Cape York Frontier: Cape York to Cairns

Your adventure toward the very top of Australia starts on a high – literally. All aboard your plane bound for Horn Island; but first a twirl over the Great Barrier Reef. Your ferry transfer from Horn takes you to Thursday Island, the capital of the Torres Strait Islands, and an archipelago rich in Aboriginal culture, history and natural beauty, Time might stand still here, but you won’t – you’re on a guided tour of Thursday, ringed by some of the bluest water you’ll ever see, before transferring to your base and one of the northernmost settlements in Australia.

There are just a few hundred kilometres of water (and almost as many islands) separating you from Papua New Guinea when you reach Cape York. Not many people can say they’ve stood at the very top of mainland Australia. Closer to home is Somerset, a long-abandoned 1864 settlement of the larger-than-life Australian pioneer Frank Jardine. This was the first European settlement on the Cape York Peninsula; all that remains today are bits of masonry, rusted cannons and a handful of tombstones, including that of Jardine and his wife. Lunch is served on palm fringed Anchorage Beach overlooking the Albany Passage. It’s a patina that will sear into your memory.

Cross the Jardine River and you’re well on your way to one of Far North Queensland’s coolest attractions: Fruit Bat Falls. Linger here over lunch, with time to dive in, splash about and chill out. You’ll be happy to hear the waterhole you’re swimming about in is croc free… Continuing south along the Old Telegraph Track, you’ll soon reach Bramwell Station, Australia’s northernmost cattle station and your base for the night.

Before you roll out of bed this morning, decide how you want to spend your afternoon in Weipa, a tiny town that was formed off the back of mining bauxite. You might decide to dig deep and discover how these rocks (the world’s main source of aluminium) are pulled from the ground. Or join an optional Weipa Wildlife & Eco Cruise around the harbour and up the Embley River to Hay Point, revealing Aboriginal culture and the abundance of animals that call this part of the Cape home. Wherever you wander, be sure to catch a blazing sunset over the Gulf of Carpentaria.

More of Australia’s mining history awaits in the historic gold town of Coen – small in size, but with plenty of country swagger. And lots of cold beer, which is essential in these steamy parts of Australia. Your base for tonight was once the Musgrave Telegraph Station, a slice of Aussie history dating back to 1887. The Martian landscape that surrounds is all red dirt spiked with green shrubs. You could be forgiven for thinking you’re on the set of a Mad Max movie. 

Nature looms large today, your expedition beginning in Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park – in Queensland, there’s only one expanse of wilderness that’s larger, and that’s and that’s the Simpson Desert. Rinyirru is wild, wide and wonderful, a place where enormous waterlily-covered billabongs are home to an unfathomable number of birds. Continuing through Lakeland takes you to Quinkan Country – home to one of Australia best-preserved rock-art sites – near Laura before arriving in the old gold port of Cooktown.  

Your Top End adventure ends with myths and legends aplenty at Black Mountain, sometimes dubbed the Bermuda Triangle of Australia. We’ll make sure you arrive safely to quench your thirst at the legendary Lion’s Den Hotel. Don’t over-indulge – you’re about to hit the rugged, 4WD Bloomfield Track, crossing the Bloomfield River near the Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal. From Cape Tribulation to Cairns, you’re hemmed by two World Heritage Sites: the rainforest of the Wet Tropics of Queensland on one side, and the Great Barrier Reef on the other. What a way to end a week.