It’s almost that time of year again! Easter is just around the corner and that means for thousands and thousands of 4WDers, the annual pilgrimage north to the incredibly beautiful Cape York is just about to start. Whether you’re heading up for the first time this year or you’re returning for your 2nd, 6th or 15th trip, you’re probably making lots of checklists and going over your camping gear from head to toe. It can be a little over-whelming, and there definitely can be a tendency to want to over-pack everything until you end up looking like a third-world bus. Here at 4WD Supacentre we have been travelling Cape York for years and we absolutely live and breathe the place. We’ve come up with this essential guide to five bits of camping gear and 4WD accessories you should definitely make sure are on your list to take with you. This stuff will make your Cape York adventure an unforgettable one!

WINCH

If you take absolutely nothing else to Cape York with you apart from your credit card, then make sure it’s a winch. The 4WDing on tracks like the famous Old Tele Track and the Frenchman’s Track are fun and challenging, and you’re bound to get stuck at least once! That’s okay because it’s all part of the fun, as long as you’ve got a good solid winch like the Grande Mk3 or the Domin8r X. Make sure you’re also carrying a good recovery kit and you know how to use everything in it, because this will mean the difference between a half-hour bog that results in a good yarn around the campfire later, or being stuck in mud for hours or days.

GAZEBO

The weather can turn at any moment up the Cape. While the ‘Dry’ season runs from around Easter through to about November every year, there’s nothing to say that unseasonable rain won’t hit. In fact we’ve been up the Cape in May and June and it has bucketed down! Take a camping gazebo like the Adventure Kings 3x3m gazebo or the Adventure Kings 6x3m gazebo with you and strap it to your roofrack. That way it’ll be there in easy access when you need to get to it quickly.

ICEBOX

Every second or third day you’ll pass by roadhouses or travel through beaut little towns like Cooktown, Weipa or Bamaga. That means there’s heaps and heaps of opportunities to buy blocks or bags of ice to keep your drinks cold. Because it’ll no doubt be warm up in the Cape, even in winter, your fridge will be working overtime so give it a hand by storing all your drinking in an icebox like the Adventure Kings range of iceboxes. Tip: Don’t break up bags of ice, leave them as one solid mass in the centre of the icebox and stack drinks around them to make the ice last as long as possible.

ROOFTOP TENT

You’re probably wondering about the big question – crocs up the Cape. The short answer is yes, there are lots of crocs up in Cape York. There’s big salties that’ll have a chomp without a second thought, and little freshies that you still need to be croc-safe around. That means not camping right on the water’s edge, and ideally being up high in the sky when you’re camping. A roof top tent is perfect for Cape York for this reason, but camping out of a roof top tent also lets you get up higher and catch any little breezes on those particularly hot nights. Rooftop tents are definitely recommended for up the Cape!

STRETCHER BED

Don’t sweat it if you have a swag, though. Just follow the rule of thumb and camp at least 20m back from the water’s edge. A croc isn’t really going to make a midnight snack of you in the middle of the night, not unless you’re being an idiot and swimming where you shouldn’t in the dark. Still, you’ll sleep a lot easier if you throw one of the Adventure Kings Sumo Stretcher Beds under your swag to get you up off the ground. As a bonus, if it rains you won’t end up rolling around in that famous Cape York red dirt that turns to clay mud instantly.