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Published: December 22nd 2007
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Fri. 16th Nov:
Our 1st stop was Port Douglas, just over an hours drive. Its a really pleasant town, much like Noosa but in a nicer area and I imagine more quiet. We had a wander around which was slow progress in the humidity. It was of course necessary to stop for a skinny milk, hydration so important in that sort of heat! The heat had obviously got to Laz as then went in search of a book store and even purchased a book, the 1st ever book he's bought for the pleasure of just reading, bless!
After getting over the shock of the book buying, we drove onto Mossman Gorge, in the southern part of Daintree National Park. We decided to strech our legs so swapped thongs for walking shoes and did a 5km route through the rainforest. It was fantastic to get some shade and fresh air under the canopy of the trees but it began to rain again whilst we were out so the humidity just increased again. By the time we got back to the car we were soaked through, sweat or rain, I'm not sure but either way I was requiring a shower!! Well, that was
going to happen until we got to the Cape Tribulation Beach House so we set off again.
It's only another 65km but the roads don't allow you to drive much over 80km/h so we made slow progress. The scenery en route was superb, the rainforests are so dense and rich in colour. We got to Daintree River (still raining!) and catch the ferry across to Cape Trib, then the 'roads' get more interesting as did the weather. We reached a traffic jam at one point but on closer inspection realised that a creek had formed more of a river with all the rain and was running straight over the bridge. Thankfully we had our reliable 4WD and Shiela confidently ploughed across. The road then turned into twists and turns and the rain just made it more fun...........
Finally we arrive at the Beach House check in. The rain actaully stopped long enough for us to get to our cabin and have that long awaited shower, but shortly after this, you guessed it, rainy season hit again! So it rained, and it rained and we ran across to the kitchen and cooked some dinner. It continued to rain so we grabbed
our waterproofs and walked the 500m path down to the bistro/bar. We stayed down there chatting to a couple of girls who were sharing our cabin and then you just wouldn't believe it, it rained some more, and I mean it really rained, so hard that the roof started leaking! We stayed for another half hr hoping that it may ease off so we could get back to the cabin but it was not to be. So waterproofs on, we waded our way back upto the cabin in ankle deep water. We actually got back to the cabin and laughed at the weather. If it wasn't so warm it would have been really miserable but there was something quite therapeutic about being in the rainforest, and quite apt I suppose!
Sat. 17th Nov:
Ok, enough is enough! Too much rain!!!! It didn't stop all night and as I was up early and saw it stop for about 10 mins. With this weather there was no chance of me getting out to the reef. Apparently the waves outside the reef were 3m and inside the reef 2m, I was looking to snorkel, not surf!
So, we decided to head back
Nice beach, bad weather
Check out that weather..... on our way back from Cape Trib to Cairns, the novelty of the 'rain'forest had truly worn off! Once over the ferry, the rain eased off and we took the opportunity to stop at a couple of beaches on the way back, for some great photos. The coastline up here is so different. Its strange to have beach and ocean on one side of the road and rainforest on the other. But the beaches are so unspoilt, it was great.
We got back to our hostel and booked into the same 8 bed dorm but were disgusted to find 6 people already there, how rude! Being a Saturday, it was going to be a long loud night so we decided to change to a twin room for the weekend.
We'd made plans to go the Woolshed with several people we'd met. Kate and Fie from Cape Trib, Andrew and Natalie who we originally met at Myella but also swam into at Cape Trib and some of Kate's friends. We had a few drinks at the hostel bar and then got the free bus at 2130. We arrived at the Woolshed during happy hour, what a bonus! This was probably a good thing as it made it easier
to understand why they were having goldfish races.....
Anyway, it was a good night with some people getting very drunk and I'm proud to say I wasn't one of them. Got another free bus back to the hostel and spent 5 hours listening to Laz drunkenly snoring! Yet another good night sleep, NOT!
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