Cairns to Cooktown and the North Queensland Coast - Mighty

Nine nights and 1,596 kilometres out of Cairns in a campervan, north to Cooktown first and then a long run south down the coast.

Port Douglas comes first, then Cape Tribulation beyond the Daintree River, where the oldest continuously surviving rainforest on earth runs down to the sea and the reef sits a few kilometres offshore, which is the only place on the continent where the two meet.

Cooktown follows, named for the repairs Cook made there after the Endeavour struck the reef in 1770, with Grassy Hill above the town where he looked for a way out through the coral. Innisfail and Mission Beach come next on the way south, the second with rainforest down to the sand, then Townsville, Ingham, and Charters Towers inland, a gold town that was briefly the second largest settlement in Queensland, with Cardwell on the coast at the end.

The camper and the day-by-day plan come from Mighty, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Ten days for 1,596 kilometres is a fair pace with the first day spent in Cairns. The Daintree River crossing is by cable ferry, and the Bloomfield Track north of Cape Tribulation is unsealed and four-wheel drive only, so the sealed inland route to Cooktown is the one a camper takes. The dry season from May to October is the window, since the wet brings road closures and stingers in the water. Reef trips want booking ahead.