29 August 2011 - Mossman Riverside Leisure Park, Queensland

Today I received an email from my daughter-in-law Kyla who said” I cannot imagine what it must be like to be so free spirited and to go where the wind blows you!” And of course how could she, or how could we have ourselves when we were at that same stage of life, when one has a family to bring up and the structure of employment. But now we certainly do delight in the random plans of our lives, some which need greater thought than others.

Our plan was to travel to Mossman, and on up toward Cape Tribulation, as far as the less intrepid travellers could reasonably expect to go. As we had pulled in to that excellent little rest area at Mount Molloy, we had been intercepted by a couple who had been at the Cooktown Orchid Traveller’s Park with us, who had just heard about a camp at Daintree Village, mentioned in the updated Camps 6 bible, charging a very fair $15 per night. We had intended to check out the camp at Wonga Beach mentioned in the earlier edition of this travel bible, but were interested to learn of this alternative. We did however stay with Plan A then, to pass the one night at the Rifle Creek Rest Area, while the other party set off to Daintree Village having rung ahead.

This morning we came on through to Mossman, descending from the Molloy Tableland through lush tropical forest and farmlets, down a very steep winding road to the coast. From the two view points on the road, one could see the patchwork of the sugar cane fields laid out far below, however the rain mist lay all about so I did not even bother with photos.

Mossman, as opposed to Mosman, the smart suburb in Sydney, is a small rural town servicing the farms about which grow sugar cane, pawpaw, bananas and no doubt  other crops. We shopped for fresh produce at the local Woolworths and today’s newspaper at the local newsagent, enjoying the ambiance of the place. There is nothing pretentious about Mossman, it is more our kind of town.

We unhitched the caravan on the street opposite the police station and drove up the Mossman Gorge, situated in this lower section of the Daintree National Park. As we travelled up the narrow very pretty road, we could see why caravans were not allowed. We were surprised to find so many cars in the car park at the end of the road, just after nine o’clock, and even more surprised to see the crowds of camera carrying tourists on the elevated walkway enjoying the lovely scenery; the Mossman River rushing down through the granite gorge through lush rainforest. After donning our sturdy shoes to do the more challenging of the easy walks, we were disappointed to find the way barricaded for safety, and so we walked the same track as those other tourists; the elderly, the disabled, the slow and the foreign.

Within an hour we were back down in Mossman, hitched back up to the caravan and heading north for a spot to park up, read the paper and eat the artisan bread we had purchased. Some celebrate their anniversaries with champagne and some with yummy bread; today is another of the anniversaries Chris and I celebrate, the day we started to share the same roof on a permanent basis, however neither of us could remember whether it was fourteen or fifteen years. Whatever, the bread was excellent and we both ate too much. We had found a park at the southern end of Wonga Beach, so walked out on to the beach to find the tide in and the sand just a narrow strip between the quiet sea and the overhanging trees.

We drove on north and then inland to Daintree Village, the road following the Daintree River. Arriving at the village we found it to be charming, the public areas tidy as a pin and the village busy with café diners and souvenir shoppers. We had phoned through to the Daintree Riverview caravan park last night to book for three nights, clearly stating that there were two of us, that we wanted a powered site and confirming the tariff of $15. Today we pulled in and found the office and Sally, who Chris had spoken to on the telephone. Yes, she found the booking and that will be $90 thank you. “No!” a shocked Chris said. “Yes”, she said, “$30 a night”. Certainly a misunderstanding but one that should have been corrected by Sally on the telephone. We told her that she could stick her $90 but in a much more polite fashion and drove back down the river, heading back to Wonga Beach. We had also telephoned the camp there last night to check on their tariff; $25 and obviously rejected that as being more expensive than the Riverview camp. Now we drove in ready to pay the higher tariff and were dismayed to see the "No Vacancy” sign up. I went in and asked if “No Vacancy” did actually mean NO vacancy. One always lives in hope that when they see my honest face, they will just fall over themselves to make room at the inn, but alas, not so. We then rang the camp at Mossman which we had passed earlier in the day, checked their tariff and drove the fifteen kilometres back to check in.

The camp here is situated right on the Mossman River and right beside the municipal swimming pool. We do believe that it is the council caravan park, although it does not advertise itself as such. We have received a seniors discount so are paying marginally less than the Riverview park wanted, however as Chris says, it is all about principal.

The rest of the day has been spent doing laundry and organizing our flight back to New Zealand when we return to Cairns. This is not a simple matter of buying tickets; we have storage of our rig here in Australia and the pick up of our motorhome in New Zealand to arrange, and so much more. However this blog is about our adventures here in Australia and will remain so.

The evening is still very warm; the windows are still wide open but well screened from the bitey mites who have been giving Chris hell. We do not look forward to the colder climes across the Tasman Sea!