Take a remote environmental service adventure into the Cape York Peninsula, working alongside Aboriginal Rangers on a sea turtle conservation program.
Assist with protecting critical sea turtle habitats by cleaning beaches and collecting environmental data, while getting to camp on the beach on this exciting conservation project for students.
Go searching for crocs, manta rays and dingoes while exploring the wild beaches of Cape York and learn about Aboriginal culture and history. Get ready for an amazing adventure!
why you’ll love this trip
- Work alongside Aboriginal Rangers on various environmental projects in remote Cape York and learn about Aboriginal culture and heritage.
- Learn about minimal-impact camping in wilderness areas, including cooking on camp ovens and waste management.
- Conduct night patrols along the beaches in search of turtles laying their eggs.
- Record environmental data on turtles, wild pigs and cane toads while camping under the stars on a remote beach.
- Spot crocs, manta rays and dingoes in a wild part of the country, with legendary Aussie guides as your leaders.
Infuse Program Leaders will welcome you upon arrival in Cairns, where you will transfer to the accommodation and settle into your dorm rooms.
After lunch, there will be a sea turtle conservation program orientation session with your Program Leaders. After that, you’ll meet with the founder of the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre to learn about turtle conservation, the heart of this conservation project for students.
Overnight: CairnsFly up to Weipa, one of the larger regional communities on the western side of the cape and a hub for mining in the region. Upon arrival, we’ll collect our 4WD vehicles and take a tour of the town.
This afternoon, you will be given a budget and will be involved in purchasing the food for the next phase of the adventure. We’ll then load up the 4WDs and drive north out of Weipa. Leaving the sealed road behind, we’ll take a 4WD track out to the remote beaches near the Pennefather River, where we’ll be based for the next 5 days.
Our camp for the next 5 days is set amongst the casuarina trees in the sand dunes high above the beach. Once the group has set up camp, we’ll drive along the beach to the mouth of the Pennefather River. It’s wild country out here. Apart from other avid 4WD tourists, we’ll have this magnificent beach to ourselves.
In this conservation project for students, we’ll learn important skills in minimal-impact camping in wilderness areas. There are no facilities here, so you will learn best practices in managing pit toilets and waste disposal. There is a safe fresh-water swimming hole about 15 minutes from camp (no crocs), where you have the opportunity to freshen up. Swimming in the ocean is not an option, except in the isolated shallow pools that are created at low tide.
This evening you will be involved in preparing the evening meal on camp ovens. Later, you’ll have time to write about your experiences in your journals.
Overnight: Cape YorkFor the following 4 days, you will have a general routine. Our first day will involve a site survey along the beaches. This will provide you with an overview and understanding of the work that needs to be done and you will be involved in the decision-making process of how to spend your time here.
One of the main aspects of this conservation project for students will be working with Aboriginal Rangers in the collection and removal of rubbish from the beaches. This is an essential activity in any sea turtle conservation program, as washed-up rubbish is such a key issue for sea turtle conservation. We’ll utilise our 4WDs to remove old nets and other debris and transport this back to rubbish tips in Weipa.
Feral pigs and cane toads are significant environmental threats in this area. Pigs dig up the turtle nests to eat the eggs. The toads threaten biodiversity by poisoning other species such as goannas, snakes and birds. You will conduct surveys to collect important data on the number of pigs and toads in the area so that appropriate management practices can be implemented.
After dark, we will patrol the beaches to search for turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. If the timing is right, you will hopefully have close-up encounters with turtles. It’s amazing to witness them crawling up the beach, digging nests and laying their eggs! You will record this information on maps, which, together with pest species survey information, will be passed on to environmental management authorities to contribute to their environmental management plan.
In between service projects, there’ll be a focus on learning about the Aboriginal heritage of the region. We may take a trip up to Mapoon and visit the Aboriginal community there.
We’ll also go down the beach to Duyfken Point, where Dutch sailors first sighted the Australian coast in 1606. There’s an observation tower that you can climb and a plaque in memorial of the sailors. Along the way, you will also see several wrecks of planes that crashed in WW2.
The final night here will be a celebration of our learning and service work.
Our time on Cape York concludes this morning as we pack up camp, transfer back to Weipa and take a flight back to Cairns. From here, your group can fly home or extend their service learning program with Infuse by adding on additional travel days. Contact us for a customised itinerary!
