Saturday 22nd May 2004

We woke up this morning to the sound of rain and as the windows of the Patrol had been left slightly open, it was a dash to the keys and then out to wind up the windows. Fortunately they were not down far enough to let too much moisture in so all was fine in the end. The rain continued all day, right through into the late afternoon.

We did not have any official tours on today but did book a tour up to Cape Tribulation and a visit to the Daintree Rainforest for tomorrow (hopefully the rain will have eased by then) Monday we have booked the Patrol in for a 70,000 km service so perhaps Tuesday may see us take a trip out to Green Island.

Our first activity today was to cook and devour a bacon, egg, tomato and Hash Brown breakfast, during which time we decided to take a drive up to the Atherton Tablelands and surrounds.

At about 10:00am we set off in a northerly direction out of Cairns on the Captain Cook Highway until we came to the turn off to Kuranda and started to climb up into the mountains toward that town again. Once through Kuranda we continued West through some rolling hills and bush country until we came to Mareeba. We hadn't seen anything of a startling nature to this point so we continued in a southerly direction toward Atherton. This journey was interesting enough, however did not reveal any scenery that we would call spectacular all the way to a town called Tolgar which is just short of Atherton. (Maybe we have been spoilt by some of the places we have been)

Once we had passed through Tolgar, we drove through a short distance of Rainforest that was very thick, lush and great to be in. Then we came to Atherton which is a reasonable size town, but even though it was raining, didn't appear to be as neat and clean as some towns we had been through. At this point (still raining) we decided to head back toward Cairns from Atherton, which meant traveling east to Gordonvale which is on the Bruce Highway.

On the way east the scenery changed quickly and it became very picturesque. A short distance from Atherton we came to a little village called Yungabullra and there was a monthly market in full swing right beside the main road through the town. After leaving this village we had only gone a short distance further when we saw a turn off to a tourist site called 'Curtain Fig Tree' so we had to have a look at what they were pointing at. This was a very fascinating tree that had originally grown from a seed that had lodged in the fork of another tree, then sent roots down to the ground from that height. eventually it strangled the original tree and that fell over onto another beside it, then the roots of the fig tree just continued to cascade down to the ground, creating a 'curtain' effect.

Our next turn off the main road was to a place called 'Mobo Creek Crater' which is a small crater like depression in the ground within the Rainforest, which is filled with water from a creek that runs into it on one side and out on the other. To see this crater requires a 600 metre walk through some really beautiful Rainforest and that walk is a great way to experience the real Rainforest as it has been for thousands of years. It is extremely difficult to get good photographs in the forest due to the low lighting, however there was some real postcard stuff in there. There was also a vine that had the common name of 'wait-a-while'. 'One of us' had heard of it before from the 'other one' who has had experience with it way back in about 1969 (jungle training with 6RAR). However this time 'one of us' became quite excited when she had to 'wait a while' until the 'other one' arrived at the scene and managed to untangle her from it.

We continued along this same dirt track for a few more kilometres looking for 'The Chimneys' which we though must have been some natural phenomena that looked like a chimney. Well when we found them, the reason they looked like chimneys was because they were just that, the remains of an old soldiers settler house built back in 1924.

It was then time to return to Cairns so back onto the main road it was and then we wound down the mountain side for kilometres. It twisted and turned so much that we thought we must have been back in Tasmania. Unfortunately we couldn't see much because we were in the clouds and couldn't see more than a few hundred metres over the side of the mountain.

We arrived back in Cairns at about 4:15pm and went straight to the nearest large shopping centre where we were able to purchase some more digital video tapes for the movie camera as we have almost completed out tenth hour long tape and it was the last one we had on hand. That makes over ten hours of video and over 5,000 digital photographs so far, this should make our job of boring friends to tears very easy when we get home! Just as we were arriving back at the caravan park we received a call from a very excited eldest daughter Kym to tell us that we now have another 'Grand Dog'. A little black Border Collie / Labrador girl, as yet un-named.

Tomorrow is another early rise, and on a Sunday too! We board the bus for the Daintree and Cape Tribulation at 7:00am - Shock Horror!!!

Curtain Fig Tree

Mobo Crater

Mobo Creek Rainforest

'One of us' caught up in the excitement
and 'waiting-a-while'

Sunday 23rd May 2004

Better late than never......

We arrived back from our tour too late yesterday to complete the web page and upload it in our free upload time between 7.pm and 8.pm so it has now been done 'the day after' for those who wish to know yesterday's news.

It was a great day but also a very full day. Although it would have been possible for us to drive up to Cape Tribulation and also take in some of the other sights, taking the bus tour was well worth the $105 each that it cost us as we had an almost non stop commentary on everything we happened to pass and a whole lot of things we didn't pass. Combine that with entry and a guide at the Daintree Discovery Centre, a boat trip on the Daintree with full commentary, morning, afternoon tea and lunch (in a private setting) all provided in that one fee, we couldn't have taken all that in if we did it in our own vehicle by ourselves.

The day started early as we had to be waiting for the bus outside the caravan park at 7.am, so this meant we were up before the sun and were finally awake some time before the bus arrived. The original bus driver must has called in a sickie, however the alternative pick-up bus still arrived almost on time and we then did the rounds of the Hotels and Resorts in Cairns picking up the other passengers. We then met up with the bus we were going in out on the road just north of Cairns and transferred to this bus at about 7.45am. It was a bit ironic that the bus we transferred to was a 24 seater that was painted orange and signed with the name 'Desert Ventures' when we were on our way to the very wet and lush green Daintree Forest. Never the less it was a comfortable bus and as there were only 17 passengers, was ideal for what we were doing.

On the way north out of Cairns we called in to the Palm Cove Resort to pick up the last two passengers. This resort area looked very interesting and we both made the comment that it appeared to be an ideal place to holiday and if we were not caravanning we would certainly consider staying there.

With all passengers on board we continued north for about another sixty or so kilometres until we came to the Daintree River which we had to cross on a cable driven ferry. As there were supposed to be crocodiles in the water we weren't permitted to get out of the vehicle at that time. We then continued north until we came to a lookout at the top of a nearby hill. This lookout provided views over some of the rainforest down to the mouth of the Daintree River. After a photograph or two we continued on toward the Daintree Rainforest Discovery Centre.

At the Discovery Centre we enjoyed morning tea which consisted of a cup of tea or coffee and a muffin. Then we were provided with a guide for our group and had a guided tour over the rainforest from the Canopy Tower and also the mid level boardwalk. The guide (a botanist) was a very sensitive fellow who obviously had a huge amount of knowledge and a great love of the rainforest. His commentary really made the visit an informative and worthwhile one.

From the Discovery Centre we still continued north until we reached Cape Tribulation. This was not necessarily a spectacular beach, but it is one of great significance when it is realised that it was named by Captain Cook. This was because of the trails and tribulations he had about three hundred yards off the beach when his ship, the 'Endeavour', struck a reef and was damaged and aground for a while. The damage caused to the 'Endeavour' cost him another month in time for repair after floating the ship free. While at a lookout over the beach we did have an encounter with a small snake but no one came off second best, it was only about half a metre long and very small.

Next we started heading back south for a short distance before pulling into a private property for lunch. We were let off the buss at the start of a boardwalk that took us through some beautiful rainforest and alongside a clear running fresh water creek. Some of this was real picture postcard scenery. At the end of the boardwalk we came out into a clearing with a large bush style pegola set in surrounds that no one should be lucky enough to have the right to live in..... it was so peaceful and just a magnificent setting. Lunch was a BBQ with salads, followed by a variety of tropical fruits on a platter. To assist the digestion there was a glass of either red or white wine to accompany the BBQ steak, which incidentally was cooked to perfection.

After lunch we headed back to the Daintree River and instead of crossing on the ferry, the passengers boarded a boat called the 'Crocodile Express'. This took us up the river for a short distance and a full commentary was provided whilst we kept an eye our of the 'Long Tailed scaly Terriers', but we think they looked much more like crocodiles to us!!! In the space of about three quarters of an hour on the boat we saw seven crocodiles ranging in length from about 1.5 metres up to the largest one of about 3.5 metres. Needless to say we were pretty careful getting in and out of the boat and chose not to have a swim in that river.

From the Daintree River we continued south a short distance until was came to our afternoon tea stop where we were provided with scones (muffin style) with jam and cream and tea or coffee. We were also visited by a Green Tree Frog who obligingly stuck himself to one of the glass doors of the cafe.

And Wait, There's More!!! Yes we hadn't finished the day yet. We continued south again until we reached Mossman where we headed into the base of the mountains again to Mossman Gorge. Here we took a short walk into the gorge which went along a very fresh swiftly running stream. This again was real postcard scenery and many photographs were taken. There were people swimming in the stream and we assume there were no crocodiles, although it had been said that there is never a guarantee that there are not crocodiles in the water anywhere in North Queensland. We didn't tempt them anyway.

After Mossman Gorge we started our journey back to Cairns and our caravan park, with only a stop or two at scenic lookouts on the way back. We were dropped off outside the gate of the caravan park at about 6.45pm in a rather well used state but very happy with the days activities.

This tour was operated by 'Down Under Tours' and was their Cape Tribulation tour. We had a great day on it and only needed a couple of glasses of wine that evening to finish the day off completely. We would give this tour full marks and recommend it to anyone traveling this way in the future.

Looking over the Daintree Forest and River

The Daintree Forest from Discovery Centre

Cape Tribulation Beach

Crocodile of the Daintree River