OZ - Week 41 Cairns & Cape Tribulation

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While the southern cities of Sydney and Melbourne were suffering their worst and coldest winters for years, the north was enjoying gorgeous weather. The temperature in Cairns averaged a balmy 28 Celsius with mainly bright sunshine, the odd shower lasting only a few minutes and a gentle refreshing breeze. Sadly the weather system had brought really strong winds further out to sea blowing up to 30 knots, creating high waves and swells of up to 4 metres even out on the reef, which made it far too uncomfortable to go out on a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. It was probably OK for diving but pretty rubbish for snorkelling. Not being a good sailor I wasn’t prepared to spend 8 hours upchucking just to redeem my prepaid voucher (remember I got it during the travel auction months ago where I got great deals on 3 trips in Queensland?), so I spent much of the week waiting for the strong winds to drop from their crazy levels and for the high waves to diminish.

Due to the issues I experienced in getting accommodation in Darwin I scoured the internet then booked well ahead, managing to get a fabulous bargain at a lovely hotel in the centre of Cairns for roughly the same as I would have paid for a private hostel room, which was a great feeling. As the early morning flight got me into Cairns before 11am (get the public airport shuttle bus to the city for $10) I wasn’t expecting to get into my room ahead of the 2pm check-in time, but queued up at Reception anyway where a very rude Asian woman barged ahead of me and proceeded to be outrageously rude and obnoxious to the chap on Reception. I guess I was way more polite than the bitch he had previously served so he gave me a great upgrade to a huge superior room on the 16th floor, immediately opposite the Presidential Suite. It was massive with two double beds, a small balcony and the best thing of all, a bath. Now that got me hugely excited as for months I have only had rooms with showers, and often they had been shared with dozens of other people. Therefore I rushed into town and bought a bottle of lush bubblebath from the Bodyshop. I have spent an unusually long period of time every day wallowing with masses of bubbles and a cold glass of wine, while listening to the TV. Oh bliss.

Having been disappointed in not going on the Snorkel Tour, I used one of the other bargain Travel Auction buys - the full day Billy Tea Safari tour to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree rainforest - where I had paid way under half of my fellow passenger’s rate. The day started with a 1.5 hour drive along the scenic coastal road, past the beach towns of Palm Cove and Port Douglas to a brief stop in the sugar processing town of Mossman, where we saw the Cane Trains bringing in freshly cut raw sugar cane to the large factory. We then headed toward the Daintree National Park after crossing the lower end of the Daintree River via a cable ferry. Our vehicle was a 4-wheel drive truck that sat high off the ground, needing steps to climb in but providing excellent views.

Our driver and guide was Andrew and he started us on a walk through the rainforest where he was an ace at finding and spotting minute insects and well hidden creatures. He added an interesting new dimension by using a camera with powerful micro lens that enlarged the tiny insects to huge bug-eyed monsters on the screen and showed each hair, even letting us see minuscule parasites living on their tiny bug hosts. It was a great idea and a fascinating addition to the very informative rainforest walks, as often Andrew would take a shot of something so camouflaged that we couldn’t see it until he showed us the picture, or something so scary that we refused to get close enough to peer at it, such as the poisonous spiders. Andrew also loved unusual plants and fungi, showing us close-up shots of some of the tiny mushroom growths on rotten logs and telling us about his regular trips into the rainforest at night where between 1-4am you can see a huge range of phosphorescent fungi glowing in the dark with colours ranging from jade green, through the turquoises to electric kingfisher blue. He made it sound tempting until he mentioned that they get totally covered in leeches when they go, so its now been crossed off my ‘to do’ list. Uggghh.

It was an interesting walk through the dense rainforest and enjoyable if you forgot about the hundreds of things around us that were highly poisonous, toxic or deadly. We encountered ticks, leeches, many kinds of lizards and a whole bunch of horrid spiders. The lady in front of me got completely freaked out when she got a leech on her leg, which was a shame as it was probably the most benign of all the creepy crawlies we encountered. The trees and plants were lush and varied and we heard lots of birds in the canopy. Andrew explained about the various fruits that you can gather in the forest, some of which taste good but have quite radical side effects, such as sending you blind. Needless to say, none of us tried anything. I should have been warned about the dangers when I saw Andrew strapping on a large backpack full of first aid gear when we set off on our trek. Thankfully he didn’t need it, although one Japanese lady kept having panic attacks and hyperventilating.

Many of the forest fruits are eaten by the strange Cassowary birds that look like a three way cross between peacock, turkey and long-haired terrier dog. We didn’t see any close enough to photograph, so I have included a shot of one of the advertising posters depicting these weird birds They are essential to the thriving rainforest and are one of the main conduits for seed spreading. Tests have proven that some plant seeds have a 400 percent improved germination rate after passing through the intestines and being pooped out by the birds. Their main threat are the feral pigs who have become a real problem in North Queensland - we saw a truck sporting a bunch of wild pig carcasses hanging on the back, as they are hunted each night to try to keep the numbers down. The wild pigs also take many of the baby crocs, either as eggs or hatchlings.

We went off-road and spent a bumpy 15 minutes powering down a dirt track in our 4-wheel drive vehicle, aiming for a particularly pretty creek for our mid-morning tea stop, but found the road blocked with loads of cars and vans as it was the gathering site for a backpackers rave party. We binned that idea and instead headed for Cape Tribulation where we wandered on the beach while Andrew set up a feast of exotic local fruits in the picnic area under the trees, with a guarantee of no nasty side effects. The spread included some unusual treats that I had not tasted before such as the custard apple fruit. We saw a huge dragon lizard under our table but we were told to keep away from him as they can get nasty - the Japanese women was petrified, and wouldn’t come within 10 feet of the beast. I later saw him wandering onto the beach and have included a photo of the event.

After our fruit feast and a drink, half of us walked through the forest up to the Kulki Lookout point that gives a great view of Cape Tribulation, named by Captain Cook after his ship was held up here for several weeks to repair damage caused by ramming into the nearby reef. I got ahead of the group on the way back and had the whole beach to myself for a while, where I sat quietly admiring the view of the only place on the planet where rainforest meets coral reef. I also investigated some of the signs at the entrance to the beach, where I wasn’t too sure what to make of a warning sign depicting a man and a kangaroo/wallaby. What exactly was it telling us not to do? It could have been ‘don’t shoot them with a hand gun’, or ‘don’t feed them your sandwiches’ or even ‘don’t point out their large noses’ (see the “what?” photo). Dunno.

We stopped at 1pm for a BBQ lunch near a tea plantation, enjoying juicy steaks and salad before hand-feeding some tame kangaroos and wallabies at the nearby cafe. We continued on the road, heading to the upper reaches of the Daintree River for a boat cruise and more croc spotting. It was more gentle than the trip I took in Darwin and although we saw quite a few basking crocs on the banks and sandbars, it was more about the varied and colourful birds that can be found in the area at this time of the year, including some stunning kingfishers. I must mention one croc called Fat Albert, a 5 metre long male who is the widest croc on the river and who had taken down a fully grow cow earlier in the year. With the help of a female croc it took Fat Albert a week to eat the cow.

We drove back over the Alexandra Range and had one last stop where I was among the brave souls to try some of the bush tucker, including licking a green ant’s bum. I probably wont do it again but I can tell you it tasted like licking a 9-volt battery together with a bit of lemon/lime flavour. Interesting experience.

Overnight and out of the blue the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was toppled in a political coup and the deputy, red head Julie Gillard took over the top job as the first woman PM of Australia. It was all a bit sudden and seemed to take all of the political commentators by surprise.

My hair had been getting completely out of hand, being way too long and straggly. Its been so hot and sticky that I have been uncomfortable most of the time with a sweaty neck. As I have a horror of older women with ponytails as it looks so naff and clips and bands didn’t improve the look, I decided that I needed a drastic solution and a radical style change. So I am now sporting the shortest style I have had in the last 10 years - I love that I can wash it in 2 minutes, it doesn’t need drying and only takes a shake of the head to “do” it. I am revelling in the ultra low maintenance but I know it will grow quickly and I can change the style again in a few weeks, as to be honest I am not sure that it suits me that much. Boy its short, but so much cooler now.

I took a bus along the coast and spent a very nice day on one of the many small beaches and coves in the area. Unfortunately at the end of the week the school holidays started and consequently more families around and plenty of very annoying, screaming kids. In Cairns many of the restaurants along the Esplanade sell half price meals during the dead time between 3-5pm and these “happy hour” dinner offers are a great way of keeping your living costs down. Being a coastal town with plenty of fishing boats means you can get great seafood and there are plenty of places selling superbly fresh fish with a staggering range on offer. One good one I tried is a chain of shops called Fish D’vine (opposite the casino) where I had the tasting plate of 4 succulent fish (barramundi, tuna, salmon and sole) that was yum.

I spend quite some time sitting by the hotel pool reading and taking in the rays for an hour or two then moving under the shady canopy, but the water in the pool was freezing so I didn’t bother to swim much. Hilariously I got seriously hit on by a young guy one day, that took me by surprise. Even after I gently turned him down he moved his sunbed quite close to mine and stared at my boobs. I am not sure if he was a gigolo on the make or just very desperate, but he was not my type and certainly didn’t fill his speedos, so as I wasn’t interested I turned over and gave him the full glare of my cellulite thighs and budding varicose veins. He eventually left.

I have received an award from Travelblog for my blog photography. Sadly the awards are based on quantity rather than quality and there were 9,577 other people given an award. I am now the proud (?) recipient of the second category (of 3) meaning I have loaded over 1,000 shots. Hope you are all enjoying them.

As the outlook was for at least another week of high winds, I decided not to wait any longer for calm seas in Cairns. So I am off on the Tilt Train heading 10 hours south to Airlie Beach, gateway to the Whitsunday Islands.

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Comments

[Stace]

Miss You
Mum, I'm so jealous that you are in Northern Queensland and now moving south. I love Queensland soooooo much. Miss you heaps. xoxoxoxox