No tags yet.
We left cairns this morning around 9.45am, it isn't a very long drive to Pinnacle Village Caravan Park at Wonga Beach so we weren't too worried about getting quickly onto the road, not that we ever are. We had stayed here the last time we were on this route and it is a very pleasant park, past but close enough to Port Douglas but even closer to Mossman Gorge, Daintree Village and Cape Tribulation all of which we wanted to visit. We have booked for four nights but that isn't going to be long enough to do what we want to do so we will book another night here, we had already pre warned Darryl the owner. The drive from Cairns to Port Douglas along the coast has spectacular views over the coast only a few of which I was able to photograph, I am looking forward to having more time to really capture this very picturesque coastline. There were plenty of sites to choose from in the park and the one we eventually decided on has concrete slab, gives us shade from the afternoon sun, is not too far from the amenities and is close to the pool area, perfect. We set up and it was still quite early so we drove to the closest supermarket at Mossman to pick up a few items and then returned home for lunch and time to take care of a few jobs. We walked down to the beach to have a bit of a wander after lunch, the beach entry is only about 100mts away, the water was a bit rough today but still a very pleasant area. Tomorrow we are driving to Port Douglas for a bit of a wander and on the way we will stop off at a couple of lookouts to take photos and a couple of the popular beach areas on the way down.
Today we drove down past Port Douglas heading towards Ellis Beach. We had a quick stop off at Rex Lookout which has extensive views along the coast, last time we were here there was a young man having a go at hang gliding, we watched until he took off in the arms of the instructor. Back in the car and it was only a few kilometres down the road to Ellis Beach. This is a lovely little beach village with a caravan park, cabin accommodation, a bar and grill and an hotel. Ellis beach has the title of Queensland's tidiest beach, it is a wide beach area with a safe netted swimming area to help protect against stingers. We had a short walk along the beach before heading back to Port Douglas. We parked in Macrossan Street. the main street, and took off down one side checking out the pubs and cafes for when we returned on Thursday for lunch, when we came to the end of the road we crossed over to walk back up the other side. We stopped off at Paddy's Irish Pub and Grill and liked the look of their menu and walked up the stairs to find a table. We were going to have a beer each but there was a problem with their taps so we ended up with a white wine each, we sat and enjoyed the wine while making some decisions about the next part of our trip. We continued back to the car and then drove onto Mossman where I wanted to stop and have a look through the historic church just on the other side of town, I had noticed on our way out there was a sign out the front saying the church was open today. This is a small church with quite a history, the first church was built of wood but it was destroyed in a storm, this second church was built of stone bricks, it is a lovely shape and while the inside is rather plain it does have beautiful stained glass windows. There are story boards around the inside about the history of the church and some of the Pastors who had served here. We drove back to the van for lunch and later in the afternoon we had a swim in the pool.
Our mission today was to visit Mossman Gorge in the Daintree Rainforest, we visited here last time we were in the area but it is worth another visit. We drove through the town of Mossman and then followed the signs to the gorge. The tourist centre here has a cafe on one side and on the other a large souvenir shop with displays of aboriginal art, all the usual souvenirs to buy and this is also where you book your tickets for the bus. The bus takes you from the centre to the gorge where you hop off and then follow the boardwalks and paths into this very special area. There are different paths you can take and we walked around them all, by doing this you get to see different sections of the Mossman River, a swimming hole and the Rex Bridge. We stopped on the way up and the way down at the swimming hole, we had our toggies on but today was a bit overcast and we didn't feel like having a big dip. I took a bit of a walk through the shallows, what I love about this area is that it is all sand underfoot and easy to walk on. I stood and walked around here for a while and then we walked on back to the pick up point for the bus. I would recommend if visiting this area that you wear you bathing costumes and take a towel, it is a great swimming hole. They have signs up at the entry to the walk and at the entry to the water hole as to the water conditions, today was a high risk day, the water was moving very fast but calm at the water hole but the issue is they have flash floods which can change the conditions at the water hole very quickly. We didn't have to wait long for the bus and then once back in the car we headed back home. We only had one stop on the way back, every time we come this way we see signs to an Historic WW11 Bomb site. Robb's favourite saying for me is that if Captain Cook shit in the area I would have to go and see it and he is correct, so I had to visit this spot. It wasn't a spectacular stop but the history was interesting, anyway I took the obligatory photos and then we drove on home with Robb doing very little to hide his laughter in the driver's seat.
A busy day today with our first destination Cape Tribulation. We need to catch a ferry to cross the Daintree River because there aren't any bridges to cross the river and if we drove around it would take 5-6 hours. We drove to the ferry where there were only 6-8 cars waiting to board, we slowly moved up in line and purchased our return ticket which is good value at $31. The ferry trip only takes a few minutes so it wasn't long until we were driving around a very winding road through the Daintree Rainforest. This is a beautiful but very narrow drive with only a couple of stretches of straight road. There are only a couple of interest points to stop at on the way but we didn't take any of these instead driving directly to Cape Tribulation. There isn't a lot to look at when you arrive, a hotel and bar, a supermarket and a caravan park which is part of a travel information and booking office and a cafe. We stopped and shared a pot of tea and a slice of carrot cake before returning to the ferry. It was a very pleasant stop sitting on a large verandah area surrounded by the Daintree.
On the way back to the ferry we stopped at one of the ice cream shops we had seen on the way up. It was all natural ice cream made with local fruits and flavours, however, they had the freezer on too high which had caused the ice cream to ice up. Further on we stopped at the lookout with some excellent views out over the ocean. Back on the ferry to be taken back to the other side of the river where we called into a crocodile tour company but the next tour was not until 2.15pm and it was only 1.00pm so we thought we would drive onto Daintree Village to wander around. It was very busy at the village and after having a look around we found the last table at the hotel and sat and had a beer. We returned to the crocodile tour in time to meet the next tour and booked our tickets. We didn't have to wait too long to be called down to the boat, we have taken this tour before and it was just as enjoyable as the first time. We had a bit of fun with two young couples on the boat and one of the girls was lovely enough to take a few difficult photos for me and a couple of Robb and me. We saw a couple of beautiful birds and some young crocodiles but the best part was a female croc with her babies all around her. The tour was only an hour and after that we returned to the van stopping at the office to ask Daryl for details of caravan repair people around the area. He gave us a couple of names that we will follow up tomorrow, we have a couple of small nuisance repair jobs that need doing and I would like to have them taken care of before moving on.
Our last full day in Wonga Beach so we had planned a relaxed day but a relaxed day for us is not the normal type of easy day people expect. We have had a couple of repair issues come up with our van, the types that need parts so we are not able to take care of them ourselves. As you can imagine when you are on the road it is difficult to organise to have these issues taken care of and of course with the lack of International travel at the moment every one is out caravanning and all the repair places are booked out for weeks or months. We tried a few places as far as Cairns but without success. I eventually got around to trying a few caravan repair places in Darwin, we are not expected to be there for a few weeks yet but I thought if they need to order parts that might give us the breather we need. I spoke to a very friendly lady in Darwin and organised to send her a detailed email on what needs doing with pictures to make it easier for her to order parts. We offered to pay for all the parts beforehand just to secure this booking, I photographed all details and we are now waiting to hear back from her.
So now to get on with our day our first stop being Woolworths in Mossman to take care of the shopping we need before moving on, we will be working our way now through the outback of Queensland and onto the Northern Territory where finding the items you need is a little bit more difficult and I wanted to have at least a minimum of supplies for our trip. We then drove down to Port Douglas Four Mile Beach where we had planned to have lunch. We had chosen to eat at The Surfey over looking the beach they had an interesting menu and we were able to easily find a table. We chose three entree type meals as we are inclined to do as share dishes and we were pleased with our selection. After lunch we walked down to the beach which was very rough today, there was quite a strong wind in the area. Back in the car we did a quick drive by the main street in Port Douglas before driving on home. We packed up the few items we wouldn't need tonight to save a bit of time in the morning, we had fueled up on the way home so we were more than ready to move on tomorrow.
댓글