Advertisement
Published: June 23rd 2008
Edit Blog Post
We watched with excitement as the plane flew along the coast line from the north and flew over dense rainforest mountains and yellow sand fringed beaches everywhere seemed so vast in some areas there was just a single straight road leading out into the empty openness.
How strange to think we are now on Australian soil at long last, we landed amid palm trees and sugar plantations and the blue sky beckoned us as we stepped off the plane.
Getting through customs and immigration was a mission and seemed to take forever, what with the sniffer dog and the endless questions about what we had in our suitcases and then the detailed inspection of our passports and visas! I don’t think bags are scanned more any where else than when entering Aus!
We managed to hire a minicab to take us to the Motor-home Company to pick up our mobile home for the rest of the week. It is a huge beast complete with fridge, cooker, shower, toilet and sink! It is a bit like driving the Priors Court Minibus but a bit bigger!! We pointed the white peril north out of the town and proceeded to shake rattle
and roll along the Captain Cook Highway to Port Douglas, a single lane road no wider than the B4000 from Shefford to Newbury. There are certainly no motorways or even dual carriageways up here!
The road wound its way along the side of the ocean and we got glimpses of sandy beaches and rocky coves, past signs pointing to Palm Cove, Yorkys Knob and Cow Bay. We found a really nice camp site with a swimming pool, so with a little help we reversed into our allotted pitch and discovered how to fix all the pipes and cables to the service areas much to the amusement of the neighbours!
As novice campers we managed to cook ourselves up a meal and providing we rotated around the main gangway in the same direction we could slide pass each other to get from one end of the van to the other. It was surprisingly compact and had many cupboards and hide-aways to store all our bags. We were glad to have a good nights sleep and woke rested ready to start exploring the surrounding areas.
Port Douglas was our first port of call and we enjoyed a walk along Four
Mile Beach with its golden sands and blue sea. The whole edge of the beach was lined with coconut trees and huge palm trees laidened with dates. At defined intervals there were bbq sites with free gas fed grills for anyone to use and picnic benches to it at. Port Douglas main road was lined with art shops and beach clothing shops and tour shops offering trips out to the Reef. We enjoyed eating some lunch outside under the tension canopies to keep you protected from the sun, but this time it was to shelter from the rain, it absolutely tipped it down!!!
Once we had booked our trip out to the reef later in the week, the weather forecast was not too brilliant for the next couple of days so we decided to return at the end of the week when hopefully the wind would have dropped a bit. Had not realised that the reef was so far out and it would cost so much for a days trip snorkelling and for an introductory dive. Still, we had not come this far not to see the Barrier Reef.
From Port Douglas we headed off up the coast to
Mossman Gorge and had a wonderful day exploring the Rain Forest and River Gorge in the Daintree National Park. We found ourselves scrambling over huge boulders and uneven tree roots. Creepers hosted on the large trees that towered high above our heads all straining for light from the top of the canopy cast shadows on the forest floor where Bush Turkeys scratched the soil for grubs and seeds. The boys decided to go for a swim in the clear waters and watched huge fish swim by as they swam between the boulders. We decided to sit and watch!
The drive up to Cape Tribulation took us further north along the coast and then further into the Rainforest crossing over the Daintree River by a small drive on/off ferry that took you across the crocodile infested river even though we did not see any! There were signs everywhere warning people of their presence and to avoid standing near or fishing by the edge of the river along with taking picnics too near the river. Needless to say we followed the advice!!!
The main road wound its way up to the Cape and we arrived at our camp site just
a 3 minute walk through a row of palm trees to the beach. We enjoyed a wonderful long walk along side a small mangrove wood along the withdrawing tide as it exposed sand banks and rock pools. Tiny crabs made patterns with small excavated balls of sand as they burrowed their way into the sand along the shore line which looked like fan coral designs. A number of huge Eagles and Kites flew over the beach as well prying on trapped fish in the exposed rock pools. It was all very peaceful and only a hand full of people could be seen in any direction.
It tried to rain a couple of times but fortunately most of the rain fell at night followed by blue skies and sunny intervals, we did not however experience the turquoise blue waters that all the postcards for sale displayed, so much for Photoshop! It did not however cloud our opinion and memories of a beautiful coastline and amazing mountain ranges that framed each beach along the way. We certainly would like to return again one day and explore some more.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.042s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0237s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb