Day Thirty Seven - August 12th, 2013
The Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation

My photo album has taken on a mind of its own, and arranged itself in an erratic fashion. Sorry!

We were all up before the 8am alarm, excited to reach the most northern point of the East Coast accessible on sealed roads. When I went into the loos, another lady hastily pointed out the largest moth I have ever seen perched on the wall. I ran back to the tent to get the others, and after gawping at it and taking pictures, we continued with our day. We left the campsite after tomatoes on toast, and set off for the Daintree National Park. The surrounding landscape is already thick with tropical plants, and you can clearly see where it has been cleared to make room for agricultural land, roads and railways.

As we got close to the ferry (more of a barge) that we needed to take over the Daintree diver into the national park, we saw increasing numbers of 'Croc Tour' advertisements. We pulled into the jetty where Megan and Ben decided to go out on one of the boats. As we will be doing this with my parents in Darwin, we gave it a miss. They would only be an hour, so we went to scope out the ferry, and read our books in the shade.

M&B had a fab time, and the crocs looked huge and terrifying! They also spotted a snake in the trees. Once on the barge ($23 return for the car), it only took a couple of minutes before we drove off on the other side in what felt like completely untamed jungle, except for the one road. The problem of being on a ferry means everyone drives in a sort of convoy once they're off it, so to escape the crowd we took the first turning we could, down an unsealed road for 5k. This brought us out at Cape Kimberly. As soon as I saw the croc warning and canopy covered walk down to the beach, I didn't feel so sure, but urged on by the boys (Ben was carrying Megan so as to keep her away from any snakes!), we made it out on to the perfect beach, and feasted our eyes on paradise. There was no way any of us were taking the plunge, but we paddled in the very warm water. It was amazing to see the jungle literally spilling out onto the sand, and the ocean lapping at the shore. Elly had a tidbit of information; this is the only place in the world where two world heritage sites meet - the Daintree National Park and the Great Barrier Reef. It was very beautiful, and I was glad they made me walk there! We saw a guy out kayaking, and he was fastening his equipment onto the roof of his car as we arrived back in the car park. I asked him if he saw many crocs or sharks on his adventures, and he shrugged as he said 'Yeah, they're around.' Just like that, no big deal! He then went on to say he'd seen tracks just this morning of a croc definitely over three meters on the beach we'd just visited. Maybe I wasn't so glad I'd been talked into it.

We were all feeling peckish, so headed up the hill to the lookout for some lunch. That had to wait, as the view completely wiped our thoughts of food. The lush green of the canopy against the turquoise blue of the ocean and the sapphire blue of the sky was incredible. Hunger took over however, and we cooked up our couscous in the carpal amid stares from onlookers. Paired with everything else we could find in the food bags, it made a very decent meal! We sat in the carpark and ate until we were full. The two cars beside us were covered in dust, and written on them - 'Cape York, we've done it!'. We got chatting to the owners, two Aussie couples, who gave us great tips for the road. We're gradually working up a mountain of knowledge!

Back on the road feeling refreshed, we came across a coffee shop (for Ben) and a Daintree shop (for Megan and I). We browsed through all the products including Daintree tea and deodorant while Ben had his coffee. We decided not to do the suspended boardwalk tour as it was $35 a piece, but did buy a few postcards.

We were keeping our eyes peeled for a cassowary, which are high in density in the area. However, with only 65 in the vicinity, I knew we'd have our work cut out. We kept driving until we got to Cape Tribulation as we wanted to get there before it got dark. The carpark was full but we eventually found a space. The beach was beautiful but crowded, and I was so glad we'd had our amazing view of Snapper Island from Cape Katherine, having virtually the whole beach to ourselves. We took the short boardwalk to the lookout point, and loved seeing the mountains meet the sea. Elly wanted to be a bit more adventurous, so we pressed on up the now unsealed road, and found an even better view with no one else around. We gave the car free reign on the off-road gravel and it handled it well! We then had to think about heading back, and after a brief stop for a cold drink and a huge spider spotting (a yellow orb apparently), we were on our way out of the jungle. No cassowaries, but still a fantastic day. A very colourful butterfly did find its way into the car, brushing by Elliot's face ad landing on the back seat, but once we' stopped and snapped its picture, it was off again.

We saw a large plume of smoke as we made it back off the barge; more controlled fires. Amazing to see, and terrifying even knowing its deliberate. We hit Woolys, and got back to the campsite to shower off all the dust of the day. The moth was still there, and a grasshopper came to visit our tent. It's certainly been a nature filled day!

We cooked together in the kitchen and watched a couple of episodes of Gavin and Stacey on M&B's DVD player. I can't wait for a sofa! Tomorrow we head back to Cairns for a few days.