hard enough time with insurances for the muster, and know how expensive it could be, but once we ARE insured, I think you'd find it more convenient to say "National Navara Muster through its association with navara.asia is holding a trip to ..." because then you're covered.

The big issue with an organised event held in the name of an entity (like this web site) is that the entity becomes legally responsible for some incidents that may occur during the event. If we can get the Muster committee insured in a nice way, and we can afford to pay for that, then THAT is the avenue I'd be pursuing as a collaborating body.

It only means that we need the committee to sign off on the event and that's not unreasonable. If you'd like to pursue that line, let us know and we'll hammer out the idea at our next meeting.

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Good evening Tony,

Thanks for your kind response and advice.

I am pretty sure we could make history by being the first to hold a Muster at Cape York! With the right media coverage ie, a reputable 4x4 magazine involved, major sponsors would want to be part of the action. (Not to mention great publicity for Navara Asia)

Imagine a convoy of Navara's with or with-out camper trailers and caravans in toe. (What a spectacle, I am starting to get a lump in my pants just thinking about it!) Gird your loins people we can do it!

Anyhow, something to discuss whilst slurping a few tinnies at the Muster!

PS, Its only an idea!

Regards,

RLI

To actually hold the muster there, the sponsors would have to get there too ... it could be exciting for them as well. They might even do it - but we'd have to have some serious numbers - they'd want to see 100+ Navaras hitting the road heading for croc&toad territory.

As for magazines, it was my belief that most of them preferred to chow down on a Toyota wiener. They go with the numbers, and there certainly are more Yotas sold than Nissans. Shocking, huh?

It's a 3,000km trip from Newcastle (coast road). Melbournites can do it in 3600km if they go up through central NSW and Qld, and Adelaidians will travel about 3760km up through Broken Hill and into Cobar where they can meet the VNOG guys.

It'd be some spectacular driving. How many days did you take to get there, what times did you start driving, how many breaks did you have, what kind of pace did you set?

Old.Tony said:

To actually hold the muster there, the sponsors would have to get there too ... it could be exciting for them as well.

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Actually, it would be very bouncy as the road is very corrugated. You can drive a standard car to Cape York, provided you can deal with the few river crossings on the way. Depth depends entirely on the number of cyclones and how late in the season you go.

RLI, did you take any photographs of the crossings on the Old Telegraph diversion? That is, do they all have chicken tracks(easy options)?

I've now got orders to plan a trip to FNQ from the Boss. (The planning is the getting there and back).

Talkin bout cape york what do you think would b minimum gear for the tele track and as im goin to tow my van where could i leave it for say two weeks an know it will b safe
Any info appreciated

we dont have to go as a club, we dont need insurance,we dont need 4wd magazines
all we need is a few like minded people who want to do the cape trip in a relaxed /family friendly enviroment and enough time for people to get organised and prepared
a cape trip needs to be planned, using the KISS method
travel at the right time and a standard hilux will get you there
ime interested in a trip in 2012

this sounds like a beaut idea. im not to keen on the magazine thing though. even though it will turn head away from the Toyota hype (maybe) and look at the capability or reliability of the navaras.

i am in planning with some mates for 2012 between June and September. It usually at bout this time im forced to take a few weeks off .

Having not done a long run in the navara and it still NOT being up to my standed for Cape York or any trip apart from local 4wding and parks, i will need to get the ute together first. simple things liek rock sliders and body lift etc that will be getting done by that time next year, oh and also my draw system.

Cape york is a trip i have always wanted to do and currently a trip was already in the early stages of development with a few mates in July 2013 before i stumbled on this thread.

Depending on dates our groups may cross paths or leapfrog each other to the tip.

Those that have been there and done the trip recently that can provide information on vehicle and minimum accessory requirements, fuel and supply intervals and anything else useful for the planning stage would be handy. I've heard things and conditions can change pretty quickly up there

I might be interested but it would have to coincide with victorian school holidays for me to be able to get that much time off.

It's about 6200km (round trip) from Newcastle. That's 10 days (easy pace) or 4 days if we push ourselves hard.

We'd only go in the winter and prefer to stop in a van park - I'm looking around Weipa and the Weipa Caravan Park on Kerr Point Drive looks nice and shady. I'd have to call them to make sure they had lashing points to secure the van in case of storms, but I expect that they would.

Just like the east-west trip is a bit ambitious for us right at the moment, this trip would be as well - we might get away with it at Christmas 2013, but that's exactly when we don't want to be in the northern reaches of Australia!

I guess it depends how long people want to stay up there, how quick they want the trip to be. We can do 1,000km or more a day, starting our driving at 5am and ending at around 10pm, averaging about 60km/h (allowing for food & fuel stops, resupply, photo ops etc). With kids in the mix we'd probably be driving from 8am to 8pm, or about 700km per day - so that's just over 4 days up and another 4 days to get back.

When is the best time to go? I don't know how busy the tourists get up there at various times of the year, but for my personal comfort I'd be looking to go some time between May and August. Before and after then it's getting warm up there, and the risk of tropical cyclones is high outside that period.

Okay, my knowledge dates from 1988, so much will have changed.

Burmic. Probably best to ask the caravan parks in Cairns what they would charge for storage. that was common then. you would leave your van in Cairns and then drive up.

Especially if you want to do the Daintree Roads, which was fresh, steep and rocky back then. Otherwise, you had to go a round.

We went to Cooktown, then up through Lakefield Natinal Park. I assume that log bridge shown on the whats it brothers video where they dragged a Kedron(?) van across a very dodgy log bridge is on the route. Back then, it was just four thin parallel logs.

Apart from the creek crossings, it is fairly wide gravel(loose) corrugated roads.

I don't know about fuel, but the short wheel base land rover we had as a support vehicle didn't carry any extra fuel that I remember. I imagine fuel sources are much more common now then then due to the increased numbers. I'd guess there must be a few online guides now with the full details.

Bing; Cape York @ ExplorOz Treks
Cairns to Cairns, 5 days, 3,000kms. 400-500l of diesel.

Timing; really depends on how wet it is and how well you can cope with the river crossings. there is some on the main drag(4?) and extra on the Old Telegraph route. the Jardine has a ferry ($?)

Something we saw on the ABC weather tonight says that next winter it has an 80% chance of being another very wet year. Normally you would go later and give the rivers a chance to drop.

I don't think there's a need these days to leave anything behind at Cairns, since even road-only vehicles can make it to Weipa. In this Google Street View behind the Woolworths at Weipa you can clearly see some "normal" cars, one of them on the road. Plus, the little Google car made it. If you spin the view around, you'll see that it's predominantly 4WDs there, but 2WD cars can do it - so the van can follow us.

Picking some random points on the road south like here, here (where you can see the shadow of the Google car and get an appreciation of the speed it's travelling at) and here you can see the road is definitely wide enough and appears to be well enough maintained.

There looks to be about 560km of unsealed road which starts just west of the Peninsula Development/Cooktown Development roads. There's a Mobil Products servo on the right just before the turn with what looks to be a rest or parking area on its north side.

Timing is a concern for me. While I've no doubt we could lash the caravan down in a major storm, I've no desire to tempt fate and have the storm to end all storms arrive and take my van for its first (and only) solo flight.

As for where to go once we've arrived at Weipa, well that's dependent on what mods we've done to the car by then. I may get a 50mm lift. I might even (for the trip) get a set of 265/75 tyres. Recovery points are already in place (winch on front, hitch receiver on rear). I am extremely unlikely to put my vehicle in a precarious position and definitely will NOT take the vehicle through any obstacle that I couldn't walk first and determine the best route.

For me, chicken tracks would be essential, because I'm not travelling over 3,000km just so I can put dents in my car - I can do that in the local supermarket car park and save a whole lot of time and money.

Hi folks, just to set all you're minds at ease... yes it does matter what time of year you go up however if you go during winter its 95% chance the roads will passable. You're only concern will be corrugations... i've seen some shockers up there but they roads are getting better and better every year. The only need for serious mods for your Nav is when attempting the Old Telegraph Line (OTL), otherwise you'll be fine. I've been up to Pajinka (The Tip) a couple of times now in my Nav and did it easy. If you wanted to go up through the Daintree it would be a bit of a detour however the country up there is pretty damn good. Otherwise if you leave Cairns and head straight up, unsealed roads start at Lakeland (good spot to fill up on Fuel) but that will probably move to Laura within a year or so as there were some major roadworks going on when we went up in July this year.

terryc said:

Actually, it would be very bouncy as the road is very corrugated. You can drive a standard car to Cape York, provided you can deal with the few river crossings on the way. Depth depends entirely on the number of cyclones and how late in the season you go.

RLI, did you take any photographs of the crossings on the Old Telegraph diversion? That is, do they all have chicken tracks(easy options)?

I've now got orders to plan a trip to FNQ from the Boss. (The planning is the getting there and back).

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G,day mate,

Yes i did, as i am not a computer buff, but i will bring my camera to the muster and seek help to upload my photos for our members to view.

There are a number of Alternative tracks on the telegraph-track, so that is not a problem. However, not all the crossings have by-pass tracks. But that is not an issue. The real issue is the number of people on the track during June/July period. After coming back this time and striking friendships with several locals up there. I would personally recommend going up there in August for the following reasons;

1. June/July is the busiest time because of the School holidays around Australia.

2. August means less tourists which = better camping options at the prime camping areas; ie Lions den hotel, Chili beach, Fruit bat falls, etc

3. Less traffic on the Bloomfield track, Developmental Road and the Telegraph track etc

4. Less people at the Tip.

5. Water levels across the various creeks and rivers are lower.

6. The weather is at its best.

7. Most importantly, f- - k all Toyotas!

Regards,

RLI

RLI said:

4. Less people at the Tip.

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Is that what the local TOYota showroom is called up there too?

hey guys i have never done any tougher 4x4 driving yet, was just wandering how navaras would go on the telegraph track at cape york gunshot etc compared to the patrols?

Me am the mrs are starting to organize our trip in 2013 aswell. Would probably be a better idea to be with a fee more people

Bazz said:

hey guys i have never done any tougher 4x4 driving yet, was just wandering how navaras would go on the telegraph track at cape york gunshot etc compared to the patrols?

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It's all down to the driver. Plenty of inexperienced 4wdrivers up there. Take your time and any reasonable 4wd should be fine.

RLI said:

I would personally recommend going up there in August for the following reasons;

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Thanks RLI.
Basically what I was thinking would happen anyway by the time we crawled up there.

I'm in the same boat about piccys. Still working out how to crunch the 10Mg images dow to a reasonable size and pixels.