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unknown roads west coast of cape york to Darwin ?? unknown roads west coast of cape york to Darwin ??
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  #1  
Old 4 Mar 2010
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Question unknown roads west coast of cape york to Darwin ??
hi everyone
our plan is to ride our R1100GS 96' (two up)
1 start from Brisbane and travel to the tip of Cape York and
2 come back down the west coast of the gulf and move slowly up towards Darwin

Just wondering if anyone has been through this way recently, and could tell us what to expect in the way of fuel availability, road conditions and croc infested river crossings, etc, etc... google maps seems to say there are little to no roads going through there. all help and advice is appreciated.
thanks to all
Paul and Ximena
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  #2  
Old 4 Mar 2010
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I'm pretty sure that there are no secret roads that run down the West Coast of Cape York. The coastline is mainly mangove and mud with roads branching off the North-South roads (Bypass and Telegraph) to communities on the coast.

Roads is a loose term for that part of the world - a track through the Bush which will change position according to weather conditions and makes it hard for mapping is a better description. If the track is maintained then a grader will go through after the wet season to tidy it up and fill in the holes that have been created during the Summer.

Its unlikely that fuel will be available without prior arrangements - dont rely on Aboriginal communities supplying fuel as they may only have enough for their own needs. Some of the coastal communities are only supplied by barges or air.
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  #3  
Old 5 Mar 2010
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another thing to look for
is that its a lot of native title land ,reservations etc that you might not be able to get into ,try hells gate, roper river bar ,and across to katherine ,its good enough fun
Last edited by thecanoeguy; 7 Mar 2010 at 05:51.
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Old 7 Mar 2010
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Once you're close to the Savannah Way, it's relatively straightforward, and great!

Still plenty of river crossings...but by May they should be low enough.....and the road graders will be out and about, getting rid of the corrugations....

As the others said, the western Cape York is pretty rugged; and thats the good bits.....
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  #5  
Old 8 Mar 2010
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See if you can get your hands on one of these Books - Cape York Atlas & Guide @ ExplorOz only recently released so should be pretty accurate.
I am heading to the Cape in late July for 6 weeks in a 4WD. If you are heading up after that I can give you first hand info or you can check here Cape Yorker Forums - Powered by vBulletin for recent posts

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  #6  
Old 9 May 2010
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thanks
thanks guys

i think we'll play it by ear a bit, talk to the locals along the way try to get our hands on those maps of the cape and just figure it out as we go.

thanks again for all the tips.
Paul
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