6 August – Wednesday
Well, the trivia night was a bit of a disaster, but it was the first time for all of us and we didn’t really know what to expect. We were given three sheets, one of anagrams (pop stars, films, television shows and the like), one of parts of movie posts which had to be named, and one of the Chinese Olympic symbols. Then there were five rounds of questions to be answered, some general knowledge and some specialised fields. We did struggle a bit with naming the rock songs and their performers – the tunes were played as lullabies on a xylophone! However, the good news was that our group of ten did win a door prize and came away with a bottle of wine to share. All we needed was ten straws, or a medicine glass each.
Today we left bright and early and headed to the Mossman Gorge before the hordes o tourists took over. A truly beautiful area (no crocodiles either) in the rainforest, even if it was nearly 10 am before the sun actually shone into the gorge. Some of the English tourists need to learn that it is not the done thing to bounce on a swinging bridge when there are people in the middle of it!
As the sugar cane cutting season is in full swing and the Mossman Mill was working, thought it would be a good idea to take a mill tour. The morning tour was fully booked and we didn’t want to hang about until the afternoon, so had a look at the display on the sugar history and the large poster of North Queensland snakes. Someone decided that the snake he had met a couple of days earlier bore a remarkable similarity to a taipan!!!
After leaving Mossman, we called into the seaside village of Wonga Beach, which seems to be a favourite destination of a lot of caravanners. Really not much there apart from a small school, some houses and a caravan park. Beautiful beach though, but of course, no swimming because of all the usual bities. While we were sitting on the beach, communing with nature, a Toyota Landcruiser towing a boat drove onto the beach, backed into the sea, unloaded the boat and unhitched the trailer. The driver then attempted to drive back up the beach by revving the engine madly and spinning the back wheels until they had dug very deep holes and the sea was probably half way up the wheels (we couldn’t work out why he didn’t put the car into 4 wheel drive!). He did this a couple of times and then had a mild panic attack as the car was sinking deeper and the tide was coming in. Left the car and tore off into the scrub, eventually returning with a couple of blokes, one of them calmly changed the drive to 4 wheel and the car was rocked out of its sandy holes and up onto the beach. While all this was happening, the boat was floating about on its own and the proceedings were carefully watched by a pelican paddling around.
Continued north through the cane fields to the Daintree Village, on the banks of the Daintree River, noted for it crocodiles. There must be plenty of them in the river, given the large number of crocodile spotting boat tours on offer. Weren’t too keen on the caravan park here as it was very close to the river.
We decided to cross the Daintree River on the car ferry and when we joined the queue, the charge was $18. Before taking fares from this group of waiting vehicles, the price was changed to $19! We thought this was a bit rude. The road to Cape Tribulation was only about 40 km long, but very windy and quite narrow – the rainforest was just magnificent, as were the views and beaches on the way. The road had quite a number of traffic calming humps, these were about 2-3 metres wide and studded with VERY large rocks. Definitely slowed the traffic. We stopped at a local ice cream factory and were told that this is what you will have – a cup containing a scoop each of wattle seed, jack fruit, mango and raspberry. The wattle seed had a very coffee-like flavour to it, but was quite nice. It was a very pleasant break to sit in the beautiful gardens and enjoy our treat. Apart from a number of retreats, resorts and spas (not sure what the difference is), there seems to be quite a large permanent population in the area, given the large number of gravel tracks/driveways leading off the main road. There were a few brave tourists having a swim at Cape Tribulation, despite the warning signs and the mangrove swamps.
We called into Port Douglas on our return journey, but as it was getting late, we only stayed for about an hour or so. This place exists for tourists staying at large, expensive resorts – I don’t think I have seen so many in one small area. Because the resorts are built right along the beachfront, it is virtually impossible to actually get onto the beach.
It was quite dark by the time we arrived home, although still quite warm after another beautiful day.
Well, the trivia night was a bit of a disaster, but it was the first time for all of us and we didn’t really know what to expect. We were given three sheets, one of anagrams (pop stars, films, television shows and the like), one of parts of movie posts which had to be named, and one of the Chinese Olympic symbols. Then there were five rounds of questions to be answered, some general knowledge and some specialised fields. We did struggle a bit with naming the rock songs and their performers – the tunes were played as lullabies on a xylophone! However, the good news was that our group of ten did win a door prize and came away with a bottle of wine to share. All we needed was ten straws, or a medicine glass each.
Today we left bright and early and headed to the Mossman Gorge before the hordes o tourists took over. A truly beautiful area (no crocodiles either) in the rainforest, even if it was nearly 10 am before the sun actually shone into the gorge. Some of the English tourists need to learn that it is not the done thing to bounce on a swinging bridge when there are people in the middle of it!
As the sugar cane cutting season is in full swing and the Mossman Mill was working, thought it would be a good idea to take a mill tour. The morning tour was fully booked and we didn’t want to hang about until the afternoon, so had a look at the display on the sugar history and the large poster of North Queensland snakes. Someone decided that the snake he had met a couple of days earlier bore a remarkable similarity to a taipan!!!
After leaving Mossman, we called into the seaside village of Wonga Beach, which seems to be a favourite destination of a lot of caravanners. Really not much there apart from a small school, some houses and a caravan park. Beautiful beach though, but of course, no swimming because of all the usual bities. While we were sitting on the beach, communing with nature, a Toyota Landcruiser towing a boat drove onto the beach, backed into the sea, unloaded the boat and unhitched the trailer. The driver then attempted to drive back up the beach by revving the engine madly and spinning the back wheels until they had dug very deep holes and the sea was probably half way up the wheels (we couldn’t work out why he didn’t put the car into 4 wheel drive!). He did this a couple of times and then had a mild panic attack as the car was sinking deeper and the tide was coming in. Left the car and tore off into the scrub, eventually returning with a couple of blokes, one of them calmly changed the drive to 4 wheel and the car was rocked out of its sandy holes and up onto the beach. While all this was happening, the boat was floating about on its own and the proceedings were carefully watched by a pelican paddling around.
Continued north through the cane fields to the Daintree Village, on the banks of the Daintree River, noted for it crocodiles. There must be plenty of them in the river, given the large number of crocodile spotting boat tours on offer. Weren’t too keen on the caravan park here as it was very close to the river.
We decided to cross the Daintree River on the car ferry and when we joined the queue, the charge was $18. Before taking fares from this group of waiting vehicles, the price was changed to $19! We thought this was a bit rude. The road to Cape Tribulation was only about 40 km long, but very windy and quite narrow – the rainforest was just magnificent, as were the views and beaches on the way. The road had quite a number of traffic calming humps, these were about 2-3 metres wide and studded with VERY large rocks. Definitely slowed the traffic. We stopped at a local ice cream factory and were told that this is what you will have – a cup containing a scoop each of wattle seed, jack fruit, mango and raspberry. The wattle seed had a very coffee-like flavour to it, but was quite nice. It was a very pleasant break to sit in the beautiful gardens and enjoy our treat. Apart from a number of retreats, resorts and spas (not sure what the difference is), there seems to be quite a large permanent population in the area, given the large number of gravel tracks/driveways leading off the main road. There were a few brave tourists having a swim at Cape Tribulation, despite the warning signs and the mangrove swamps.
We called into Port Douglas on our return journey, but as it was getting late, we only stayed for about an hour or so. This place exists for tourists staying at large, expensive resorts – I don’t think I have seen so many in one small area. Because the resorts are built right along the beachfront, it is virtually impossible to actually get onto the beach.
It was quite dark by the time we arrived home, although still quite warm after another beautiful day.
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