We’re right at the beginning of the Dry season in Cape York – that period of time between April and December every year when the weather starts to cool down and thousands of 4WDers head north for their dream Cape York adventure. The busiest time of year in Cape York to go 4WDing and camping is around the winter school holidays, which is when the weather is at its nicest. That means hundreds and hundreds of families around the country are getting ready to head to Cape York, and are going over their 4×4 checklist right now to ensure that their vehicles are up to scratch.

Here at 4WD Supacentre, we absolutely love Cape York, and have been visiting it year on year for more years than we can remember! We’ve put together this quick guide to six essential 4WD upgrades to let you safely tackle Cape York and ensure that your dream trip goes off like a dream.

1.SUSPENSION
The roads up through Cape York are corrugated and rough, and when you’re fully loaded that means your 4WD suspension will cop a serious workout. If your suspension isn’t up to the task then it’s going to fail really quickly. Before you head away, make sure that your suspension is up to task by doing a ‘dry run’ – a weekend away with everything you want to carry, that includes some off-road driving. 4WD Supacentre sells RAW 4×4 Suspension, which is some of Australia’s best value 4WD suspension. Don’t risk it, fit good suspension to your 4×4 before you go!

2.WINCH

Getting stuck isn’t an admission of defeat in Cape York, it’s simply the cost of the adventure. Once you’ve sorted your suspension, a 4×4 winch is the next most essential bit of gear that you can fit. It turns a stuck 4WD situation into a quick recovery provided that you carry a 4WD recovery kit.

Hot tip: take your new electric winch out bush and learn to use it in a relaxed, controlled environment, instead of when you’re bogged halfway across a river crossing!

3.DUAL BATTERY
You’ll be camping every night when you’re up in the Cape, and that means plenty of 12v camping gear to run! A dual battery system with a proper deep-cycle auxiliary battery will let you run all the 12v camping gear you want, like LED camp lights, inverters and even a portable camping fridge without risking flattening your starter battery to the point you can’t start your 4×4 in the morning.

4.FRIDGE
Speaking of 12v camping gear, you just can’t beat carrying a portable camping fridge when you’re in Cape York! Even in winter, the days are still warm – think high 20°Cs during the day, which means you’ll be constantly reaching for a nice cold bottle of water, not to mention wanting to keep all your tucker fresh and cold at the same time. Here at 4WD Supacentre we sell a range of portable fridges to suit a wide variety of campers’ needs, ranging in size from 50L all the way up to a massive 90L.

5.ROOF RACK
No doubt you’ll need to carry a couple of swags and camp chairs on your trip up to Cape York, and the absolute best way to carry them is up on your roof rack! Keep the storage space inside your 4×4 free and uncluttered by storing bulky gear up on your roof rack. As an added bonus, the heavy-duty steel roof racks from 4WD Supacentre are perfectly suited to carrying one, two or even three awnings off the side of your vehicle. We reckon you can’t ever have enough under-awning space when you’re camping!

6.SOLAR PANEL
While you’ll be travelling around a fair bit and moving every couple of days, a solar panel is still a brilliant and very worthwhile investment for any camper heading to Cape York. Whether it’s that perfect fishing spot when the fish are biting, or just a magic campsite that you don’t want to leave, a solar panel will let you keep your auxiliary deep cycle battery charged up without having to pack up camp and go driving. The general rule of thumb is you can never have too much solar power, and here at 4WD Supacentre we sell a range of panels so buy the biggest one your budget will allow for!