5FACTS ABOUT COEN
01 COEN INFORMATION & INSPECTION CENTRE
Australia is free from many world-wide diseases, and with the tip of the Cape only a short boat ride to New Guinea some pests have arrived from there and become established. So, you can take fruit north, but you must dump it in bins at the quarantine station, 21km north of Coen, when returning south. While you don’t have to stop on the way north, do visit the Information Centre that is part of the complex and get a free Cape York Information Kit.
02 BIRD WATCHING
Immerse yourself in an avian wonderland. Endemic birds include palm cockatoos, eclectus and redcheeked parrots, Marshall’s fig parrots, magnificent riflebirds, trumpet manucode and others. The billabongs are alive with water ducks, geese, darters, cormorants, herons, egrets and jabirus; while in the woodlands are honeyeaters, finches, doves, pigeons and more.
03 COEN CAPERS
Have a drink at the (S)exchange Hotel, the letter S added by a graffiti artist sometime back. For getting around town try the self-guided walk, drive and cycle tracks; visit historic buildings, mine ruins, the local bird-rich dam, and the rest area site. You can swim and camp three kilometres out of town at The Bend.
04 FISH & BOAR
Like the Top End and Kimberley, Cape York rates as a top tropical fishing destination. Target species include barra, sooty grunter, saratoga, and mud crabs. Aboriginal-owned Silver Plains Station has campsites on the Massey River, a boat ramp and good fishing, while some boar hunting with a local guide is possible when available. Most of the billabongs and the lower Archer River pools are suitable for tinnies, while the Coen can be fished from the banks.
05 ULTIMATE GETAWAY
Oyala Thumotang National Park at 4570km² is Cape York’s fourth largest NP, but the least visited. The eastern section includes the Kulla (Mcilwraith) Range and 488m Mount Kroll, the Coen River and several creeks rise in the range that run in to the Archer River farther west. The park is well-worth the visit, particularly if you want to escape the maddening crowds found elsewhere.