Cape York
Cape York 4WD Adventure Tour, Queensland Australia
Before tackling our Australian gulf 4WD adventure tour, we visit some pretty isolated communities in outback NSW and Queensland, on roads that can turn to mud as quick as a flash if it rains.
We go through a gate at Hungerford on the border of New South Wales and Queensland and start to breathe the Australian Outback red dirt that is often picked up by whirl winds spiraling along on the flat country sweeping all in its path, like a giant broom.
This is the Land of the Min Min lights, and although not often seen a sighting is always keenly anticipated.
Once on Cape York itself, we have the unique ability to see the sun rise and set across the water in the same day, from the windy shores of the east coast of Australia. After a challenging 4WD track negotiation the calmness of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the dying afterglow the sun is blissful.
A common sound as we camp each evening, often on the sites of old telegraph stations that used to service this area, is the blue winged kookaburras scream piercing the evening stillness with their noisy call, quite unlike the joyful laugh of their southern Australian relatives.
In places the road is arrow straight, and vantage spots along the route enable you to see the white track disappearing into the far distance, and puff balls of dust created by the 4WD vehicles ahead.
The access roads up here are limited, and as the 4WD tour ventures forward, you have to admire those people who live here, so far from the luxuries we take for granted.
The Queensland roads are often rough, unpaved and provide a good cross section of landscapes, plenty of river crossings, and nature abounds.
