Cape Tribulation

Before we started to make our way south, we decided to head north to the end of the sealed road and a place where two national parks meet, Cape Tribulation.  As we left Cairns (pronounced Canns by the locals) we decided to visit one of the main tourist attractions in this area to break up the journey.

The Skytrain is a series of cable cars which is 15 kms long in total and takes you on a journey over the top of the tropical rainforest clad mountains that dominate this part of Australia.

After some stops along the way which allow you to explore the rainforest a bit closer, the cable car eventually deposits you in a village high in the mountains called Kuranda, basically your good old fashioned tourist trap.  The village was filled with shops and stalls selling all manner of arts and crafts, with some made from leather/skin of the critters who roam around Oz (Kangaroo purse anyone?!).  The descent was either back the way we had come or via the Kuranda Scenic Railway which weaved its way down the gorge past waterfalls and through the rainforest back into Cairns.  We decided to take the train to add to the adventure and have some lovely video for the train spotters amongst us (you know who you are).  A short 15 min bus journey completed the circuit and took us back to our van.

From here, we made our way 75km north to a little seaside town called Port Douglas.  On arriving we drove to the town centre looking for a campsite that was recommended in our bible and managed to secure the last spot in the site.  Keen to explore our surroundings we went for a quick walk to see what was what.  The walk into town was a short one and we found so many bars and restaurants we did not k now what to do with ourselves.  On the other side of the campsite was another amazing beach and a lookout on the hill at the end of it which provided stunning views.  Excited about being so close to the action and it being a Saturday night, we raced back to get cleaned up and changed ready for a proper night out.

 

We found a nice little Italian and broke the budget for a change with an amazing meal and nice bottle of red wine (Australian of course) and then not wanting to end the evening early we made our way to the harbour front and found a large bar with a live band about to start playing.  As we sipped our drinks, the band set up and made ready their set.  The three members looked rough and tumble types and with enough leather and denim between them to secure their rock credentials we thought this should be good.  Emma is the one that spotted it first “The bass player has got plucked eyebrows” she said.  Now we all know what that means don’t we kids.  To hammer the point home as soon as they started the lead singer danced round the bar like a ballerina wearing a tutu throwing in an occasional bottom wiggle for good measure.  Only the drummer seemed to fit the bill however he was playing a digital drum kit and just kept his head down.  I have seen a lot of pub cover bands before but this lot gets the award for both being the worst and the most entertaining.  During the set the lead singer would interact with the crowd either dancing with them or pretending to rub himself up against them.  Not wanting to get involved we moved to a safer distance, which proved to be a good choice as shortly afterwards he picked a young lad out of the crowd (who I think thought he was just going to be asked to sing into the microphone), taped him to a chair and gave him personal lap dance.  Thankfully, no clothes were removed during the process, but regardless the poor kids face was a picture.

During the night the rain started which made our exit from Port Douglas a wet one, a theme that would unfortunately continue.  We drove north again through the town of Mossman and over the river at Daintree via a cable ferry. 

The road from here became narrow as it winded its way through the jungle, over the mountains and besides the long sandy beaches of yet another national park.  The view would have been spectacular however the rain had turned heavy with high winds and low cloud, blocking all possible views.  The road was challenging at times especially in 2 tons of campervan but has to be one of the greatest driving roads in the world.  We finally reached Cape Tribulation and it was sheeting it down, so we raced to the beach for a quick look and yes it was lovely but spoiled by the rain.

Our nights stop was in the middle of the jungle in the aptly named Jungle campsite, which although it was a small campsite we were the only ones there.  I’m not sure if this was due to the weather or word had got out we were coming!  The rain continued to be heavy all night and it showed us that our van was not quite as waterproof as it should have been.  The next morning was much the same and with a heavy heart we decided to leave acknowledging that it was just too stormy to see anything more.  It’s at times like these that some of the downsides of campervanning start to show.  It’s great when its sunny but if you’re wet and cold, you have no way to dry or get warm unless you are driving.

We made a hasty retreat back the way we had come before the rivers and creeks got so high we would not have been able to cross them.  This was a good call in the end as the final creek was flowing so fast it would have been unpassable in anything but a 4x4 within a few hours.

We retraced our steps to Mossman but instead of heading back towards Cairns we turned right up into the Tableland Mountain region which is west of Cairns.  The weather was still bad as we made our way along another winding mountain road, with the only views of the inside of clouds.  As the road twisted and banked around invisible mountains and deep valleys, it made its way higher cutting through the jungle with many wet and steep switch backs making the journey from Cape Tribulation a must do with any vehicle.  We could only imagine what it would be like on a dry day in a sports car.  At the top of the mountains, the scenery turns into sprawling areas of land perfect for farming (the Tablelands).  The main crops are sugar cane and bananas with dairy farming filling in the gaps.  To transport the sugar cane to the processing plants in the larger towns they have built an intricate network of narrow gauge railway which seem to cross the landscape like a spiders web.

We were heading for Lake Tinaroo some 100km south of Mossman.  In Cairns we had found an atlas which marked the free or low cost campsites, so again trying to save money we purchased the book and decided to head for one it recommended.  Usually we have been paying anything from $25 - $35 for a unpowered site, this one would be $10 with no showers.  We found the site a short distance down an unsealed road and right on the lake front providing fantastic views (it was actually a reservoir but could have been a lake before I guess) and with only a few other vehicles on the site, it was a very peaceful place to stay.

We woke to sunshine but seeing the storm raging all around us it made us feel like we were in the eye of a hurricane and no sooner had we left the rain began to follow us again. We quickly got back onto the Kennedy highway at Atherton and continued our journey south.

Next:  The journey back to the coast.