Itineraries Home » Queensland Itineraries » Far North Queensland Itineraries » An Unforgettable Trip to the Tip (Cape York)
Pajinka or Cape York, also known as the Tip is the northernmost point of the Australian continent and is slightly over 1000 kilometres from Cairns. Most of the visitors to The Tip visit it via a rugged 4WD road trip from Cairns. A roundtrip from Cairns to Cape York and back to Cairns takes approximately 9-10 days. November to April in Cairns is wet season so much of the road access is closed due to flooding so it is recommended to plan for this road trip during the dry season, which runs from May to October. Due to the fact that we had only one day to visit this beautiful place and also it was still the end of the wet season, we decided to visit the Tip via a combination of air and road instead. This post explains everything you need to know to visit this gorgeous place in the Far North Queensland.
Related post: Visiting South Point - the southernmost point of the Australian mainland.
The nearest airport to the Tip is Bamaga (Northern Peninsula Airport) and it takes 2 hours to fly there from Cairns. We caught the 7AM Rex flight from Cairns to Bamaga and reached Bamaga at 9AM. Skytrans has flights from Cairns to Bamaga as well however the timing didn't suit us so we went with Rex Airlines.
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Once you're in Bamaga, You can either hire a 4WD from Cape York Peninsula Lodge (https://www.cypl.com.au/vehicle-hire) to drive to the Tip or you can choose their day tour. This drive can only be done via a 4WD vehicle as a 2WD vehicle is not suitable for this road condition. They even provide you airport pick-up and drop if you pre-book. We did their day tour and it was fantastic! They also have a great range of accommodation options so we recommend this place if you’re planning to stay in Bamaga.
From the Bamaga airport, we headed straight to the Tip on a Land Cruiser. Much of the road from the airport to the Tip is unpaved so be ready for quite an adventurous ride. It had rained the previous night when we visited and it was drizzling during the day as well so the road was very wet. I was told that the road was recently graded however the ride was still bumpy due to the rain.
From the Bamaga airport, we headed straight to the Tip on a Land Cruiser. Much of the road from the airport to the Tip is unpaved so be ready for quite an adventurous ride. It had rained the previous night when we visited and it was drizzling during the day as well so the road was very wet. I was told that the road was recently graded however the ride was still bumpy due to the rain.
On our way to the Tip, we drove through Lockerbie Scrub, which is the northernmost rainforest in mainland Australia. It is a beautiful lush rainforest with closed canopy so at times it looked as if we were driving through a tunnel.
It took slightly less than an hour from the airport to reach the car park at the Tip. The Tip is accessible via a short 15-min walk from this car park and involves walking uphill and then downhill on a rough terrain.
The water was very rough when we visited as you could see from the photograph below but we made it to the Tip!
From the Tip, we then visited the Croc Tent, which is the northernmost souvenir shop on the mainland Australia. Their souvenirs are unique, specifically made for them and are found nowhere else. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take photographs of the Croc Tent as it was raining very heavily however you can look it up in the internet though!
Our next stop was Injinoo, which is one of the five indigenous communities that make up the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA).
Our next stop was Injinoo, which is one of the five indigenous communities that make up the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA).
There are three aboriginal communities; Injinoo, Umagico, and New Mapoon, and two Saibai Islander communities; Seisia and Bamaga. These communities were settled by clans from across Cape York and the Torres Strait.
We then headed to Umagico, which hosts the Alau Beach Campground.
Our next stop was Seisia that has a nice campground as well. Seisia has ferry services that connect the Cape with the Torres Strait. Seisia has a gorgeous wharf so we ended up spending some time there. Seisia is an excellent place to fish and the Seisia wharf itself is one of the best and most popular places.
From Seisia, we visited New Mapoon, the last of the five communities, before heading to the DC-3 WWII plane wreck site that commemorates those who were killed in the crash of VH-CXD on 5 May 1945 on approach to Higgins Field, an air base established for the War. The crash killed all six personnel on board!
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It was time for us to catch the return Rex flight back to Cairns so we headed to the Northern Peninsula Airport. The flight departed on time at 4:30PM and reached Cairns at 6:30PM. We took a cab from the Airport and checked into Hides Hotel.
Please note that this trip to the Tip was part of a 5-day holiday in the Far North Queensland, the itinerary of which is covered in detail in 5 memorable days in Far North Queensland.
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