June 2013

We woke to a clear sky and a very light breeze - forecast temperature 20 to 25 degrees. After driving into Mossman to pick up our mail from the Post Office we headed to the newsagent for papers and followed up with a coffee at the café. While we read the papers we decided to go to the Daintree Village to do the Daintree River Cruise. We arrived at Daintree at about 11:45 am to find that the next cruise was at 12:15 pm. Our cruise lasted for just over an hour and we cruised up and down the river looking for crocodiles, tree snakes, and bird-life.

Daintree River looking downstream from the landing stage

Crocodile Express

Daintree River looking upstream

3 metre female crocodile in the shallows

Cormorant

Crocodile hiding in the grass

Baby crocodile hiding in a tree fork

Swallows roosting in a tree

Tree snake hiding under the leaves

After our cruise we walked back to the Daintree Pub for lunch - a chicken wrap for Di and an egg and bacon roll for David. The pub is across the road from the Riverview Caravan Park, which has a lot of nice grassy sites that we may visit on our next trip north.

Still cloudy with a temperature of 21 to 25 degrees. Ever since we arrived there has been a stiff south easterly breeze off the water, apparently the trade winds that can blow for days (and days). After a drive into Mossman for papers we spent the day cleaning the Navara and the caravan inside and out. Di also did several loads of washing which dried quickly in the breeze. The Navara and the caravan now look like new again!

During the afternoon David had a chat to the lady in the caravan next door. She is 84 and drives herself to Wonga Beach from the Yarra Valley in Victoria each year, apparently her husband died some years ago. This year she took the trip slowly, about 3 weeks, but has done the trip in 5 1/2 days. She takes much the same route as us - the Kidman Way and the Matilda Highway as far as Barcaldine then a more direct route than we took to Wonga Beach including a few gravel roads.

No photos today.

Cloudy (again) with forecast temperatures of 21 to 25 degrees. We made a slow start today then headed to Port Douglas for the Sunday Market. After a wander around the Market, where Di made a small purchase at one of the jewellery stalls, we headed across the road to the Court House Hotel for an early lunch. Just as well as by the time we were eating our meal the queue to order was very long. Di had Chicken Supreme with Mash and Vegies, while David had a Filet Mignon with Chips and Salad, which were both very nice particularly with a Pepperjack Shiraz.

Port Douglas Market

Di outside the Court House Hotel circa 1880

After lunch we made our way back along Macrossen Street, checking out the shops (or should I say Di was checking out the shops). By the look of the mark downs in some of the shops business in Port Douglas must be a little slow at the moment. On the way we walked past Vila san Michele, apartments managed by David's niece Libby and her husband Al, however they must have heard that we were coming to Port Douglas as they went to Thailand for a holiday. If they are back next week we might make another visit to Port Douglas from Cairns to catch up with them.

Macrossen Street

Ironbar 1994 - the iron looks much older

Central Hotel 1878

Vila san Michele

The overnight minimum was 21 degrees with a forecast maximum of 25 degrees - at 10:00 am we already have 80% humidity. During the morning we explored Wonga Beach and checked out the Pinnacle Caravan Park, then drove to Daintree Village for some tourist information, before returning to Mossman for the Saturday Market. After wandering around the Market we found the newsagent for papers and had a coffee at a local café.

Cloudy again today

View from our site

After lunch back at the caravan we drove to Cape Tribulation, so named by Captain Cook in 1770 as he said that was where all their troubles started. The 48 km route to Cape Tribulation involves a 40-car cable ferry across the Daintree River, and the road is very narrow and winding. From Cape Tribulation the Bloomfield track follows the coast to Cooktown, and is for 4WD vehicles only. We later found that there is a sealed inland route from mount Molloy to Cooktown where they have a Big4 caravan park - next time we come this way we will journey on to Cooktown.

Waiting for the ferry

Cable ferry across the Daintree River

Daintree River from the ferry

Cape Tribulation in the distance

Looking south

Rain forest down to the beach

Looking inland from the beach

On the way back to Wonga Beach we stopped at a Lookout for views of the Daintree River and the coast, although being humid and cloudy the distant views were not all that clear.

Mouth of the Daintree River

Looking south from the Lookout

We made a slow start today as we had a fairly short trip to Wonga Beach of 145 kms through Mareeba, Mount Molloy and Mossman. We stopped in Mareeba to visit the local camping shop for some Biomagic as we were starting to run low on supplies. We also stopped at the Newsagent for papers and the local coffee shop for coffees and apple and cinnamon muffins - very nice too!

We continued on to Mount Molloy then made a steep 20 km descent on a very winding road into Mossman - low gear all the way with an occasional dab on the brakes. We eventually arrived at Wonga Beach at about 12:30 pm and were allocated a waterfront site for a week. After doing a full set up we tried out the TV reception and picked up 70 digital channels - we seem to have every digital transmitter and repeater between here and Cairns - but who's complaining - as long as we have the AFL Footy tonight. After setting up we went for a walk around the local area to get our bearings - tomorrow we will explore further afield in the car.

Wonga Beach Caravan Park

Our waterfront site

Wonga Beach looking north

Wonga Beach looking south

Stingers and Crocodiles - it must be Queensland

Tonight was fish and chip night in the park so we paid our $5.00 each to attend. Masses of battered Spanish Mackerel with chips, followed by bananas in rum with ice cream. Being newbies in the caravan park David and a few others were asked to stand up and introduce ourselves and tell the group where we were from, where we had been, and where we were going. All in all an excellent and entertaining night.

Fish and Chip night at Wonga Beach