Queensland's Great North Tropical Drive

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Where the rainforest meets the reef

The day after our reef trip we headed to the motor home rental centre to pick up the campervan. We got beautiful, barely used 2 berth car with built-in shower, toilet, cooker, fridge but most importantly AC and additional bonus of a flat screen TV ;-) We were so excited to finally start the trip the way we like it - no organised stuff but 'US', the road and going wherever we want at our own pace. No more hotels and restaurants for a week - just campsites and BBQ ;-) To be honest we were so impressed by the campsites in Queensland, so great place to camp ;-) There is a lot to choose from - private ones, council-run ones and the ones in the national parks for just 5$ a head (but licence to camp need to be bought beforehand). We headed to the nearest supermarket to stock up for the week and few hours later we were driving north of Cairns stopping from time to time to admire this beautiful scenery of the UNESCO listed Wet Tropics ;-)

First few stops we made were Trinity Beach and Palm Cove Beach - very popular among the tourist. Palm Cove was voted " Australia's Tidiest Beach" and it was in fact very nice and clean. The very advantage of coming during the winter time is that places are almost deserted. Especially beaches - do people think 25C is too cold for sunbathing??? Definitely not for us - coming from the wet and 15C year round English weather hahha Another one is that from May on-wards deadly stinger jellyfish is not in season so very safe to swim ;-) Both of the places were stunning and it was incredible to watch the scenery of the rainforest coming onto the beach ... not the typical view!!!! You would expect some palm trees, maybe pine trees (typical in Central Europe) but not the rainforest flora ;-) Also interesting fact we noticed was that there is a lot of BBQs and toilets/showers everywhere so, if on really tight budget, you could really sleep in the car and use all those public facilities with no issue;-)

Our first stop for the night was Port Douglas but beforehand we decided to drive a bit more north to visit famous Mossman Gorge. Part of the Daintree National Park it's a nice 2,5km walk (or you can drive there of which we only found out later on) leading you to a small river creek with beautiful scenery around. There is a boardwalk so you don’t need any special footwear and there is no danger of snakes etc as you are actually walking above the surface. Most people go there to have a swim as it is croc free but mountain water is way too cold for my liking. We needed to hurry a bit which was a shame because our campsite reservation was about to expire. We were staying in the Tropical Breeze Caravan Park. Just walking distance from the centre of Port Douglas and walking distance from the Carnival Parade ;-) There was a carnival for 10 days in Port Douglas and we were lucky to be around just in time for the parade, fireworks and live street music ;-) We had a quick BBQ dinner and headed to the street where people were already queening to get best spots for the parade. We managed to find a spot with great first row view and we waited for the fun to begin. It started slowly with dressed up people walking around distributing candy and leaflets followed by very creative parade vehicles with loads of different themes and messages i.e. animal conservation, environment, health centers etc. We thought the old automobiles and Brazilian Carnival outfits were the best ;-) It all lasted about 1h and then we could taste some street food and watch acrobats' show. Brilliant atmosphere!!! We had amazing time in Port Douglas but next day it was time to move north again to the mostly awaited Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation area. In the morning we went to check Port Douglas beach as only 100 m from our camp and it was once again astonishing view. Even more as we were able to climb a bit up to have a better view of the coast ;-) After the walk on the beach we were ready to start the adventure of a new day.

This day was pretty exciting and we thought this part of the trip would be definitely the best. And we were not disappointed!!! About 1h drive up north of Port Douglas is the Daintree village and the cable ferry crossing to the rest of the tropical north. There is no other way to get to the Cape Tribulation and then to continue to Cooktown. However, unless you are driving 4x4 you can’t really go further than Cape Trib anyway. So unintentionally we missed the cable ferry sign and we drove as far as the Daintree Village itself. It happened to be an excellent move as there is an Information Office in the village that offers a lot of package deals of local attractions. We managed to get two River Cruises for the price of one (to be redeemed in 3 days) and Daintree Discovery Centre tickets discounted as a part of a combo deal. Overall we saved around 30$ per two of us which would never have happened if we had gone straight to the cable ferry ;-) In this case we did one of the crocodile spotting tours straight away. It was great with all the nature being so close to us. There were maybe 6 of us on the boat, as in low season, so we could get all the information out of the guide easily ;-) This time we managed to spot one big adult saltwater croc, few small baby crocs, tree snakes, big birds and many of the rainforest plants like tropical pine, mangroves etc. This cruise took place in the upper part of the river so the scenery was more of a fresh water type. Next day we would take a cruise in the lower part of the river that would be only few miles from the ocean. We totally enjoyed this trip especially being so close to the crocodiles for the first time in our lives;-)

Next we headed to the cable ferry crossing to be able to drive to Cape Tribulation where we would be staying for the night. The Ferry costs 21$ return for 2 min drive but you kind of have no choice anyway. Just if you plan to go there plan the time around on each side of the river to avoid unnecessary crossing cost ;-) The minute we crossed we already saw the change in the road.... it became narrower, bumpy and up the hill for quite a bit so it takes some time to get the distance done ;-) We got a very thorough map from the information centre so we already knew we wanted to do some independent walking in the forest. There are multiple choices of boardwalks (1-3km) along the way so we decided to walk for a bit before we get to the Daintree Discovery Centre. We stopped in the Jindalba Park, where we also decided to have a lunch break. What a great thing to do - have some burgers in the rainforest hahha We also came across a couple of Aussies we met the other day at the reef. Wow, world is small hahah We had a chat and exchanged emails as this was probably a sign we should get in touch again hahha. The walk was brilliant - all this plants that have been there for ages....'living museum' or 'living fossils' as they are sometimes called.... incredible how it all suddenly makes you feel so small and fragile!!!

We normally like to do things on our own and avoid tours etc if possible. So we had been thinking a lot if we should book this Discovery Centre experience. With all the honesty, we can say now it was worth the time and money. It is just because you do it on your own with audio guide at your own pace anyway!!! And the great thing about it is that they take you through all different levels of rainforest and they draw your attention to the specifics i.e. plants and animals that only live on the particular level of the forest ..... Also, you actually understand what you are looking at instead of just ... ‘ow what a huge fern - no it is the King Fern and it has been here for 3 milions years’ kind of thing ;-) We were quite disappointed not to see Cassowaries but we managed to see some Brush Turkeys , Orange Footed Scrub Fowls some Ulysses Blue Butterflies and some colourful pigeons ;-). When you walk a lot in places like that you get this habit of looking down all the time just in case you step on some poisonous animal. And you can actually hear animals being around you which gave us this tingling sensation all the time. An excitement built in us as if something was about to jump on any of us or attack. We noticed that we were always alert and so awake all the time - no dream walking ;-) We spent more than we anticipated in the centre and it was already too late for doing another independent board walk ;-( In this case we drove very carefully to our camp for tonight - PK's Jungle Village. I must say it was the best campsite we ever stayed in. Right in the middle of the forest with all those trees and tropical flowers around you, massive bar/entertainment area and beach maybe 100m away ;-) Really nice spot and very very cheap (10$/per), hence popular with backpackers (they also offer cabins and dorms).

Next day we drove back to the ferry point for our second river cruise ;-). I must mention here, all the Cassowary awareness everybody is trying to build over there. Apparently there are only 65 of them left in the wild so no wonder there are signs on every corner warning you to slow down and not too kill another one. Again, shame we could not see any ;-( Second cruise was even better than the day before. Only us and another couple on board and more animals willing to show up for us;-) We were in a different part of the river where more adult crocs have their territories and because of a winter time they spent more time on the shore than in the water ;-) The guide told us that for nature spotting early winter (May) or late spring are the best times to come as not too hot for animals and they show themselves more often. We saw many adult crocs just randomly taking sunbaths, snakes and finally a green tree frog. The guide also told us that there are around 150 adult crocs in the Daintree River - 20:130 proportion male to female more or less. Guides know them very well, give them names etc as they spent all their lives living around the river and working for the cruise company - how amazing. They are very passionate about the animals, discouraging people to try the meat etc which made us very happy ;-) Apparently, there are many bulk sharks swimming into the river and hunting for crocs which just made me think that everything in this unusual ecosystem either hunts for something of hides from something!!! Even huge and powerful crocodiles are not safe here as bigger; 5m long sharks want them for dinner ;-) What a life ;-)

After the cruise we were heading towards another yet different landscape of Queensland - Atherton Tablelands ;-) Waterfall time at last…..

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Comments

[Marilyn]

Beach Holidays Port Stephens
Not only yours, after seeing this picture, its also my favorite frog, thanks dear for sharing with us this type of beauty

[The Travel Camel]

Great photo!
The Green Tree Frog is one of my favourite Australian residents too!

[Beata and Tomek]

;-)
thanks Shane;-)