Jungle Fever - Cape Tribulation

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Cousin Brown set out to OZ from England when he turned 20. He traveled around the country with friends and lived his life carefreely for two awesome years. As he flashed pictures of his past time in OZ, I saw smiles on his face, whitesand beaches, tropic forest, backpacker paradise and countless adventures. He told me I got see the jungle, beach and swim in the ocean in Cape Tribulation. To see it for myself, I came to Cape Tribulation.

Cape Tribulation is a secluded beach nested in Daintree Rainforest on the tip of Northern coast. It is north of Cairns and three hours away. A tour bus with wild images of young adults flying off rocks into waterholes or swinging on vines like a jungle scene in the movie “George of Jungle” painted across its front side picked me up at my hostel. There were about 10 of us from Cairns on the bus heading to different lodges in Cape T. Along the way, we made stops at a couple of touristy places promoted by the tour company. Not kidding, these places were ridiculously touristy. We went to a tiny zoo with some crocks, kangaroo and birds. It was like a patting zone for kids at a county fair. But the drive through the rainforest made the trip worthwhile. We had some spectacular views of treetop of the jungle and had the pleasure to listen to the sound of music - birds singing or streams run through the dense rainforest. Most people were traveling with friends, but a few of us were by ourselves. I met Curley on the ride into the jungle. Her name sounded like Curley but spelled differently. She was from Estonia and had been bumming around in OZ for months. We became friends quickly. It worked out nicely; we could take pictures for each other. We started chatting up with a group of German backpackers sat next to us on the bus. They were two guys and two girls, age range from 18 - 24. The blond German guy became interested in Curley. Funny thing was all of us were going to PK’s Jungle Village, a budge lodge for backpackers. I jokingly teased Curley there was going to be some hot pursuits from the German in the next few days. She shrugged off laughingly. After we checked in our room, a large cabin we shared with four other backpackers, we were eager to see Cape T. beach. Just as I guessed, the entire German group waited us to head to the beach together. I wasn’t going to pass up a show of romance on this trip. So we all walked to the beach together. There were two different ways to get to the beach. The long way is pretty much along the paved road for cars, and is easily accessible. The shortcut cuts through the woods, crosses a stream and some bushwalking then Bam…puts you on the beach. We were warned about the stream by the staff at PK’s. There are crocodiles in the stream. It is advised to be safe to across the stream at low tide when the water is too low for the crocks to swim in it and they can be detected by human eyes. Lucky for us, it was low tide when we reached the stream. After about 20 minutes walking, we were finally on the beach. I have grown used to the California coast which has forceful and crushing waves. The same Pacific Ocean was more tranquil in Australia’s East coast. As we strolled down the beach, I noticed these sand-pearls on our path. It is really far fetch how the nature makes them. They were made of sand and in perfectly round shape just like how pearls are made in clams’ shell. The beach was pretty empty. Besides us, we rarely saw people walking on the sand. The German kept hitting on Curley. It was funny to witness his attempts failed one after another as Curley just wasn’t interested in him. He offered his towel to her to sit on the beach. Later he returned from a swim, he asked to sit next to her on the towel. His poor friends, they probably preferred to speak German, but, because of him, they had to practice English with Curley and me. The girls spoke better English than the guys. I found out little more about them than the guys. I was surprised to see so many young backpackers from Europe and Canada who like these girls between age 18 to 20 were traveling at least for one year in this country. Many of them told me they came here for adventures before staring college or careers, to get away from the cold & depressing weather and crowded European cities. I thought this is such a great experience for young people to travel abroad, be free spirited, make friends and learn how to take care of themselves and be independent. Some of backpackers also told me they hoped to improve their English in OZ in order to increase their career opportunity in their countries. But one thing is for sure, all of us came here to have fun. When we made back to the stream the 2nd time around, it was at high tide. We foolishly took the chance to across the stream despite of the warning for crocks. When we made about 1/3 of way to the other side, the water was above our knees and murky. All of sudden, I was just consumed by the fear of uncertainty, what if one of us got dragged away by a crock at the next step? So I couldn’t help it and screamed “guys, I still want my legs, I am going back.” I really freaked out everybody about the crocks. We ended up going all the way back to the beach and took the long way to get back to PK’s. Maybe it was just a jungle myth, but we were happy to have our legs still intact.

Bonfire & Jungle
At night, PK’s turned into a lively backpackers party central. The bar was centered in a large open room with a balcony extended on one side. Rustic picnic tables were spread around the bar and ideal for groups to gather. A few pool tables were placed in the middle of the floor for those who weren’t keen to conversations. There were people from all over the place, the majority, however, came from Europe and Canada. The bar had really good drink deals which brought my memory of college days back. Yet, the atmosphere wasn’t crazy like my college time, but much more laid-back and cross-cultural. After the bar closed down, many of us headed to the beach with flashlights for a huge bonfire party. I didn’t know who started it, but it sounded irresistible. There were no one but us and a dancing bonfire on the beach. The moon illuminated the beach and water below the sky. The ocean was half dark and half silver lined by the moonlight seemed to possess a mysterious power to draw you closer. Sure enough, some people were hitched by it and ran into the water for a dip. We sat by the fire, passed around wine and fruits. Did I mention there were wild coconuts and bananas in the jungle? We also had a musician who played didgeridoo for us. Out of curiosity, I started asking our musician about his music. He was from Tasmania, an island south of OZ. He also was the one who brought fruits from the very jungle behind the beach. From there on, I called him the jungle boy. Didgeridoo is a wind instrument loved by the indigenous Aboriginal people. It looks like a wooden pipe thick as an arm and decorated with Aboriginal painting. Maybe we had too much wine, or maybe we itched for a different kind of adventure, a few of us became interested in following the jungle boy into the jungle to listen to the sound of the jungle at night. Once we were in the jungle, the jungle boy said turn off our flashlights. “What? There is no way. We can’t see.” we protested grumblingly. The jungle boy explained that our eyes would adjust to the darkness after awhile. By then, we could see a lot more in our surroundings than what we could under flashlights. As we continued walking in the jungle, we heard a symphony composed of cricket and many insects’ singings, wind breezing through the jungle and make trees whistle and sound of leaves crushed under our steps. It was pitch black. I couldn’t see anything around me. People started turning around and heading back to the beach. Pretty soon, it was only me and the jungle boy left on the excursion. After few minutes of being in the dark, I gradually began seeing a beaten path ahead of us and lots of tropic trees around us. But being in the jungle was frightening yet fascinating. I read about these deadly spiders and snakes from Bill Bryson’s book “In a Sunburned Country” about OZ. What if, what if I misstep on them? I asked the jungle boy what could harm us in the jungle. He said maybe wild boars. There are no dangerous mammals like bears or wolves from North America in OZ. Instead they have boars. But people rarely run into them. I asked him if my flashlight could scare off a boar if we run into one. He was amused by my concern and laughingly handed me an antique machete for my protection. The machete gave me a little sense of security, but more conveniently I used it to cut through thick jungle undergrowth on our path. There I was, in the middle of the jungle with a jungle boy and a beautiful didgeridoo. You might think I was out of my mind to be in the jungle in the middle of the night. It was one of those things you did at spur of the moment that was crazy, stupid yet incredible and adventurous.

The next day, Curley and I joined the jungle boy to explore some waterholes near our lodge. Curley desperately wanted to get away from the German who was in a hot pursuit of her. He had followed her everywhere the night before. Curley was annoyed that she couldn’t even talk to other guys because of him. I couldn’t stop laughing about the story and said to her “I told you he was after you.” I made one interesting discovery on our walk. I found these blue and egg shaped fruits fell off trees. Never have I seen a blue fruit. I was fascinated by its oddity. Curley took a picture of me trying to eat it. But the blue fruits were inedible. What were edible were the bananas which were freshly picked by the jungle boy from the jungle. They were sweet and truly organic that I couldn’t have asked for a better snack. When we arrived at the waterholes, just like those images advertised on our tour bus, we jumped off rocks, swung from the jungle vines into refreshing and inviting waterholes.

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Comments

[wayne]

chasing advice
hello looks like use had some fun. great photo's. i want 2 take my beautiful girlfriend to the trib and thort u may have some sugestions on wat is a must see and do to wowww her off her feet.