Blog Day 138 Wed 21st September 2011

So as we have our own wheels now & the freedom of being able to get around, we get recommended to do a trip up to the Daintree River & Cape Tribulation National Parks. A unique area of World Heritage listed rainforest which is just a stone's throw away from the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef. Rainforest found here is over 100 million years old housing over 3,000 plant species representing all stages of rainforest evolution. So up we get & off we go, packed & ready to spend the day on the open road & to find somewhere to camp in the evening. First step is to head onto the Captain Cook Highway & then pretty much just follow it north along the most spectacular coastal drive. Passing by a place called Yorkeys k*** (hehehe), Clifton, Trinity & Ellis beach on towards Palm Cove. This is where we come across Hartley's Crocodile farm, we decide to stop & check out prices & find out a bit more information. Its $30 each but they accept student card which brings the price down a little. We decide that we will head on for now but maybe do it on the way back tomorrow, as we had intended to originally seek out the Daintree Crocodile boat cruise further on. So we continue our journey on towards Port Douglas, which is known as the Village by the sea. A charming town area of shops, pubs & eateries & also home to Flagstaff Hill Lookout. Jaz does us proud by pulling us up to the lookout point, where we were rewarded with the views of Four Mile beach!

Next stop is Mossman's Gorge where we jump out for a stroll through a rainforest area with a natural gorge through the middle. We also saw an amazing fig tree, trust me there were plenty of trees around but the fig tree knocked the socks off the rest. There are actually quite a few around this particular part of Australia. Basically what happens is a bird drops a fig seed onto another innocent looking tree. As the seed starts to germinate it sends its roots down to the ground along the trunk of the host tree. The roots engulf the host tree and in doing so blocks out essential sunlight and mugs it of nutrients from the soil. The host tree then dies off and what is left is a very gothic looking fig tree made up of a thick above ground root system. These are known as strangler figs and are generally badass trees! The photos do them more justice than words do.

So in the camper we jump once again & drive & drive & drive until we come to a cable ferry crossing. For a moment or to we actually deliberate as to whether we want to continue the drive, deciding that it would be silly not too. The ferry is $22 & only takes about 10mins to get across to the southern side of Daintree rainforest. We drive around taking in this beautiful area of peaceful wilderness, rainforest walking trails, rivers, lookouts & tropical beaches. The horse-riding across the beaches here is meant to be really good but it's just a little too expensive for us & even camping on the cheapest site we can find is $30 so we make a decision to head back towards Palm Cove where there is a camp site for $20, that way we will be near Hartley's Crocodile Farm which we have decided we will definatly be doing the next day. The ferry ride back away from Cape Trib proves to have made the whole day worthwhile, as we get an amazing view of a beautifully clear sunset. Totally gorgeous!

By the time we get back to Palm Cove it's gone 7pm & there is no-one on reception, Trish pops round the back to try & grab someone's attention when a guy pokes his head out of a camper & tells us to just park up somewhere & sort it out in the morning. Must've have woke him up, but we do as he says & soon have our kitchen set up & our first lot of noodles on the go. What follows is a culinary delight of Chicken flavour noodles which chopped pepper and onion topped off with a softly fried egg. Don't knock it until you've tried it!

Once we have eaten, done the dishes & packed our kitchen away its movie time. U-571 goes on & we manage get about half way through before the second battery cuts out, switching off the DVD player, fridge and interior light!

NIGHT THEN!