DREAMS OF THE DAINTREE

Cape Tribulation

I was finally poised for my ultimate destination- the Daintree. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve. I had wanted to visit this region so much for so long, pouring over travel brochures which extolled the ‘Rainforest to Reef’, that I was a little worried it might fall short of my expectations. And, believe it or not, initially, that’s what happened!

Swimming at the Gorge

Mossman Gorge

I had travelled from Mareeba, through some nice but flat wetlands, to a free overnight stay in a lovely bush setting at Mt Mallory, before travelling through Julatten  to Mossman. At Julatten I began to feel my spirits rising. This was a very green, lush country with winding roads and the Mountains,I was headed for, in the background. But when I turned off for Mossman, although the Mountains remained,  the country became flat again. I felt  little deflated, but wanted to visit Mossman Gorge anyway on the way up, so turned off at the signpost just as I entered Mossman. Do not miss this place! If you travel to the Daintree this is the place to start!

Mossman is a nice enough town, with plenty to do, but a short trip to the Gorge makes it very special. You cannot drive your car up to the Gorge, and need to leave it at the stunning Info Centre at the bottom. This is one of the best Info Centres I have seen BTW. And the Café there caters for Vegetarians too :) I had some fried yams (huge portion for $6) and local spicy tomato chutney. Gorgeous!!The people who work/ run this are the local indigenous peoples, and they were such  considerate, friendly, welcoming people. They could give lessons in great customer service.

To get to the Gorge you need to take the bus there, which travels every 15mins. It is only $8 for a day of unbelievable beauty. People do try to walk up to the Gorge, but as you pass them you can see they didn’t realize how steep this place is to get to. It’s up a mountain for God’s Sake! Once up there's picnic tables, toilets, fabulous walks and viewing platforms and even a swimming hole with clear, pristine water. One of these walks is a 2.5 km Rainforest Trek. I took this trek. Word of warning… unless you are a mountain goat, or supremely fit….. maybe it’s not such a good idea. Fabulous, unbelievable views though.

As I made my way from there the land was still strangely flat up to lower Daintree where the road forked to right and left, and not really what I expected of the Rainforest. I took the right hand turn to Daintree Village. Now the roads became more winding with the rainforest vegetation clearly taking precedence. It was pretty and lush, but somehow not the wild, tropical forests I had wanted to see. I turned back and headed up the left hand turn at Lower Daintree towards Cape Tribulation. And came to the Daintree River. Actually I came to a Ferry. Because, silly me, hadn’t realized you need to cross the River to get to Cape Tribulation! Yes I know… my lack of brains astounds even me at times. $25 return on the ferry was cheap though. And once over the other side… guess what? I found my real Daintree!

Here, a huge, rainforest jungle met me, complete with a narrow, incredibly steep road of tight zig zags and treacherous shelves as I wound my way up a mountainside. I was amazed that my Little Chihuahua seemed to have little trouble negotiating such a climb, but REALLY amazed at the two huge caravans ahead of me! I kept well back from them, I can tell you, and I think I may have closed my eyes when a small truck passed one. Once at the top I turned off at Alexandra Lookout, to see the awesome view… and to calm my nerves!

I had made it to the Daintree of my dreams!

 To Dream is the first step to your goal.
The Grey Chihuahua