31 August 2011 - Mossman Riverside Leisure Park, Queensland

The morning dawned overcast but still warm, the mountains all around still shrouded in low clouds. I do wonder how often they reveal their splendour to the visitor.

By nine thirty we were on the road, first popping up town to buy the regular newspaper and then heading north toward the Daintree River where we joined the queue for the ferry. We were very pleased to find the return fare was only $22; pleased because we had guessed it might be double that. The ferry here is larger than that on the Jardine River much further north and the river wider, but the ritual is still the same, however the staff are more official looking, sporting the bright yellow fluro shirts that all employed folk here in Australia seem to wear.

Once ashore we continued up the sealed narrow and winding road as it climbed up over a range, where we stopped to over look the mouth of the Daintree River but were not able to make out Port Douglas further south, nor Cape Tribulation to the north through the haze.

As we descended the range, we took a detour to enjoy a boardwalk up through the rainforest. Everywhere signs alerted us that cassowaries lurked in the area, not to be fed or approached, however we did not see any. We did however appreciate the beauty of the forest, the best of its kind we have seen.

Once down to the coast, we drove the six kilometres to Cow Bay, where the rain forest grows right down to the shoreline and one is greatly discouraged from swimming or any other activity that would excite a crocodile. It was only 11 am but we were hungry and a cup of coffee sounded great, so we consumed our picnic then and there.

No one seems too sure why this bay is thus named; it may relate to the sea cows or dugongs that feed on the seagrass in the bay, the cattle who used to graze near the beach or the cattle being swum from barges transported for fattening in the 1940s. We noted a sign advertising an activity for tourists: Cow Bay Horse Riding, and thought that a rather wonderful play on words.

Returning to the road north, closely hugging the shoreline, we stopped once more to take advantage of another boardwalk on offer, this second one along the Oliver Creek through mangrove flats. Having lived close to mangrove tidal flats for so many years in New Zealand, we thought we knew all about them. At the museum in Townsville we had learned there are over 90 different species of mangroves, and again yesterday on the Daintree River, we received further revelations. Today as we walked through this amazing area, we could see that these mangroves had very little in common with their Whangarei harbour relations.

The reference beside me here advises that the sealed road from the river to Cape Tribulation is 34 kilometres; I would have thought it more because the distance from Mossman to Cape Tribulation is just short of 70 kilometres. Whatever the correct distance, the road is slow and sports more cassowary signs than there are cassowaries, and more tourists than we have seen for a while. We passed so much on offer for the tourists; B&Bs, cafes, campsites, insect museums, zoos, tea plantations, nature tours, crocodiles adventure tours, and so on. Just like Cape York, the area north of the Daintree River does not have electricity except for that generated by the user.

In 1931 the Mason family were part of a small group who settled the area and subsequently attempted to earn a living from fruit and vegetables, timber cutting and cattle, and today are involved in the tourist industry, conducting tours, operating a café, a shop and bottle shop.

The heights of Mt Sorrow shrouded in cloud

In 1962 the first gravel road reached the area, now it is sealed all the way to Cape Tribulation. There are now approximately 600 to 900 permanent residents living on the Daintree Coast, and more than 1,000 freehold subdivided blocks dotted along the edge of the National Park.

When we reached Cape Tribulation, we found a park between the many cars and vans, tour buses and 4WDs, then walked first to the beach which was marginally more expansive than Cow Bay, and then around to the look out on the Cape itself. Rain had already set in and we walked with our umbrellas. It seemed appropriate that we should encounter rain in the rain forest lands, but unfortunate, even sad, that we were not able to see Mt Sorrow, named by Captain Cook. It was just off here in 1770  that he came aground on the Great Barrier Reef, that section now named Endeavour Reef, and the cape Tribulation to mark his woes.

We stopped at the “largest supermarket” on the Daintree Coast (the only one) to buy iceblocks and saw odds and ends for sale at inflated and odd prices; avocados were marked at $2.44 each, cornetto icecreams at $8.88. When I drew the storekeeper’s attention to this peculiarity, he laughed and said he liked to amuse the tourists and keep the locals on their toes.

We swapped drivers part way back and I drove the tricky bit over the last range. I don’t get enough practice driving this manual vehicle so it was just as well Chris was sleeping and did not notice my dodgy gear changing. When we arrived back at the ferry, and joined the even longer queues, we missed the first and when it returned there was a car with a flat battery obstructing the ramp. The driver asked us to help him start it with jumper leads, so we drove onto the lift up ramp in an effort to assist, but his problem was too great for the quick fix. We ended up towing him off so we could all board the ferry and continue on our way.

There is a new batch of caravanners in tonight so it must be time for us to be on our way. No doubt there is much more that could be seen in Mossman and the environs, however Cairns and business matters beckon.