Cape Tribulation

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Day 6 - Thur Aug 28

Cape Tribulation
Up before the sun for the 3rd day in a row. Good grief! At least my hostel mates are incredibly quiet and mostly in bed by 11 pm. I love this hostel! Today, Cape Tribulation tour. I had debated between 2 companies who both go by an animal sanctuary where you are supposed to be able to hold koalas. Sadly, within the first 5 minutes of the tour, I realized I had made the wrong choice. The tour guide was nice enough, but his main concern was keeping us punctual, not making sure we were having fun. He was kind of a dud. On the tour were 3 Italians who smoked like chimneys, everytime the bus stopped, getting back on and smelling up the whole bus (yuck!), a nice family of 4 from the UK, 3 German guys, and me. The Germans were nice too, but there's not much more alienating than being in a pile of Germans, because they only talk to each other, in German, a language which is completely incomprehensible to me. So needless to say, there was not much unity in our tour. Plus it was kind of 'cruise ship style'. We got dumped off at all these wonderful places and were told, "Ok, be back on the bus in an hour". I had a near heart break when we got dropped off at the wildlife sanctuary. I went straight to the Koala enclosure only to find that koala cuddling was only during presentation hours, which wasn't until later in the day. (not included in our tour). After some near tears begging of the staff, they agreed to let me hold one for a quick photo opp. I was only for a few seconds, but so amazing still. He was soft and heavy, like a sack of potatoes and smelled like Eucalyptus! As we were leaving, the other tour company, Jungle Tours, was coming in and they were getting a guided tour through the sanctuary from their guide, as we were just dropped off.

Next up, we went to Mossman Gorge, a pretty green creek with lots of big boulders. And then to Cape Tribulation Beach which was breathtakingly gorgeous. Completely deserted, all different shades of blue in the water, warm...... heaven. I soooo wanted to stay overnight right there, but we got an hour :( I did talk my guide into stopping for some rainforest ice cream, which tasted just like ice cream but was made from tropical fruits. It was delicious.

So that was Cape Tribulation. Unbelievably beautiful. Everywhere we went was wonderful, and our tour guide did a good job of getting us to see a lot in one day.

That night I went wandering around Cairns. It's got such a lovely vibe. Street performers on every corner. Elvis was entertaining a crowd. There was a magician and a guy with an acoustic guitar, people milling around the coastline in the warm night air. ( I was wearing a sundress). I finally meandered into the internet cafe to check the pictures I took from the rented camera, and OMG, I was floored!! I didn't think they'd be any good. First of all, it was almost impossible to see through the viewfinder while underwater, so I didn't know what shots I was getting. Second, the fish are moving, you are moving... So just when i'd frame a good shot, the currrent would blow me around. There was definitely a learning curve. I learned 1/2 way through that to get the vibrant colors, you need to frame the coral against the deep blue drop offs. The coral didn't look that colorful underwater. BUT the pictures picked up colors my eyes didn't even see. While it was frustrating at the time, when I saw the pictures, I was hooked on underwater photography and felt like I was just getting the hang of it. I'd booked a 2 day tour the next day, and that was to be my last stint in Cairns. But looking at the pics, I decided I HAD to go back out to the reef.

Next up, On the Wallaby!!!!
Cairns is Heaven! I could stay here a looong time!

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