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Panoramic Picture: View From Alexandra Range At Start Of Cape Tribulation Car Hire
We were both extremely sleepy when we heard the alarm go off from the mobile phone at 6:15am. Pretty much every morning has been an early start as of late, but we hadn't really got used to it yet. After showering and getting ready in the dark, we hopped on to our hostel's shuttle bus and made our way to the car lot to pick up our hired car. We had initially been looking to do a day tour to Cape Tribulation, but with some advice from a tourist agency, opted to just hire a car and do it ourselves which would save us a bit of money.
It was a small car, and I mean very small. A one litre engine so there wasn't exactly much power there either. It was small because our budget was small and we actually got a very good deal on it, particularly since we're both in the higher insurance bracket of Under-25 and we were even able to reduce our excess. Unlimited KMs was a bonus too and would serve us nicely for the 5 hour round trip drive
Estuarine Croc
Also known as a "Saltie", these guys are the biggest and baddest crocs on the planet. to Cape Tribulation.
Heading Up The Coast
We set off pretty excited and headed to our first stop of Port Douglas. It was a bit strange to be driving again after being chauffeured about for 9 months in practically every form of transportation but it was a lot of fun to drive. The speed limits were completely erratic and they throw in roundabouts instead of T-junctions a lot of the time but other than that, it was great fun to cruise up the tropical coastal roads. The dirve up turned out to be a lot of fun, with loads of twisting roads and hills.
We arrived in Port Douglas and headed for a pie and a cup of tea at a local bakery and surveyed the surroundings. It's a really nice place and has a lot more of a village vibe than other places up the coast, but still had the copious amounts of souvenir shops. It would have had some great views of the coast line too had it not been such a cloudy and overcast day, which was a bit of a shame but had to be expected from the tropics. We wandered about for a
bit looking around and popped into a local museum before heading back to the car. There was a lot to be done in the day and we didn't have too much time for chill out.
Mossman Gorge
The next stop was Mossman Gorge, which was a little way up from Port Douglas. A far smaller town, it hosts an Aboriginal guided tour of the local rainforests and Mossman Gorge itself, an area shrouded with thick rainforest and rivers. We parked and headed in and noticed the tour group we had seen from our hostel in the morning being told they only a short time there. It made us thankful that we had opted for the car option as it was a bit more liberating working to our own timescales.
We had a look about the various lookouts and went around the 2km circuit track of the rainforest. The air tasted so great and the leaves still glistened from the rain from the night before. It was the first time we had properly been in a rainforest and it was great fun climbing around the trail. Some of the trees were pretty interesting and judging from the roots and
branches, extremely old. After a good work out, we walked back to head to the next point on our trail.
Daintree National Park & River Cruise
Emma took over driving duties and it wasn't too much longer until we arrived at Daintree River, where the main National Park is located for Cape Tribulation (which is a bit further up itself). The first stop here was the river cruise where we met a Swiss couple who had been travelling for around the same amount of time as ourselves and had bought a nice 4 wheel drive for their journey.
As we headed onto the river cruise, our guide and boat captain informed us we had a good chance of seeing crocodiles in the river over the next hour. This was going to be pretty cool and we ended up seeing 4 different ones, 2 of them being infants. Our guide was excellent and if it hadn't been for him, we probably wouldn't have seen any. Crocodiles are creatures of habit and normally return to the same areas so he knew where to look and had an eagle eye for spotting them. Since they don't move much, it makes them
St Mary's
Port Douglas even more difficult to see but it was great to see them in their natural habitat.
The last one we saw in particular was really great as it was the biggest and actually moved for us! It moved towards the boat itself though and we were warned away from the side of it as they can jump around 4 metres into the air. After we moved away from it, our guide informed us that we were dangerously close if we had been unsure of croc behaviour. Pretty amazing stuff.
Up To Cape Tribulation
After the cruise, we had to go on a ferry to cross the river to the rest of the National Park. It really did feel like we were entering Jurassic Park when the ferry got to the other side, being greeted by sheer rainforest. Although it was still bright, the roads were a lot darker due to the forest cover so the twisting roads became even more exciting. We stopped at a lookout which gave some great views over the coast and later at a boardwalk that went through another part of the rainforest. We were actually cutting time a bit tight by this point
as it was approaching 5pm and we still hadn't made it to Cape Tribulation. It gets pretty dark around Australia early at this time of year. Driving back down the road in the dark wasn't too appealing as it had been hard enough to see during the daylight. I guess time management is one advantage of doing a group tour.
We hurried around the boardwalk with a sign advising us it would take around 45 minutes, but we ended up finishing it in 10! Think the sign underestimated walking speeds. It was really nice again though and was pretty distinct from the other places we had visited. After re-entering the car, our final stop was Cape Tribulation itself; where the rainforest meets the beach. It's the only place in the world where two World Heritage sights meet; in this case Cape Tribulation's rainforests and The Great Barrier Reef. After some more winding roads, we finally made it and took the short walk to the beach. The beach itself wasn't the greatest, but it was brilliant end to the trip and we were able to see a lot of the coast. The timing was good too as it had just
hit sunset. We were both pretty exhausted but had a great time going up. Certainly not the types of things you could see on your average day anyway.
Journey Back
As the sky darkened, we realised it was a good idea to head back. The drive back was actually a lot of fun but had to really keep our wits about us as some corners were tight and hilly, which the car sometimes struggled with. Also, it was great that some cars left their full beam on to blind us with too, adding an unnecessary challenge. I guess we were a lot more cautious due to it being a rental car and conscious of even getting a scratch on it.
We ended up back in Cairns about 8:30pm, having been away for a solid 12 hours. Upon returning to our hostel, we made our great "hostel" dinner of noodles and headed up to our rooms extremely tired, mainly accumulative from the last three weeks. It was another early start as we were flying to Alice Springs the next morning. No rest for the wicked.
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