We travelled 1.5 hours by bus to Mossman Gorge. Here in Australia they actually have bike lanes on the highway. It's really weird driving and even walking here. We know you drive on the left, the drivers seat is on the right and all that. But try and walk here. Crossing the road you must look to the right first, not the left. It's habit to look left when you cross the street for most of the world. Vic almost got smoked several times in Cairns crossing the street. But I digress! The drive on the Coral Coast Highway reminded me of the Pacific Coast Highway (Hwy 1) in California - a road full of twists and turns, ups & downs, following the coast with breathtaking scenery. This part of Australia is very tropical and the main crops in these parts are bananas and sugar cane. Sugar cane fields line both sides of the highway as we travelled north. This is what I picture Hawaii to be like.

We got to Mossmans Gorge and took an interpretive walk through the Daintree Rainforest. We first "endured" the welcome smoking ceremony where I thought (hoped) it was not going to be what I thought but no such luck. We had to turn ourselves around in the smoke of the fire and get stinky. Then we drank bush tea made from water from the Mossman River and bark from a special tree accompanied by a rasher (biscuit) with homemade jam. It was good! We then followed our aboriginal guide, Tom (!!), and learned about bush food, medicinal plants and the lasting relationship of the Kuku Yalanji people with their natural environment. We learned many things including how to make bush soap and watched an ochre painting demonstration using earth, clay, rocks and ashes. It was very reminiscent of our walk in the Amazon jungle. Apparently the movie Avatar was filmed in both places - at least both places boast of this. If I ever get lost in the rainforest I now will be able to paint myself, wash, eat, cure indigestion and call for help by banging on tree trunks with a rock. Before leaving the rainforest we said "yala de" (thank you) to Mother Earth for all her wonders.

The Daintree Rainforest is thought to be 200 - 300 million years old, making it the oldest intact rainforest in the world. The Amazon rainforest is only 7 million years old. Of the 19 primitive flowering plant species in the world 13 are represented in the Daintree. A few years ago scientists found a section of the rainforest that had not evolved for 150 million years. Can you imagine seeing flora and fauna as it was 150 million years ago???

We returned to the welcome centre, had lunch and then went to the gorge (near the rapids in the river) for a refreshing dip. There were signs saying swimming was not advisable due to the currents and that people had died here but that wasn't stopping us, no sirree. The water was chilly but welcome after the humid rainforest walk. I almost lost Vic in the current but he managed to overcome the current and live to see another day. Then it was off to Cape Tribulation for 2 nights. We stopped to buy snacks at Woolworths. Yes, they're still around as is K Mart. Woolworths here is a grocery store and they have a bottle shop (liquor store) as well.

We returned to our bus and continued 2 hours to Cape Tribulation. We stopped at a lookout to see where the Mossman River meets the sea. Beautiful! Once we arrived in Cape Tribulation we checked into our fabulous resort cabin nestled amongst the trees on the ocean with all the sounds of the rainforest surrounding us. Cape Tribulation got its name from Captain Cook who's ship the Endeavour got stuck on the reef. It took him days and a lot of manpower to get free so he named the place after his troubles. He also named many of the mountains such as Mount Misery and Mount Sorrow so you can see how frustrated he was with his dilemma. And there is Snapper Island which looks like a croc - nose, head and body are plain as day. You really can't see it from my pictures unfortunately.

We had to take a ferry across the Mossman River to get to Cape Tribulation. We were told to keep an eye out for crocs floating down the river. Didn't see any. This area is also the area where a big bird - the cassowary - lives. It has a brilliant blue and purple head and neck and red wattle they are flightless and endangered bird. There are only 1,500 of them in Queensland and they are protected. You are considered very fortunate if you see one. There are speed bumps on the roads in areas where they are known to frequent. This bird is native to the rainforest and is very important to its continuation. It is a sacred bird of the Kuku Yalanji people. It eats seeds from trees that no other animal eats and it's digestive system is very gentle so it doesn't harm the seeds. It then poops them out throughout the rainforest so the trees continue to grow. They are referred to as the gardener of the rainforests as they spread seeds many kilometres from where they ate them. They look like an emu with a weird looking horn-like thing on its head. Apparently it's not a horn or bone but a tough skin that covers a styrofoam-like material. I haven't seen one yet. When we arrived at our resort the owner told us we could not go in the ocean or even dip our toes in as there is a crocodile that is stalking swimmers here. In addition, there are jellyfish that can be deadly. Great! But we weren't letting that deter us. So we went to the beach to see if we could challenge the croc. No sign of him. He's apparently 3 meters long! We're here for another night so there's time to find him.

We had a group dinner then went back to the beach to look at the stars which were abundant and bright. I met a b**** and she quite took to me after I rubbed her belly for several minutes. She just rolled over exposing her teats (she obviously had pups somewhere) for me to rub. I just hope the croc didn't get her. She was still laying there when we left.

It was an early night as we're going on a jet boat tomorrow to the reef to snorkel in the morning.