Rain, Rain and more Rain
Trip Start
Dec 15, 2006
1
43
64
Trip End
Dec 2007
Where I stayed
Cape Tribulation, Australia
Thursday, June 21, 2007
We left with a FULL packed car. It was overcast but not raining (for a change) and the 5 of us were comfortably snug. We had no set agenda for the day but it was amazing to have the car and have freedom to stop and start when we wanted instead of being on a bus where they tell you what to do, where to go, what to look at..... geeze. A nice stop at Palm Cove to walk on the beach and then we made a couple of pit stops at look out points on the way but stopped in Port Douglas in the early afternoon to get settled in the hostel.
From there we made a little trip to Mossman Gorge. It was gorgeous. Full in rainforest and beautfiul, clear water. We spent about 3 hours looking around. Micheal went swimming in the Gorge and that freaked me out. He wanted to swim across to sit on a rock but we are talking fairly decent rapids here so it almost go swept away. He said it was like swimming in a treadmill, as fast as he could. I'm a lifeguard but that was on scenario where I was uber freaked because I don't know if I could have done anything if he was swept away. Scary. There was also an awesome suspension bridge and a walk around the rain forest with some great trees. Huge! Amazing stuff!
We went back to the hostel and had a fabulous dinner. Thai curry. Yum! Bobby and I introduced the 3 boys to the Goon. Goon is a staple in any good backpacker's diet here in Australia. It is 4 litres of crap wine for about 10 bucks. Micheal hit the Goon a little too hard and was soooo sick before the night had even begun. He is only 18 so what can you expect.
An early rise the next morning and it was pouring rain! Awful. We set off on the road for Cape Tribulation. It wasn't even worth it to stop anywhere. The visibility was so awful that we couldn't see a thing. We still stopped at a couple of beaches and look outs to take a look but it was pretty pathetic. We would stop, put on our rain coats, run out, snap a photo and run back into the bar. Insane. The road to Cape Tribulation is a little sketchy, gets windy at times and had bridges that often flood. We got the the one major on and it was 0.2 meters flooded. We were told any higher than this and our car wouldn't make it through. We motored on through and were alright. We were slightly worried about the way back and even more worried when the women at the hostel reception where we were supposed to stay told us to check with the rental car company to see what their policy was regarding adding an extra day on. After speaking with the man from Rent-A-Bomb (yes... I know.... ), he was a jerk and said he had never heard of anyone getting stuck up there and that we just wanted a free day. Weirdo. He then said that we must have been driving off-road if we were driving through water. It was insane. We decided it was best to leave that afternoon and not get stuck there for who knows how long. After lunch and a quick walk, we set on back down the road of doom. It was not pleasant! It was raining sooo hard and by the time we got to the bridge, it was at 0.4 meters. Shit. We were told at the hostel that 0.3 would be find for sure and 0.4 would be pushing it. We decided to go for it.... Sketch! We made it through without a problem.... I was so scared! We all were but no one wanted to say anything. It was a huge sigh of relief when we got through.
We drove back to Port Douglas for the evening and tried a new hostel. Parrott Fish Lodge. It was great, we had a nice night out on the town with more Goon and Barrett (at 19 years old) trying to pick up the older ladies (35+). He wasn't successful but it was damn funny to watch.
Early rise again the next morning and back on the road again in Bessy. We took the long way back to Cairns and had a couple of stops to see the beautiful scenery of the land. Highlight was definitely Milla Milla falls where we got to swim in and behing the falls. Awesome. The water was pretty chilly but well worth it!
We were back to Cairns in the early evening and met back up for some drinks later on. I hit the hay early as I had a trail run on a boat early the next morning.
