Coen
Coen has a population of around 300 and makes the perfect rest stop for travellers in Cape York Peninsula.
The town has lovely camping spots both in town, and along the Coen River where there is a waste disposal site, public toilets and some shady parks which make great picnic sites.
Coen has a variety of facilities for travellers with shops to stock up on groceries, ice and beverages, a guest house and a popular pub with rooms, a café, a post office and a vehicle repair workshop.
The Coen Heritage House is a must for anyone interested in the history of the region. The Heritage House contains an outstanding display of items from the past, photos and interpretive signs relating to the history of local families, the gold rush and building the telegraph line. The building is made from the original materials of the Mein Telegraph Station.
In 2007 the Cook Shire Council was given a collection of former Cape York mining equipment from the Cape York Mining Museum, Weipa.
This equipment now represents the Coen Mining Equipment Display adjacent to Cape York Heritage House, where over a period of time the collection has been installed to complement the history surrounding the Coen Heritage House and early mining methodology.
Visit the Cape York Information Centre and Quarantine Inspection Station 20km north of Coen (near the airport). Archer River Roadhouse is 66km further north.
About 66km further along the Peninsula Development Road from Coen, meals, camping and accommodation are available at Archer River Roadhouse as well as facilities for minor mechanical repairs.
Oyala Thumotang National Park (4WD)
Stretching from the McIlwraith Range foothills and bounded by the Archer and Coen Rivers, this is a wilderness park of open woodlands, melaleuca swamps and rainforest – a living cultural landscape rich in cultural significance for the Traditional Aboriginal Owners. There is rewarding birdwatching around the water-lily covered lagoons and rivers and the common spotted cuscus can be found in the rainforest.
When walking along watercourses, also look for antilopine wallaroos and small agile wallabies. Bush camping is permitted at several secluded campsites and fishing and boating is allowed.
From Coen it is 60km to Rokeby, then about 25km to the Archer River and campsites, or, to the west of Rokeby the track continues 60km west along the Coen River and on to the Archer River.
Tracks in the park are only suitable for 4WD vehicles. Travel within the park may be restricted because of boggy roads and wet areas, but in the Dry season they are generally pretty easy going. Still, this is very remote country so be prepared for such isolated travel. There are no facilities in the park and the camp sites can only be reached by 4WD. You must be totally self-sufficient.
Rokeby Section Campsites
There are 13 separately defined bush camping sites near the waterholes and riverbanks, with excellent opportunities for birdwatching.
Archer Bend Section Campsites
There are just two separately defined sites – one at Grosvernors Waterhole and one at Horsetailer waterhole. These bush camping sites are set among paperbarks that overhang scenic waterholes, offering excellent opportunities for birdwatching.
(Extract, for more information see, ‘Cape York – An Adventurer’s Guide’ by Ron and Viv Moon.)
