That said, the further north you go, the less bitumen you see.Ī few things you need to be aware of on the PDR: the corrugations, the dust holes, and the causeways. It’s around 60% bitumen these days, with more and more bitumen going in every year. The Peninsula Development Road (PDR) is a rather infamous bit of road unto itself, running from Laura to the Tip, it sees its fair share of traffic. Trust us, it’s worth having his number saved into your phone. Work out a way to get some phone reception (or pull out the sat phone) and get a message out to Sam, and he’ll come and sort you out. Should the inevitable happen, and you’re stuck and buggered without a chance of sorting it out yourself, our mate Sam Nolan runs Weipa Auto, who are the RACQ blokes up this way. On the tool front, you’re going to want the usual jack, tyre iron, set of sockets and spanners, pliers/side cutters, hub socket for your wheel bearings, and any other tool you’ll need to replace the spare parts you’ve brought along. A roll of fencing wire is also a great addition to any 4X4, simple ‘cause of the things you can fix with it – think exhaust mounts, radius arms, spring towers – it’s the heavy-duty version of cable ties. On the list of ‘if we’ve got room’, you want to throw spare CVs, an alternator, spare air filter, maybe a starter motor if you’re in an auto, wheel bearings, and anything that’s a known ‘weak spot’ on your 4X4. Spares wise, at a minimum you’re going to want drive belts and top and bottom radiator hoses. So, you’ve got the 4X4 all sorted now, with 33s, a winch, snorkel, some decent bar work and you’re about to set off – what spares and tools should you take? If we could suggest one bit of the Cape you need to see aside from the sign, it’d be the northern half of the Tele Track. Pristine creeks, stunning falls and epic water crossings. Where the southern section has the gnarlier bits of four-wheel driving, the northern section is where it gets really speccy. Our tyre pressures were down to 18psi while on the Tele, and that got us through everything with ease. Most of the crossings you’ll find have a solid bottom, and so long as you keep momentum, and don’t just ‘give it the jandal’, you’ll get across them all pretty easily. There is, however, plenty to see and do along the track, with a couple of harder sections that may well require the running of the winch line, however most of these parts (think Gunshot Creek) can be bypassed and have the obligatory ‘chicken track’ to get you through if you don’t want to drive the mental parts. It’s not as challenging 4X4 wise as you might think and to be honest, we were a little disappointed with how easy the vast majority of it was. There’s the two main sections, north and south, with a metric truck tonne of crossings, falls, creeks, swimming holes, and campsites along it. The part we’re interested in however, runs from Bramwell Junction Roadhouse in the south, crossing the Peninsula Development Road once, and ends at the Jardine River in the north. It was used for over 100 years, when in 1987 the line was removed, and replaced with microwave radio transmission towers. Jardine Ferry to Bamaga: 42km – We fuelled up here.Ī bit of history first: the Cape York Telegraph Line was completed in 1887 and ran from Laura all the way through to Thursday Island.Bramwell to the Jardine Ferry: 170km – We didn’t fuel up here, but they have fuel.Archer River to Bramwell Junction Roadhouse: 166km – Fuelled up and pulled up stumps for the night.Musgrave Roadhouse to Archer River Roadhouse: 174km – Stopped for lunch (Archer burgers are to die for!) and fuelled up here too.

Cairns to Musgrave Roadhouse: 448km – Fuelled up here (can fuel up in Laura or Lakeland if you’ll not make it ~450km).

Also don’t rely on getting any fuel better than 91 octane – if you happen to own a supercharged, LSA-powered 4X4, you’re gonna have a bad time. Rule of thumb here, if you see a fuel stop, look at putting fuel in.

Yep, you’ll pay for it, as the further north you go, the more expensive it gets, but it is around. Turns out, you’ll find fuel about every 300km at the longest stretch.

Despite what we thought, fuel was quite plentiful north of Cairns, albeit bloody expensive! Being in a petrol 80 sucking down 30L/100km, we had four jerry cans across the roof cage, and were having serious second thoughts about how often we could get fuel.

Stick ranger 2 guide