Cape Tribulation – August 5th-7th 2010

Cape Tribulation

Scarface the Crocodile

I spent the last few days up in Cape Tribulation, a couple of hours drive north or Cairns. I went up with a tour so we stopped in a few of places along the way. We started with a boat tour on the Daintree river. Just as the last time I was on a boat for some crocodile spotting, it was an overcast day so there weren’t many crocs to see. We saw the snout of one as well as an old one named Scarface as he now has no teeth and needs to use his snout to fight and be scarred.

Before getting on the boat, we were served Daintree tea, which grows nearby. It was nice but could have seeped a bit more. Also, random observation, the benches on the boat were branded Alcan. The only other brand name that I’ve seen around here that reminds me of home are some small IGA supermarkets.

The Mangrove roots look like some kind of miniature city

After looking out for the crocs, we were now on the other side of the Daintree river and kept on ‘til the Maardja Botanical Boardwalk which features mostly mangroves. I had fun looking at the trees roots that come up on top of the mud and make it look like a town of root knuckles as well as taking pictures up through a newish strangler fig tree.

Looking up a strangler fig tree

Looking at a hidden Mt Sorrow

We then went on to our destination, Cape Tribulation. The name came about when Captain Cook was stuck on a reef just across the cape and, feeling quite miserable about the whole troublesome experience, he decided of the name Cape Tribulation (which everyone calls Cape Trib). And the mountain behind it he named Mount Sorrow. He finally was able to get out and make his way to what would become Cooktown.

My cabin at the Beach House

I had booked a 2-night stay at the Beach House located a bit north of the town. The staff at Travellers Oasis had told me how great it was, but nothing better than seeing it for oneself. I.E. little cabins right in the middle of the rain forest along just a short walk to the ocean. I was giddy with excitement and quickly considered extending my stay, that is, until I found out that a school group had booked the place up in the next couple of days. So I savoured the peace and quiet of the location that revived childhood memories of spending a few nights with family in the Jaguar reserve in Belize where our cabin was also in the middle of the jungle.

Carb artwork

Crab artwork

After I dropped my stuff off in my cabin dorm, I walked down the beach to the Cape Trib lookout and down to its south side on Myall Beach. (I was also quite entertained by the artwork created by the crabs that make little sand balls) Shortly down the beach, there was this creek that I waded through as the water went up to my knees. I came back that way later on hoping to be in time beat the tide. The creek’s water level now came up to my butt. So I switched over and came back by the road. By chance, I got a ride with a tour guide heading back to the beach house as well.

Boyd's forest dragon

That night, I went for a guided night walk. We didn’t see many furry animals as we scared them away with our voices, however we saw spiders, sleeping birds (the further up the branch they are, the better, that way the snake will shake the branch and wake the bird up before it gets eaten), a Boyd’s forest dragon (another kind of cute lizard that is) as well as a green eyed tree frog. No tree kangaroo this time, and I’m still looking forward to seeing my first Cassowary…though I might end up needing to go to a zoo for that as they are endangered. (Actually, the locals modified the following speed bump sign (on the top). They tried replacing it back with the regular sign a couple of times, but it kept on coming back.)

Stewey & myself on the kayak

I slept great with all the forest sounds. In the morning, I spend time reading on the beach and booked myself an afternoon kayak trip. As I’m hoping to do more of it in the next few weeks, I thought it was a great way to reunite with kayaking, especially considering my last experience, which involved some coast guards on the Canadian west coast. So Stewey was our guide and another couple from Canberra came with us. We were in 2 double kayaks. Out here, the kayaks are open, no hole like in the kayaks like back home as the water is quite warm I guess. So salty water splashes everywhere, including in ones eyes…ouch.

In the bay north of the Cape, the sea was quite calm as the Cape protects it, though the small waves did make me a bit woozy (I think I might be a great candidate for seasickness). As this was the first high tide since June, our guide took us through some mangroves so that was fun and then we went up to the end of the Cape where the waves were quite something as they were coming to crash on the rocks. We hung out there shortly and then came back to the calmer waters to look for the fishes. I missed the fishes, but I did see a turtle’s head pop up a couple of times. And well Stewey did say I had good rhythm and could have handled my own kayak, so that’s cool.

In the evening I chilled with other backpackers at the Beach House, including a Canadian couple that were part of my group on the Wallaby. Their plan was to head up to Mount Sorrow the following morning. I had considered going but the resort’s brochure recommended going with someone else, so I didn’t get around to it. And well, on that last morning, it rained so no chance to do that before I headed back to Cairns. Instead, I spend the morning reading some detective novel. (I love the book exchange shelf at the hostel in Cairns, as books here are really expensive.)

Mossman Gorge

On the way back to Cairns, we stopped at the Alexandra range lookout from which we could see the mouth of the Daintree river. We then crossed it by ferry and stopped at the Mossman Gorge. Some of the group went swimming and had fun being carried by the current in the rapids, I mostly took picture. We also had a short stopover in Port Douglas, where many rich people hang out. It was nice to see what the fuss it about, but I’m not too worried about not having spent more time there.

So if you ever go up to Cape Tribulation, I recommend the beach house, hands down.

I’m still planning on hanging out in Cairns for another few days and will probably then make my way to Magnetic Island…à suivre!


And to all my readers....