We arrived back from Cape York in Port Douglas, the well heeled resort town, which is full of Southerners escaping the winter, and of pregnant couples having their last baby free holiday. We were plastered with dirt, and made straight for the car wash to wash some of the dirt and dust off the trailer before setting up for the week in the Port. Whilst the trailer was clean the car was purposely left splattered in Cape York mud, because what's the point of doing the Cape without the badge of glory to talk about when you get back? The filthy car was definitely the object of many enquiries, and some envy, mainly from 60 year old men in caravans.
We have holidayed several times in Port Douglas and it is the antithesis of most of what we have done so far on this trip, and it did mark a kind of turning point. This was the end of corrugations and dust, the start of bitumen and soy lattes. It was also the meeting point for Tim's parents to join us on the trip, and the first time the kids had seen these grandparents in 4 months. Such was their grandparental enthusiasm they rented a 2 bedroom apartment to house Hugo and Zoe with them. Hello child free breakfast!
We did a couple of day trips from Port, to the Daintree river and to Mossman Gorge, but much of the time was spent eating, socialising, and doing chores, such as consulting physiotherapists and doctors.
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| Grandma and Papa John, Mossman Gorge |
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| Rainforest walk, Mossman Gorge |
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| Mossman Gorge |
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| Daintree River Croc |
After our very pleasant week in Port Douglas, we said goodbye to Papa John and Grandma, and headed south to Mission Beach. Mission Beach is on "The Cassowary Coast", an apt name as we did indeed have cassowaries wandering around our camp. This region of coast is beautiful, and we were treated to fabulous weather. We hired a boat and checked out Dunk Island, it's resort still closed after cyclone Yasi in 2011, the beaches absolutely spectacular. We also visited Paronella Park, a property built in the 1930's inclusive of castle, waterfall and hydroelectric station, which is now essentially a ruin.... impressive history but didn't particularly qualify for it's theme park sized entry fee.
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| Cassowary in camp at South Mission Beach |
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| Beddara Island, near Dunk |
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| Dunk Island |
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| Bedarra Island, near Dunk |
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| Towing a water tank to an island, as you do.... |
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| Paronella Park |
From Mission beach we continued south, firstly to stay at Tully Falls, a beautiful quiet location in the rain forest, and then to a state forest just outside of Ingham. In Tully we had planned to tour the local sugar mill, as the sugar milling season is in full swing. However the mill had broken down and our tour was cancelled. Finding ourselves at a loose end in Tully on a saturday morning, we decided to take in the local dog show..... we had run into a man and with his show Daschunds the previous day. However when we arrived at the show grounds we found the place not over run with dogs but by horses and riders decked out in western gear. In addition to the dog show there was a local camp drafting event, something none of us even knew existed, let alone experienced before. It was like stepping into a parallel universe, we looked quite out of place in our travel wear, as every single person, babies included, were decked out in jeans, boots +/- spurs, country shirt and very large hat. We watched children of 5 and 6 years rounding up cattle on horse back, as well as some amazing (for a city slicker) horse riding from the adult participants. It was fantastic to be able to experience this slice of Australian life so different from our own.
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| Banana country |
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| Only in Queensland |
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| Tully Gorge National Park |
The rainfall in the Tully area is massive- 4.5m per year, with it hitting 7.9m in 1950. However just past Ingham, on route to Townsville the landscape suddenly changes to dry and parched- the "wet tropics" is suddenly over.
