Advertisement
Published: December 5th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Wicked Van
Heaven..... We left the desert behind and flew from Alice to Cairns in the north of Queensland. After a sleepless night in a hostel being subjected to 'pounding pounding techno music' (yep we're getting old) we went to pick up our state of the art 'wicked' camper van that would be home for our journey down the east coast to Melbourne. The van's are all decorated by the owners' wife, a dab hand at graffiti. We were quite happy with ours as moments earlier Steve Irwins "Crikey" van, and one with a slogan about mobile phone users being gay, left the compound.
The first van limped round the block before we returned it and got one that didn't stall every time you stopped. So eventually heading north in "Heaven and Hell", we set off for Cape Tribulation, and after a couple of hours driving through increasingly heavier rain (a sign of things to come) we were at our campsite.
Cape Tribulation is in the heart of the Daintree Rainforest, and the furthest north we could go with 2 wheel drive. Rather unsurprisingly, the rainforest was a tad rainy, particularly as we were visiting it in 'rainy season'. We even had
Cape Tribulation
Where the rainforest meets the ocean to customize our van with a duck tape go faster stripe to stop rain pouring in through the window seal.
One of the things about the rainforest , other than the fact that it rains so hard that you think it can't possibly get any heavier, and then does, is that everything is at least twice the size it normally is (and most probably lethal). The first night we thought a fairly large bat had flown into the camp kitchen but it turned out to be the worlds largest moth.
We walked all the boardwalks and rather disappointingly didn't see a Cassowary (6ft tall very odd looking bird capable of doing a karate kid two-footed jumping kick). In fact the only wildlife we did see was two wild piglets and a couple of cane toads. However, we did see a huge fruit bat up close at 'The Bat House', a nursery for injured bats.
After the lack of wildlife we booked ourselves onto a trek into the 'real' rainforest the next morning with an Aboriginal guide. However, we awoke to find out it had been cancelled due to too much rain!
As we were out of
Cape Tribulation
The Hercules Moth (and a very big I beam) bed before 7 in the morning, a rare feat, we thought we'd get a flyer on our journey up into the Atherton Tablelands. However, our neatly devised plan was scuppered. The rain that had cancelled our trek had also caused all the rivers that normally flow underneath the only road out of the Daintree to now flow over the top of it. Having tentatively crossed one fairly shallow creek we were faced with a raging torrent that forced an abrupt screech of brakes from the van. Whilst the locals in their 4 x 4 's happily ploughed through (some drifting downstream slightly!) we were left with all the other non 4 x 4 owners to stand and stare at the water wondering how long it might take to go down and waiting for the first brave/stupid van owner to to try their luck. After a while some unscrupulous locals turned up with a huge truck and started charging people to be towed across. Being tight and from the north we simply tutted and waited it out. Eventually, a few cars made it and once the first camper van was successfully across we were all running back to our vehicles. Fortunately
Cape Tribulation
And we got through that! everyone made it and despite a small protest from our van, no-one suffered the fate of going through it too soon, as described by an aussie mum to her impatient child, 'that we would all be swept away, and eaten by crocodiles'.
Arriving in the tablelands we found a campsite near Lake Eacham, and again disappointed by the lack of wildlife, booked ourselves onto a night walk. 'Alan's Wildlife Tours' didn't sound like the most professional outfit, but it was absolutely brilliant. Alan was a very enthusiastic ex biology teacher and got us all geared up with spotlights and binoculars and we went looking, in the pouring rain, for possums and tree kangaroos. It turned out Alan was probably the worlds leading authority on tree kangaroos (there aren't many!) but Laura still managed to find more than him.
We then headed back down to the coast to the uninspiringly named Townsville for a trip to Magnetic Island, which is one of the best places in the world to see wild koalas. After sunning away the morning and being thoroughly disappointed by swimming in the stinger enclosure, we went for a walk into the hills. With neck ache starting
Atherton Tablelands
Laura found a hobbit hole. to become a problem, we eventually managed to spot three grey furry bums up in the trees. The koalas were unbelievably cute, looking surprisingly comfortable snoozing away in the crook of a Eucalyptus tree.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.107s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 14; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0638s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Kerry
non-member comment
Wicked Van.... can I have one for christmas ?!