MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: rambo71 on January 17, 2013, 03:27:32 PM
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Looking for some advise planning on going up to the cape for 4 weeks from the last 2 weeks of june 2013 first 2 weeks of july.There is 4 cars with 8 adults 2 kids 13 & 8 years old.Question Do we have to book any accomadation we have 2 rooftop campers & 1 jayco offroad camper,i have been speaking to a few people some say stuff booking just pull up were ya can and other people say you must now book everynight that we are away .......CONFUSED....... ??? ??? What happens if we do book and something does happen and you dont end going to the place that you are booked into for say wheather,car trouble etc etc.None of us have ever been up that way before so what would you guys do book it or wing it....... :cheers:
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Calling McGirr....
Customer at the front counter.
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Calling McGirr....
Customer at the front counter.
Thanks Lost
Regarding booking accomodation /places. if you want to camp at Twin falls/ Elliot falls you must book a site on the Govt website. If you dont turn up they dont care. Another option would be to camp at canal creek, just down from the turn off to twin falls. Its free camping.
Along the OTL its all free camping. Staying at the Top will depend where you want to stay Seisia, Loyalty Beach or Punsand Bay.
Mate more than happy to chat any time. Give me a call 0407287620
Mark
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I'm watching this with interest as I'm planning on leaving from Brisbane for the Cape on the 20th July.
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I'm watching this with interest as I'm planning on leaving from Brisbane for the Cape on the 20th July.
I'm keeping an eye on it too...... :D
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So am I ;D
Ok ask some questions
Mark
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G'day Rambo71,
Just read this thread of yours, and it gave me an idea to start another thread on "Top 5 Places to visit on Cape York" here's the link.... http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=27414.msg426000#new (http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=27414.msg426000#new) so i'm hoping you'll get plenty of info from this thread and the one i just started.......
Good luck with your trip.
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Reading this thread with interest too, although between work and kids, i have a hard enough time getting to the rubbish tip let alone a trip to the tip of cape york ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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You only need to book if you want to camp in the National Park campgrounds like in Lakefield, at Chili Beach or at Eliot Falls for example. There are loads of free camps all the way up that you can just turn up at, but at that time of year, be prepared to either make camp early to get a decent spot or maybe not all camp right next to each other.
The campgrounds up at the tip get really busy around school holidays too, and although you don't need to book, I personally would if you all want to camp together. If you want powered camping anywhere, you'd probably need to book ahead.
We had a group of 11 adults and 8 kids and I pre-booked several NP campsites for us. We didn't all make it to all of them as some had to drop out, and some were delayed so we did lose the money we'd paid for those bookings, but depending on how tight your budget is, at roughly $5.30?/person/night we didn't complain too much. We also had no trouble with anyone camping in our spot. If you do know far enough in advance that you won't make it on the allocated day and you can get phone reception, you can't get a refund but you may be able to get a camping voucher to use at a later date.
I also pre-booked our accomms in Cairns, Cooktown, and up at Punsand Bay, but only because we had a group and I really wanted to make sure we had sites in some particular places. The rest we just winged it.
Instead of Eliot Falls NP campground, you could free camp up the road at Canal Creek and come the short drive back to swim and use toilets. The McGirr's group did this last year.
The Roadhouses on the way up have good camping out the back and most have a bar, serve meals and have toilets and hot showers for a reasonable price. You don't need to pre-book these if you're just camping.
My kids were 13 and 11 and they loved anywhere that we could swim. Favourites were Cairns Coconut Holiday Resort(BIG4) which was heaven for kids, the Dulhunty River, Eliot Falls/Twin Falls/the Saucepan, Fruit Bat Falls, and Punsand Bay(above ground pool). The Lions Den Hotel was a hit too as you could swim out the back in the river, it had a playground and they had all night pizzas.
Whether you book or not depends on how you all like to travel and camp. I'm a bit of a control freak and stress head so I like to book and have options but still be prepared to be flexible in case of breakdowns etc.... Plus we had 4 kids under 5 years old in our group so I wanted some structure in our itinerary. It would be easier to just wing it and camp wherever when the kids are older.
One thing we did notice though was that tours booked out very quickly before we got up there (lucky I pre-booked some of them too). Our Guurrbi rock art tour and the Thursday Island tour were fully booked out and we tried to book a fishing charter once we were up there but they were all booked out, as were the ones in Weipa.
Good luck planning.
Cheers
Karen