Discovery Tours Cairns to Cape York 9 Day Tour - Fly / Drive (Twin Share)

Map

DAY 1: FLY TO HORN ISLAND, THEN THURSDAY ISLAND

The trip starts with a morning Qantas flight from Cairns to Ngurupai (Horn Island), with a shuttle from the city to the airport if you need one. From the air you see the length of Cape York that you'll drive back down over the next eight days. Horn Island's airfield was bombed by Japanese aircraft in 1942, and a short tour introduces you to the island. A boat takes you across to Waiben (Thursday Island), the Torres Strait's main town, where Green Hill Fort was built in the 1890s against a feared Russian attack. Then a ferry carries you to Seisia on the mainland, a community founded by Saibai Islanders in the 1940s.

Overnight: Seisia (two nights)

DAY 2: SOMERSET AND THE TIP

First stop is Somerset, the government outpost John Jardine set up in 1864, where graves and a few old cannons stand among the trees above the beach. Your guide knows quiet beaches nearby where dugongs and turtles have been seen in the shallows. Then it's the walk of about 45 minutes over rocks and headland to The Tip, the northernmost point of mainland Australia, with Papua New Guinea only about 150 kilometres away. Take your photo at the sign, then sit and watch the tide rip through the islands of the Torres Strait. It's the reason most people come this far.

Overnight: Seisia

DAY 3: CAPE YORK TO WEIPA

Heading south, you travel through Jardine River National Park and cross the Jardine River, Queensland's largest river by year-round flow, on the cable ferry. At Fruit Bat Falls a boardwalk leads to clear water spilling over a wide sandstone ledge, one of the few swimming holes on the Cape considered safe from crocodiles. The road then turns west to Weipa on the Gulf of Carpentaria, where bauxite was found in 1955 and one of the world's largest mines followed. Late in the afternoon a sunset eco cruise on the Embley River comes with drinks and canapés. Watch the mangroves for crocodiles and sea eagles.

Overnight: Weipa

DAY 4: WEIPA TO LOCKHART RIVER

Today you cross the peninsula from west to east, over savannah country and into Kutini-Payamu (Iron Range National Park), past Mount Tozer and the Pascoe River. This is the largest stretch of lowland rainforest left in Australia, and much of its wildlife is shared with New Guinea rather than the rest of the country. Listen for the drumming of palm cockatoos and look up for the bright green of eclectus parrots. The road ends at Lockhart River, an Aboriginal community on Lloyd Bay that is known far beyond Cape York for its painters, whose work hangs in galleries around the world.

Overnight: Lockhart River

DAY 5: A DAY IN IRON RANGE

With two nights at Lockhart River, today is spent in Kutini-Payamu itself, the country of the Kuuku Ya'u Traditional Owners. The park takes in empty beaches, rocky headlands, the heath-covered Tozer Range and the rainforest in between, so the day mixes short walks with time on the sand. Keep watch for the green tree python, which lives here and in New Guinea but nowhere else in Australia, and for the cuscus, a slow-moving marsupial that spends its life in the trees. In a small group your guide can follow what interests you most, whether that's birds, beaches or the history of the region.

Overnight: Lockhart River

DAY 6: LOCKHART RIVER TO COEN

Back over the range, the day follows part of the southern end of the Old Telegraph Track, the rough road that runs beside the line that reached Cape York in 1887. You cross the Archer River, a broad, sandy river that becomes a torrent in the wet season, on the way south. The afternoon brings you to Coen, a small town that began with a gold rush in the 1870s and still feels like an outpost. Expect a lot of red dirt, termite mounds and long views across the savannah, with your guide pointing out the birds and the history as you go.

Overnight: Coen

DAY 7: LAKEFIELD AND THE BATTLE CAMP TRACK TO COOKTOWN

An early start takes you into Rinyirru (Lakefield National Park), Queensland's second-largest national park, where the Red Lily and White Lily Lagoons are carpeted with waterlilies and busy with birds. You pass river valleys and termite mounds, then stop at Old Laura Homestead, a slab-and-iron cattle station house that shows how hard pioneer life was this far north. Nearby Welcome Waterhole is a quiet wetland for more birdwatching. The Battle Camp Track then carries you east to Cooktown. It takes its name from an 1873 clash between Palmer River gold seekers and the local Aboriginal people.

Overnight: Cooktown

DAY 8: COOKTOWN AND THE BLOOMFIELD TRACK

Cooktown is where Cook beached the Endeavour for seven weeks in 1770 after it struck the reef. At the Cooktown Museum, in a convent from the 1880s, you can see the ship's anchor and one of its cannons. The Cooktown Botanic Gardens date from 1878, and Nature's Powerhouse inside them tells the story of the region's plants and wildlife. Then it's the Bloomfield Track south, past Black Mountain, whose granite boulders are blackened by lichen, with lunch at the Lions Den Hotel, a tin-mining pub from 1875. After Bloomfield Falls and Cedar Bay National Park you reach Cape Tribulation for the final group dinner.

Overnight: Cape Tribulation

DAY 9: THE DAINTREE AND HOME TO CAIRNS

Your last morning is spent walking in the Daintree Rainforest, World Heritage-listed in 1988 as part of the Wet Tropics and among the oldest rainforests on earth. Then it's a one-hour cruise on the Daintree River to look for saltwater crocodiles along the banks, and lunch at the Daintree Teahouse. The afternoon run follows the Great Barrier Reef Drive, the coast road between Port Douglas and Cairns that hugs the beaches below the rainforest-covered range, and you're back in Cairns at about 5pm.

Map

• One soft bag, no more than 10kg (no suitcases or hard cases), and one small backpack or day pack
• Swimwear and towel — accommodation has pools
• Lightweight clothing
• Jacket for cooler evenings
• Comfortable walking shoes
• Hat, sunscreen and insect repellent
• Water bottle
• Camera
• Cash or cards for drinks and souvenirs

• Knowledgeable, experienced tour guide
• Qantas flight from Cairns to Cape York
• Hotel or motel accommodation, twin share or single room
• 8 breakfasts, 9 lunches, 8 dinners and snacks
• Modern 4WD vehicle
• All national park entry fees
• All ferries and barges
• Cruise to Thursday Island with a short tour of the island
• Cruise to Horn Island with a short tour of the island
• Attractions as stated in the itinerary
• Shuttle from Cairns CBD to Cairns Airport if required

Not included

• Drinks and souvenirs

Preparing for the trip

Private tours and families

Booking the trip

Who travels with us

Cost and Fees

Whilst on tour