Cairns Travel Forum

Per another post I mentioned...
I'm thinking I'll hire a 4wd vehicle if I can find one with a winch and snorkel; I think that would give me all the comfort I need given the heavy rainy season. Can anyone point out a place in Cairns that can handle this request? It's tough online with all the brokers and cut&paste web sites.

I think you mentioned that you were in Cairns for 4 days.

Really, you won't need something like this, winch or snorkle..as when it rains here the roads are closed!! Really closed, no winch snorkle or 10 foot high wheels will get you through the closed roads, you just aren't allowed to do this.
For an example, over the last few days the northern beach roads have been closed, no traffic allowed at these times.There is an artical in the local paper today about how the police are throwing a few fines around to the stupid that go around closed road signs and are going through very deep water and putting themselves and others in danger ( the others being those that will have to rescue them!!)


If you are planning to go for a drive to Mossman, Cape Trib or up to the Atherton tablelands you will only need a normal 4x4 no more. This can be done on all sealed roads. Going off road will be out of the question if raining as it will be fruitless, it will be just too bloody wet and deep in mud...

Driving around locally will be fine. The water on the road can be driven through with normal sedan cars.

In a couple of weeks, the rain could be gone for that time and you could have 4 days of great sunny weather. You would then only need a normal sedan car.

Really, it ain't the outback, you are driving through towns and sealed roads, many of the outback roads in the North of Qld are closed in the wet season.

Anne makes a lot of sense, as always, and most rental companies will have strict limitations on where you can take a hired 4WD anyway. I've hired off road vehicles in Queensland a couple of times and never been offered one with a winch and snorkel.

I've got to agree with the others. Right across the north these days, if you drive on closed roads the police will come down on you heavily. Lots of roads are closed during the wet season to prevent costly damages. And some rental companies exclude cover for damage to the under side of 4WDs and water damage. If you asked for a vehicle supplied with snorkle and winch they might even refuse you any vehicle.

great advice here...I tasted the rain up there at the end of a wet season, and I dont think you would be driving far in it!!!! So many roads closed back then!!!

Thanks all for your help. The final verdict is that we will have a4wd vehicle available do some ad-lib. It seems we will be able to motor up to daintree and perhaps do some hiking there. We'll play it by ear and maybe join a tour etc as fit. We'll let the weather dictate which day we head out on the reef, which we go to the rainforest, and/or which we head inland. You've all been a big help and what I'm taking from this most is to be flexible and... don't try the bloomfield track when it is closed!

PS - got the snorkel but no winch!

heehehe...you have taken in really good advice then! :-)

You will be able to take the snorkle out to the reef and see the fish:)

I do hope the rain stays away for you, it's been raining again and tis very wet out there!!

Have a great time in my part of the world:)

So as some follow-up....
we did indeed end up getting the Britz. It was basically a converted landcruiser with the camper top and.. yes..... the snorkel. We got up to daintree and, lo and behold, the bloomfield track was OPEN! it didnt rain for 2-3 days in a row; I guess that did the trick. With that in mind, when we got to the end I looked back and the sign for the southward entrance said CLOSED.. so maybe we snuck in a very brief window. There were many trees down; though someone had clearly come through with a chainsaw and made just enough room. Most of the water crossings were fine - well under .2m. There was ONE that was a bit scary. Likely should not have gone through it but it was a good hour into the journey and who wants to turn back right!? Water crested the bonnet briefly... truck gyrating madly but pulling hard all the while and went right through it. Great vehicle. Comfortable enough to sleep in, and didn't miss a beat. We took it from the top of the trail straight down to mareeba and west to chillagoe... all very bumpy and quick and without incident. It was a great trip. We got lucky with the weather all around.. oh we also got out on the reef for snorkeling. tip there: get the hell away from the platform once you are in the water and visibility improves dramatically.

Those Britz campers are very popular, and all troopies come with snorkles anyway. If you read the terms and conditions of your rental contract you'd have seen the exclusions. Not covered for under vehicle damage nor for roof damage or water damage. Not allowed to drive on ungraded roads. They are really restrictive.

Water crossings of 0.2m are no hassle, but once the water comes up onto the side panels of that kind of vehicle there's a lot of pressure pushing it down stream. You need a lot of weight in it to keep it a bit more stable. A better vehicle is something like a Toyota trayback which has high sides and therefore less water resistance. But they're not the best for camping in during the wet season.

With the closed sign, that sometimes happens when you have two different agencies controlling the different ends of a road. One will decide to open the road and forget to tell the other at the opposite end. Glad it all worked out well.