Mossman Gorge

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No big adventure plans for today. We were set on hanging out at the pool for the morning and then heading to Mossman Gorge for a one-hour hike. I scouted out a smooth coconut from the beach to use as a rugby football and we played an aggressive game of rugby in the pool. This was followed by chicken-fights and then team swimming races with me and Theo as a team against Geddy and Ivy. Nothing like a relaxing day at the pool...

We had a break in the action to head down to Port Douglas to have lunch and check on the weather conditions for tomorrow. We had pushed all in on our last day to wait for our snorkeling trip out to the outer banks of the Great Barrier Reef. That was a go. We had pretty much given up on trying to sit down at a restaurant for lunch together as most places offered "Take Away" orders. Once again we split up to buy our food and arranged to meet at a park to eat. Suzy and Ivy went off to a wrap place, Theo tagged along with Geddy to the grocery store to get a French Stick and peanut butter and I went off to Mocka's Pies. [A couple of notes on the food. Geddy ate his fair share of "Crusty Loafs" in New Zealand. After our first stop at a grocery store, he heard an older man ask his wife, "Fancy a Crusty Loaf with dinner tonight?" Of course, since the NZ accent was fresh to us he thought this was hilarious. A crusty loaf is just a French baguette. They call this a French stick in Australia. As for pies...after we arrived in NZ we went to a mall to buy our GPS and pay-as-you-go cell phone. I was descending an elevator and saw a shop that sold "hot pies". Pie in the mall? I loved New Zealand already. Upon further inspection, hot pies are NZ's equivalent to sandwiches for lunch. These were mostly meat pies in individual portions and were sold at pie shops, cafes and even convenience stores at gas stations. I hadn't found a vegetarian version. After arriving in Port Douglas, I saw an ad for the "World Famous" Mocka Pie shop which finally had vegetarian offerings. When we walked along the beach to Port Douglas a couple of days ago, I had a corn & asparagus pie that was fantastic. They were out of their vegetarian specialty, the pumpkin, spinach & feta pie. I had one of those today and it was incredible!! The "World Famous" label has been applied rather liberally by various establishments that we have seen on our journey, but it this case it was well earned.]

After lunch we drove to Mossman, some 20 kilometers north and turned toward the Mossman Gorge which led us back into the Daintree Rainforest. We hoped again to spot a Cassowary after passing Cassowary Crossing signs, even though we realized this is a needle in a haystack opportunity we kept our efforts up. As we reached the end of the drive nearing the car park, we really hit our first "crowd" of our trip. The Australian kids are on school holiday this time of year and due to hot temperatures in the summer months, the Cairns area's peak tourist season is winter. Cars lined the road on both sides all the way to the car park. Fortunately, we found a spot in the lot and headed off on a trail running parallel to the river and into the rainforest. The two kilometer track was fairly well traveled and we took time to overlook the river as we headed up the loop trail. At one point on the descent we took a small trail off the main loop that led us to a lovely waterfall that tiered its way over large fern and moss-covered boulders that peaked through the low hanging branches of the rainforest.

We got back after sunset but it didn't deter the kids from having some pool time and even a bit of time on the dark beach.

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Photos

Theo swinging on a vine
Daintree National Park - Mossman Gorge

Crazy tree
Theo, of course, will swing on anything he can. This is a picture of a host tree that has died. The trees that were growing around it are holding it up and continuing their quest for light.

Geddy takes a real jungle swing - Look out Tarzan!
Geddy has been looking for an epic vine to swing on ever since we arrived. This was the best one we have found. He is a blur in the photo and swung into a thorny fern. He still said it was, "Awesome!"

The Cassowary Crossing sign!!
I guess we won't see one...maybe next time!