- 18Riders
- 3Guides
- 11Days on the road
- 1000Miles to the Tip
The crew
18 riders, a truckful of beer, and 1000 miles of wilderness
Guided by three guides from Top End Moto Tours, alongside eighteen riders — the fifteen of us below, plus three more. Mates, fathers and sons, riding together for eleven days.
- Grant Wood
- Max Wood
- Murray Wood
- Simon Kirchner
- Rob Gaunt
- Duro
- Zdenek
- Matej
- Michal
- Miro
- Peppino
- Pavel
- Sam
- Stefan
1–4 June — Getting there
Flights, gear, and a very early start
The trip started with a Sydney–Cairns flight on the 1st, gear bags packed with knee guards and the kind of nervous energy fifteen blokes get before eleven days on dirt bikes. The rest of the crew flew in from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and everyone converged in Cairns on the 3rd for the first proper dinner together.
Two staging days followed — sorting bikes, a look at a crocodile tour, more dinners — before the real start line on the 5th.
5 June — Day one
A very wet start
The ride started on the 5th, and it didn’t take long to go sideways — literally. Grant went in over the bars on the very first creek crossing of the trip, submerging the bike completely. Everyone walked their bikes across after that.
“An awesome day — sore and tired tonight at Lions Den pub.” The Lions Den Hotel, a Far North Queensland institution, was the reward at the end of day one.
6–9 June — Creb Track, Frenchmans, Starkies, OTT
Red dirt, jungle single-track, and “team spirit”
This is the real Cape York: the Creb Track first, then Frenchmans and Starkies, then the legendary Old Telegraph Track — switching between fast red-dirt savanna and tight jungle single-track, day after day. Camp each night, up again at first light.
Everyone came out the other side of it caked in the same layer of dust — the great equaliser between the Australians and the Czech contingent.
9 June — the last day of riding
Stefan’s crash
It happened on the last full day of riding. The guides had hoped — for the first time — to get a whole group to the Tip without a medical evacuation. Stefan crashed and broke both wrists and his shoulder blade.
It was the only day we met the support truck for lunch, so we weren’t far from the vehicles when it happened, and the closest point of the whole trip to the only hospital on the Cape, about two and a half hours away. Stefan was doubled out of the bush to reach the truck, which took him to hospital. From there he was flown to Cairns for surgery, then rejoined us for the flight home to Sydney, where he had further surgery.
10 June — The Tip
Epic in every way
Eleven days and a thousand miles after leaving Cairns, the group reached Pajinka — the northernmost point of mainland Australia. Mud-covered, sunburnt, and thoroughly worn out, everyone made it. No one was left behind.
The night ended with a proper steak dinner and the kind of relief that only comes after something that hard is finally, actually done.
11+ June — Winding down
No more 5am tent packing
The riding was done, so the last stretch was about actually enjoying Far North Queensland — seafood, a fishing charter, scooters instead of dirt bikes, and the first proper sleep-in of the trip. Recap videos and photos kept landing in the group chat for weeks after everyone flew home.
The full gallery
Every day, in photos
Click any photo to view it full size.
