Range road repairs end tourist town’s not so splendid isolation

Cape Tribulation is truly unique.

Nestled between Port Douglas and Cooktown, the popular but remote tourist town stands alone as the only place on Earth where two world heritage-listed sites - the Daintree Rainforest section of the Wet Tropics and the Great Barrier Reef - meet.

Its seclusion in a relatively undeveloped area is a blessing – paradise preserved.

But it’s also a curse, as Cape Tribulation’s residents discovered in December 2023 after Australia’s wettest tropical cyclone on record, Jasper, all but totally isolated the small community, slamming the door shut on the area’s lifeline - tourism.

Jasper made landfall not far from Cape Tribulation dumping 3.2 metres of rain in less than a week triggering more than 100 landslips and causing serious damage to critical infrastructure across the Douglas Shire.

With devastating consequences, a massive 56-metre landslip at Noah Range blocked the only two wheel-drive road, the Cape Tribulation Road, through the Daintree National Park to Cape Tribulation.

Access from the north was also blocked with the 4WD Cape Tribulation-Bloomfield Road cut by 10 landslips.

The impact was immense.

Not connected to mains power, the Cape Tribulation community relies on solar and diesel generators for its electricity.

Without road access, fuel for the town’s diesel generators quickly ran out with supplies having to be brought in by barge.

Largely isolated from the outside world, residents also suffered a lack of services including waste collection and potable water, children missed school, and businesses were forced to close. 

Attracting more than 200,000 visitors each year, the Daintree National Park is a key part of the local economy.

However, in the six weeks following Jasper, tourism spending across Douglas Shire dropped almost 60 per cent on the corresponding period for the previous 12 months.

With tourism operators facing an uncertain future, securing the unstable mountain ranges and providing safe roads to reconnect Cape Tribulation became a priority. 

Queensland’s leading geotechnical engineers from the Department of Transport and Main Roads and highly skilled engineering consultants worked with Douglas Shire Council crews to identify the best and safest way to clear the giant landslip.

They faced a mammoth task coordinating tricky and complex operations in dangerous and difficult conditions to clear eight meters of dirt and debris from five main areas north of the Noah Creek Bridge.

Fearing a potential collapse of what remained of the road, engineers employed a staged approach to prevent further rock falls, stabilise the slip face, remove the debris, and create a safe passage through Noah Range.

Further heavy rain in the months after Jasper caused extra issues as further instability caused tension fractures that required intensive monitoring and unavoidable short notice closures.

After more than 7,500 hours of work and the removal of 2,250 truckloads of landslip debris the road reopened, albeit under traffic management, on 28 March 2024 just in time for the busy Easter holiday period.

Reopening Noah Range ended Cape Tribulation’s isolation.

It gave businesses a vital boost and enabled its approximately 120 residents to access the Daintree ferry and other communities including Mossman and Cairns.

Assistance for these vital roadworks was provided under the jointly funded Commonwealth-state Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).