Cape Tribulation

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We were on the bus at 8am to take us to Cape Tribulation. Cape Tribulation is a large area of rainforest in the Daintree National Park, famous for it's mangrove forests which run right down to the beaches in the area. Our talkative bus driver entertained us (Some of the time) as we drove by endless sugar cane fields before taking a "Crocodile Tour" on the Daintree River. While we did manage to see one very small crocodile it wasn't quite up to Steve Irwin standards.

After the boat trip we did a very rushed boardwalk walk through a small area of rainforest. Rushed because it's called rainforest for a reason (It got 6.5 meters of the stuff in 2006 which is a lot by anyones standards). After a quick drenching we reached PKs Jungle Village where we were spending the night. The accomodation was spectacularly set right in the rainforest and surrounded with animals and plants. The rain was down for the day so we decided to have a bite to eat.

After lunch we walked down to the Cape Tribulation beach and up to the lookout. After taking in the beautiful view for a while we decided to walk the beach. We had read warning signs beside the beach about a large male Cassowary (Largest bird in Oz and the second largest in the world - Grows up to 6 feet tall) was hanging around the area. The Cassowary according to the Guinness Book of records is the worlds most dangerous bird and likes to disembowel victims using the razor sharp claws on it's feet.

As we rounded the corner, what should we see but one of the forementioned Cassowary running towards us at a fairly impressive pace. Although generally fairly docile towards humans we weren't taking any chances and disappeared back the way we had come at an equally impressive pace. A smaller bird was running at our feet and we figured out that that was probably what had attracted the Cassowary's attention. We made our way down to the beach an alternate way but didn't see anymore of the Cassowary. The beach was beautiful even in the rain and we walked along it for the afternoon.

That evening we had signed up for a night trek in the rainforest. We were picked up by our very own Crocodile Dundee called (disappointingly) Ross. After
driving for twenty minutes Ross spotted a large Cane toad on the road and decided the best thing to do after showing it to us was to throw it into the bus on top of Ronan. Much jumping later mainly on Ronan's part and the trip continued.

Unfortunately as it was raining we didn't see any snakes which Ross assured us generally sunned themselves on the hot roads in the evenings. Once we reached the trek route we started the walk. We saw all sorts of wildlife from lizards, frogs, birds and huge insects. Ross really knew his stuff and the hour and a half flew by. The biggest insect of the night actually lives in the tour office headquarters and is a gigantic Golden Orb Spider.

After the trek we headed back and had a few beers with a Scottish girl, Jo and an Irish lad from Donegal who were in our dorm. We were up early the next day and after brekkie we did another walk this time of the beach and rainforest right beside our dorm. We caught the bus in the afternoon and stopped along the way to see Snapper Island called so because it resembles a crocodile (Perhaps most famous nowadays as the place where Steve Irwin died off the coast of).

We then stopped at Mossman Gorge and as the weather was back to its normal scorching self lots of folks from the bus went for a dip in the beautiful gorge. We decided to do one of the walks in the area which was equally beautiful. We had a quick stopover in Port Douglas for lunch on the way back to the city.

Next Stop Cairns again...

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Comments

[Ann]

RAIN FORESTS
After all this wild life, the two of you will probably return green hippies and vegetarians.