Cape Tribulation, Daintree and Mossman

Jerome and I went and collected the van that we had hired for our trip up to Cape Trib and we returned shortly after. We then all piled our bags into her - I say 'her' because we named her 'Bertha'! The big pile of white tin was going to take us up the coast for a weekend of fun and adventures.

After dropping our big bags off at the storage of the new hostel, we were ready to go. Jerome drove and I was the co-driver, Thierry, Caroline, French, Kara and Becki sat in the back like school kids on a bus. Off we went....

The coastal scenery on the way was breathtaking. The Captain Cook Highway hugged the coastline and we wound in and out of the rainforest for miles and miles, seeing white sandy beaches leading to turqouise waters all along the road. It was awesome. At about 1pm, we arrived in Port Douglas. There wasn't an awful lot there and it was extremely touristy. We popped into Coles and all got some snacks for lunch and then pit stopped in the bottle shop to stock up on beer for the trip. With that, we were back in the van and on our way to Cape Trib.

The thing I have found so far with Australia, is that none of it seems real. By that, I mean, it all seems very touristy and almost as if the towns have been carved into the mountains and built, just for tourism. Everywhere sells boomerangs, stuffed kangaroos and didgeridoos and you can guarantee that you will see older American tourists wearing baseball caps and t-shirts with 'Australia' emblazoned across them. It's fine I suppose and at the end of the day, without tourism, it probably wouldn't be here....but part of me doesn't really like it. After being in SE Asia, Australia feels too much like home and weather aside, could be anywhere. The cost of living is ridiculous and again, after being able to eat good hearty curries and veg for the last few months, suddenly not being able to afford anything other than crackers, bread and pasta is a slight shock to the system! The bowl of noodle soup that would have cost 30p in Thailand, costs nearly 6 quid here (none of the keyboards have pound signs here in case you were wondering why I always write amounts).

Rant over - the scenery honestly was breathtaking and as we climbed further up the coast, the rainforest got more and more dense. We reached the Daintree river ferry crossing and once across that, travelled through the forest, up through Daintree, until we reached Cape Tribulation. We decided to stop off at the corner shop to get some supplies and also took a quick dip in the waterhole next to the shop. After a snooze out on the grass in the field in the afternoon sun, we made our way across the road to our campsite that was to be our home for the next two nights. The 'Cape Tribulations Campsite' was topnotch! We pitched the tent under the trees and then were able to make dinner in the camp kitchen before sitting around the fire for the evening, playing cards and drinking beer! It was brilliant. I love camping and being in the outdoors and listening to all the animals.

As we were all quite tired, everyone headed to bed quite early. Kara, Caroline, Becki and I took the tent and the others slept on the seats in Bertha. One by one, everyone emerged and we sat and had breakfast outside and played a few games of shi*head (card game!!). By 10am, the sun was so strong that it was too hot to make our way to the Cape Trib lookout. We decided to spend the morning at the beach - which was a 2 second walk from our tent through a palm tree pathway and go to Cape Trib in the afternoon. The beach was amazing. A long white sandy stretch of palm fringed waters with no one on it apart from us and some people going for a horse ride along it. The tide was out and so we walked right out to the sea and lay chatting in the water pools for ages. We spent the rest of the time sunbathing and then looking at the stingrays that were swimming around in the shallow waters.

After lunch, we headed up to Cape Trib lookout point. The beach was stunning. What was funny, was that I saw my first jellyfish warning sign - a big yellow, diamond shaped one! I laughed - all the signposts over here are hilarious. They also have ones on the roads for some animals that look like turkeys!!! Apparently they are more like the size of ostriches, but Im yet to see one - so I've been calling them turkeys!! Anyhow - we walked up to the lookout and the view across the bay was spectacular. The sea was so blue and the rainforest and mountainous background made it look like something from the setting of 'Lost' (the tv series that I've seen one episode of). Luckily as it wasn't busy, we took our photos, had a stroll along the beach for a while and then once again, returned to the campsite, where we spent the evening relaxing, playing games and drinking again. After dinner, I lit the bonfire that I'd built through the day and we all sat around toasting marshmellows...they are minging! It was soo relaxing! Tuesday morning, after a slow breaky and packing away of the tent, we headed off for Daintree. We stopped off in the rainforest and were going to visit a nature trail centre, but for $25 per person, we decided to give it a miss. We boarded the chainlink ferry again and headed for Mossman.

Here, we stopped and had the mother of all lunches. A good pub lunch consisting of lasagne and salad for a bargain price of $6.50! We were all stuffed and so when we then headed to Mossman Gorge, we were all happy to go for a paddle in the refreshing waters and then lay across the big bolders that line the gorge. An afternoon relaxing in the shade was just what the doctor ordered! Sadly, after that, it was time to head back to our 'hometown'...Cairns.

Becki took the drivers seat for the return journey and somehow, we all made it back in one piece! We unloaded Bertha and scraped out all the rubbish that had accumalated over the last 3 days. Our new hostel was awaiting us....Very similar to Caravella 77, but Caravella 149 actually has a nicer pool.

It was Jerome's last night that evening...as in his very last night of a whole year of travels. As per usual, everyone going home should always have a good send off. Sooo - a night of alcohol fuelled debauchery was to be had once again - and it just so happened that it was Halloween too!! We hit the bloodstained decorated Woolshed in time for the 5 drinks for $12 and after they were gone, we were buying Jerome shots of tequilla and absynth....nasty!! Needless to say, we weren't surprised when he needed to be ill. Becki managed to wangle a few free drinks out of Pete (ayay), the barman and by 3am, we were all very merry! We made our way back to the hostel and continued chatting around the pool table until nearly 4am. Luckily, Kara and Thierry woke up at 8am to return Bertha to the hire shop and then they returned to bed. No one emerged until nearly midday - and Jerome was feeling slightly worse for wear.

Jerome then got his bags and we all said our goodbyes before waving him off to the airport. For the rest of the day, we've strolled up the Esplanade, the ate eat Baskin Robins new flavour of the month - Lemon Mousse Cheescake (mmmmmmmmm!!!!) and then caught up on emails. Tonight, Kara, Becki and I are going for a special dinner, Thai meal at a proper restaurant. We're ignoring the stupid prices for one night and going to have a banquet.

Tomorrow, we're going to relax and then on Friday or Saturday, we have a day over on Fitzroy island.

Bye for now

Miffy x x x