7 Day Cairns to The Top of Australia Northbound Guided Motorcycle Tour

Day 1: Cairns to Lions Den Hotel, 227 kilometers / 142 miles

You will be picked up from your hotel at 08:00 and after stowing all your gear in the support vehicle, its time to get acquainted with your bike. After a rider and safety briefing, you point your bikes north for this incredible Cape York adventure and head out of Cairns on the Bruce Highway. Fifteen minutes later, you turn left and head for Kuranda. The first half hour is spent on a steep and twisty blacktop, so you will get a chance to get familiar with your bike.

From Kuranda, you will hit the dirt on the Black Mountain Road and the fun begins. After an hour of weaving your way through a tropical jungle, tight single trail, and open savannah, you head back down the mountains and have lunch by the Mossman River. After lunch, it’s a quick lazy ride along the coast to Daintree where you cross the Daintree River and hit the CREB Track for an unforgettable ride to Wujal Wujal. Here, you join the Bloomfield Track for the final blast to one of Cape York’s best pubs, the Lions Den Hotel, your overnight accommodation for this day. Ice cold beers and hot showers are very welcomed by everyone.

Day 2: Lions Den Hotel to Kalpowar Crossing, 297 kilometers / 185 miles

Today is one of your biggest days on the trip. After your usual big cooked breakfast, you head off quite early for a refuel in Cooktown then continue to your morning tea stop at Isabella Falls. The truck leaves you after morning tea and you head north to the infamous Starcke Track. This track is rarely used and quite a challenge for the first few hours with heaps of creek crossings, sandy sections, bulldust, and some high speed sweeping sections.

The track widens as you get to the Cape Melville turn-off and you will have a well-earned easy final hour ride to Kalpowar Crossing, where you cross one of Cape York’s many croc-infested rivers, the Normanby, and once again meet up with the support truck at the camp on the western bank of the river. The support truck driver will have the fire going and the roast cooking while you can have a bash at catching a Barra. With the esky never far away, it makes for a magic night on the Cape.

Day 3: Kalpowar Crossing to Archer River, 310 kilometers / 193 miles

After two big days of snotty trails and some challenging creek crossings, day three is a bit more relaxing. It’s your biggest day distance wise but the going is good all day. You throw in a couple of gnarly bits on the way. You cross the Hann River, the Morehead River, and the Bifold Plains before leaving the Lakefield National Park and arriving at Musgrave Telegraph Station. You refuel here, then head north once again. You are now traveling on the southern section of the Peninsular Development Road, an hour or so later you get to Coen and a welcome stop at the Sexchange Hotel. After lunch, you will have a good ride to your overnight stop at Archer River. There’s a great spot to swim, a good fishing hole, and the pub has a cold beer. Hot showers and a hot dinner finish off a great days riding.

Day 4: Archer River to Bramwell Station, 222 kilometers / 138 miles

By the end of the day, you’ll be glad that day three was easy as today you head east towards Lockhart River then tackle Frenchman’s Track. The first part of the day is great riding on fast flowing roads and you cross the Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers before you get to the Frenchman’s Track where you head west and the track narrows to 2 small wheel tracks.

This track has it all sand, rocks, mud, river crossings, hill climbs, and fast sections. You usually have to carry the bikes across a couple of the rivers. In the mid-afternoon, the track spits you out on the main road. You will then cross the Wenlock River again, over a bridge this time where you once again head north to your overnight stop at Bramwell Station.

Day 5: Bramwell Station to Loyalty Beach, 225 kilometers / 140 miles

If you thought the last four days were unbelievable, then hang on to your handlebars for today as you hit the Cape York Overland Telegraph Track. Leaving Bramwell early, you head back onto the development road for a 5-minute squirt to Bramwell Junction where you top up the tanks then hit the track. After a quick blast through some small creeks and winding trail, you get to Palm Creek. A steep descent and mud greet you, then an easy creek crossing and a steep rutted assent on the northern bank. Palm Creek sets the pace for the rest of the day. The southern section of the track has countless creek crossings and some fast flowing trails. There is always more than a few laughs on this section. You get to the infamous Gunshot Creek mid-morning for morning tea a little further up the track.

After a well-earned break, you tackle the rest of the creek crossings and blast north on some sandy tracks to your lunch stop and swim at Fruit Bat Falls. The afternoon riding is awesome with creeks, mud, sand and rocks mixed in with a few easy hill climbs and some very fast, flowing tracks. You cross the Jardine River on the ferry then check out some WW2 wrecks on the way to a well-earned beer at the most northern pub in Australia. Then, it is a quick ride to your overnight accommodation at Loyalty Beach. Camped right by the beach, there’s a good chance of seeing a croc and having some great fishing.

Day 6: Loyalty Beach to the Top of Australia, 140 kilometers / 87 miles

Today, you ride to the tip. An easy dirt ride through tropical jungle rainforest and open savannah with a few creek crossings thrown in. On the last 200 meters, you walk over a rocky outcrop to the tip. Six days of dirt riding through some of Australia’s best trails gets up to the most northern point in Australia.

It’s not over yet, on the way back to Loyalty Beach, you check out Somerset and have a great ride along the beach. Then, you check out some of the little-used tracks that the top has to offer.

Day 7: Loyalty Beach to Cairns

You board the ferry for trip over to Thursday Island. You troll a lure on the way, arrive at Thursday Island, lunch at the Torres Pub, a tour of TI, then transfer to Horn Island wharf to meet the bus to connect with your Qantas flight back to Cairns.

Note

Outback Adventure Treks only carry parts and spares for Outback Adventure Treks' motorcycles which are Suzuki DRZ400E and Yamaha WR250R. So please, if bringing your own bike and it’s not a DRZ400E or WR250R make sure you have your own spares. A long-range fuel tank is also required as refuels are far and between.

Skill levels required for this tour:

Beginner:

• can ride for 2-3 hours
• minimal riding experience
• assistance required
• comfortable with curves and leans
• basic experience with unsurfaced roads
• short distance ascents and descents

Intermediate:

• can ride for 3-4 hours
• average riding experience
• little assistance required
• comfortable with extreme curves and leans
• average experience with unsurfaced roads
• steep ascents and descents

• Visit Isabella Falls
• Visit Musgrave Telegraph Station
• Visit the Fruit Bat Falls
• Explore the Thursday Island

This motorcycle tour starts and ends in Cairns, Australia. You will travel to Cape York on this tour. Cape York is truly one of Australia’s last frontiers and Outback Adventure Treks are extremely fortunate so much of it is accessible by motorcycle. The exclusive private property access lets you ride the tracks that the others won’t take you to.

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The meals are of a mixed normal variety such as roasts, fish, etc. If there are any special dietary needs please let Outback Adventure Treks know in advance.

• Motorcycle rental (if you choose rental bike package)
• Motorcycle fuel (if you choose rental bike package)
• All permits and passes
• Accredited guides
• Mechanic
• 4WD backup truck
• Domestic airfare from Bamaga to Cairns
• 6 nights' accommodation
• All camping gear
• Breakfasts, lunches, and dinners
• Ferry fees

• Alcohol

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• A reservation requires a deposit of 20% of the total price.
• The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
• The rest of the payment should be paid 30 days before arrival.