Archer River Roadhouse

14 - 15 August 2025

We left Artemis Station without a firm plan about where we would spend the night. There are a couple of options at Coen, and beyond that, Archer River Roadhouse. There is also a campground after the turn-off to Kutini-Payamu NP. We drove through Coen and decided it was too early to stop - neither behind the pub, nor the campground at the guest house, seemed appealing. We continued on to a popular free camp just north of town, known as "The Bend". 

We stopped by the river and had a picnic lunch while we considered our options. In the end we decided not to camp at The Bend, and instead continued on to Archer River. The further we went, the closer we would be to the national park campground we had booked for the following nights. 

The campground at the Archer River Roadhouse is large and there was plenty of room for campers to not be on top of each other.  We found a spot with a bit of shade and settled in for the afternoon. We went for a walk down to the river and had a paddle but didn't swim. There were lots of caravans parked on the old (low level) bridge and families enjoying the water.

Plenty of room for everyone

Archer River is a good spot for an overnighter, and there were lots of others there on their way to or from "The Tip". In the morning we set off for a more than a week on the eastern part of Cape York.

Hann River Roadhouse

26 – 27 August 2024

The drive from Lockhart River to Cairns is about 800km so I decided that it would be best if I did it over two days. The road is mostly dirt, sometimes very rough, and has a couple of tricky river crossings so would take much longer than the same distance on bitumen. I was a bit nervous about a couple of the river crossings on the first section of road – we’d passed a truck stuck at the Wenlock River when we drove in a few days ago.

It was a long, lonely drive on my own

There was no option but to set off on my own, take it easy and takes lots of breaks along the way. My aim was to get to Musgrave Station Roadhouse where I could get a room for the night, before continuing on the next day.

The first leg of the journey was from Lockhart River to Archer River and I made it to the junction without incident, despite my nerves about the Wenlock River. There wasn’t much traffic along the first stretch but I knew there would be more once I joined the Peninsula Development Road just north of Archer River Roadhouse.

I listened to podcasts as I drove, and stopped at each opportunity along the way – Archer River Roadhouse, Coen and Musgrave Station Roadhouse. Because I was making good time, I decided to press on to Hahn River Roadhouse. Even though it was still only mid-afternoon, I figured it was best to stop there so that I could get to my final destination early in the day.

I had managed to call Mick a couple of times, before and after his surgery and was relieved to know that it had all gone well. I checked into very basic accommodation at the roadhouse and started to make some plans. Mick would need some time to recuperate from surgery and that would probably mean we would have to find alternative accommodation to the camper trailer. After discussing it with him, I booked a week in a caravan park cabin in Atherton, where we could store the trailer while we stayed there.

I was up early the next morning and ready to set off for Atherton, and then to collect Mick from hospital.