The Traveling Martens

Journey up to Cape Tribulation

We've been out of touch with civilization for a few days, but here's the story....

Wednesday morning we left Cairns aboard a small bus to make our way up further up the Eastern coast. In the few flat areas, we saw sugar cane and banana farms, but mostly green mountains. We made a short stop in Port Douglas, an old hippie town turned resort area. We had time for about a half hour walk around the small downtown on the water, before getting back on the road for the Daintree wildlife sanctuary. Here we got to see a Cassowarie, an endangered flightless bird that lives in the rainforest here, and is similar to an ostrich. We saw wallabies, alligators, koalas, and best of all- we actually got to feed and pet some kangaroos! They were cute and friendly. (the koalas were cute too, just never awake.) It started to rain here, and it would rain off and on every few hours for the rest of the next two days we would spend in the rainforest. However, the sun would come back out quickly, or even stay bright during most of the isolated sprinkles. This was the first rain in our whole trip, and we were the only nerdy people who happened to have bought rain ponchos that morning.

From there, we drove to Mossman's Gorge, which is a hike through the actual rainforest. We were warned about the plants (killer plants, we weren't even told about animals yet) in the rainforest. There are leaves that leave stinging needles in your skin that burrow in and poison you, palm leaves with razor sharp edges that cut you, and other palm trees that have hanging vines with barbed hooks that can also slice your clothes and skin open. The rainforest was beautiful, so many colors of green and the air was cool, fresh, and wet. We crossed over a suspension bridge on the gorge that only held twenty people at a time.

We stopped at a small cafe for lunch (we tried a Vegemite sandwich- not good- vegemite is a dark yeast spread that tastes bitter), and then came to the Daintree river which basically cuts the land north of here off. We boarded a small boat for a cruise down the river and to the other side. The cruise took us an hour down a wide, tropical river. About every half mile or so, we saw an alligator sitting on the bank, waiting for dinner to come by. One of the alligators gave us a big, toothless smile. The guide said this alligator was 60 years old (they can live to be over 100), and had lost all his teeth tearing apart prey, but could still feed just by crushing food in its jaws. A bright, neon green tree frog hitched a ride on our boat, and we saw a hanging yellow tree snake overhead. One of the islands on the river was inhabited by wild boars. The Europeans had brought pigs to Australia long ago, and the wild ones have developed huge tusks, mean personalities, and are now hunted.

On the other side of the river, we met our bus, which had to take a ferry across the river, the only way for cars to make it to this northern part of the country. We had another hour drive up the tiny coastal road, with the ocean on our right, and the mountainous rainforest on our left. After the paved road ended, we continued on a one lane dirt road to our accomodations for the night. We were staying in a beach hut in the rainforest! There were a handful of small huts, with a tiny path cut through the rainforest. After a short walk through the rainforest canopy above us, we saw a light at the end of the tunnel- and walked out onto an uninhabited beach, all to our own. Unfortunately, this is still the end of jellyfish season, so we swimming along the shore was limited, but we could walk along the water and see the dramatic, green mountains on one side and the blue water on the other. We even had to time our walks, as the beach disappears completely during high tide. At one point, mangroves from the rainforest preserve reach out into the surf, the only place in the world where two World Heritage Sites touch (the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef). We were very lucky to be able to stay here, as the number of people allowed in is strictly limited.

After taking in the scenery, we ate dinner at a tiny, open kitchen restaurant with a tent roof and open jungle on three sides. The chef fixed us a gourmet meal of marinated kangaroo (it's so hard to find good roo meat in the states!). We were a little nervous eating kangaroo, but there is plenty of it here, and it was very good. Along with some good Australian wine, we ate and listened to the crazy sounds of the rainforest all around us, and the occasional raindrops on the tent roof. We called it a night to the continuing jungle symphony.

posted by Mel and Stacy Marten @ 10:55 PM