The drive up the coast was very picturesque. Lots of gorgeous blue water and mountain views.
We even saw someone picking up a suitcase that had fallen out of a Japanese tourist bus! They must be more careful and lock the door! 😜
We drove through some nice small towns, stopped in at the very posh Port Douglas for coffee, and went and had a look at the Daintree Village hoping to get petrol. It was a very small village!
Then Steve and I caught the ferry across the Daintree River to the Daintree Rainforest. We were very excited!!
It was very green and lush.
We had a quick stop at a lookout then went on to our accommodation in Cape Tribulation- Cape Tribulation Camping! It was a very rustic camping ground right next to the beach.
Our site actually backed onto the beach and also had a little creek. My first thought was crocodiles!!😳😳😳😳. Steve assured me there wouldn’t be any. Phew!
We set up and then went to the Sandbar for lunch and refreshments. The pizzas are well known in the cape and definitely lived up to their reputation!! Very yum with lovely thin bases cooked in a wood fired oven. We were also pleasantly surprised by the prices of beer and wine. $5.00!!! We were happy campers! Which funnily enough was the slogan on the back of the workers uniforms.
In the afternoon we took our chairs down to the beach to enjoy the breeze. It was bloody hot!!!! We had a paddle in the water and could not believe how warm it was. I was very wary of crocs so stayed only a minute or so.
There was an English family enjoying the water. The mum was sitting on the beach because she too was worried about crocs. The father was telling his kids that their Mother shouldn’t be afraid of crocs because she’d have more chance of coming across a stone fish or even a shark! And he didn’t stop there! Steve and I both thought wouldn’t it be funny if a croc came up behind him and snapped him up!! (We figured he’d be in deep shit when the woman was attacked only a couple of nights later!!!)
Our neighbour Pete showed us how to de husk a coconut and get out the water. The taste did not appeal to me!
That night we spotted a cane toad. Eww!
The next morning Steve went for a sea kayak tour and I went for a horse ride along the beach behind our campsite. Of course my ride was awesome!! I had a few beautiful canters and ticked cantering along the beach off my bucket list.
Steve said his kayaking was fantastic! Saw lots of turtles and was on the lookout for crocs!!
That afternoon we drove to the Rainforest Discovery centre and climbed the 24 meter high tower to get closer and to see each level of the canopy. It was quite amazing!! We learnt a lot about the rainforest and cassowaries. We were lucky enough to see a big female on the way out.
The walk around the rainforest was very hot so we had to stop at a tropical fruit orchard that made icecream. OMG!! It was yummy!! They have four flavours of the day and we tasted all four. Coconut, mango, wattleseed and Davidson plum. Steve and I both agreed that the wattleseed actually tasted like chocchip! My favourite was the plum.
That night we were woken at 1.30am to the roar of a helicopter!! We both thought WTF??!! Steve went out to take a look and saw people with torches running along the beach. We wondered what it was all about ( some rich person checking in late ?? Or someone rescued from Mt Sorrow?) We found out that sadly a woman had been taken by a croc two beaches away!!😳😳 She was walking along the beach at night while the croc would’ve been watching and stalking her and as soon as she went in the water she was dinner. Very sad but she was very stupid. You never go in the water anywhere at night especially when there are signs telling you not too!!!!!
That day we went for drive to Emergen Creek. We walked through mud and found the beautiful water hole but we didn’t swim.
After checking out the water hole and the creek crossing we’d be doing the next day to the Bloomfield Track we went to have lunch at the cafe that advertised homemade pies with a drink for $8! No pies for us! Because it was located at Thorton Beach where the lady was taken by the croc and the cafe was closed and being used as a base for the police and SES investigating. So, we went back to the Sandbar at our campsite for another pizza!!
Then the rain came!!!
90mls overnight!!! The creek we were going to cross had swelled and was running fast so we stayed another night hoping the weather improved and the creek subsided.
The cafe with the pies opened again so the extra day was worth it!! They were absolutely delicious!!! While we were there, some police and SES were still there and the Rangers pulled up with a croc trap. Apparently they’ve set a few in Cooper Creek where a 5 meter croc has been sited by locals.
The next morning we checked the creek and it had subsided enough to cross, so we packed up and went up the Bloomfield Track!!!