We bought another battery and storage card for my camera; I should never get caught out with low battery or run out of space for pictures now. We bought a few food supplies and then headed back to the caravan park for lunch.

Tony had a phone call today about some work he’d applied for, so we need to be back in Townsville by 13 June, it’s temporary labouring work. I’ve also applied for work in Townsville but as yet haven’t heard anything. We liked Townsville and would be happy to spend a couple of months there. We also need to leave from Townsville when we eventually head towards the Northern Territory.

Midway through the afternoon we packed some food for a barbeque and went for a ride north of town on the Captain Cook Highway looking for a nice beach for a picnic.

We turned around and rode the 20km back to Ellis Beach. All that’s at Ellis Beach is a surf club, caravan park and a pub where the public bar has an outdoor counter overlooking the ocean. There’s a nice little beach with free electric barbeques and picnic huts, views to an island off the coast and surrounded by mountains. We walked along the beach a bit, not too much because Tony’s leg is still sore, and then cooked and ate our barbeque.

This evening is quite warm, it may rain, the wind blows up occasionally threatening rain, but none as yet.

We went to the Saturday Market on the Esplanade, it was mostly arts and crafts. We were going to go for a ride but by the time we had on our leathers and wet weather gear over the top we were getting saturated from the inside out, the weather is really steamy.

We started out by heading up the Captain Cook Highway 80 km to Mossman where we stopped for morning tea. After morning tea we rode another 120km along the Rex Highway to Mt Molloy, then down the Peninsula Development Road through Mareeba passed farms growing all sorts of things including coffee, avocados, paw paw, mangoes, broccoli and lots of corn. The Peeramon Pub is where we stopped for quite a pleasant counter lunch.

After lunch we left the group and went off on our own to see a bit more of the tablelands. We went to Malanda Falls, and a massive curtain fig tree and then we went to the Cathedral Fig tree. Both of these trees are massive, the Cathedral Fig tree is 500 years old and it has a girth of 44 metres.

It was about 5.30 when we got back to the caravan park after a  ride of over 300km. We watched a bit of tele, had some tea and headed out again to the Night Markets.

The Night Markets are held in an arcade on the Esplanade, selling lots of jewellery, much of it opals, t shirts, beachwear, aboriginal artefacts and art and basically things to appeal to the many tourists who come here from all over the world. All the restaurants and night spots along with the markets make the Esplanade really lively at night.

 
CURTAIN FIG TREE                                           SURROUNDED BY THE AERIAL ROOTS OF CATHEDRAL FIG TREE

We went to Cape Tribulation which is in the Daintree Forest. Cape Tribulation is a meeting place for two World Heritage Parks, The Great Barrier Reef and Daintree National Park.

Getting as far north as we could was our aim, so we travelled straight up the Captain Cook Highway without any visits to other places along the way. To get to Cape Tribulation you take your vehicle on a ferry across the Daintree River. Once across the river you drive through amazing ancient forest for another 35km to Cape Tribulation.

After parking the bike we were walking towards the beach at Cape Tribulation and a Ranger asked us to take a different path as a cassowary was walking towards us, everyone had to stay still and let it pass, so as not to startle it. I would have loved a photograph but I would have needed the flash, so I missed out there, cassowaries are quite rare.

We went for a walk along the beach and a boardwalk and then had a picnic lunch. We drove a little further north just to see what the road was like but it was an unmade road with lots of water filled potholes so we turned around and headed south.

We went on a walk through the forest at Marrdja Boardwalk where the forest changes from rainforest to mangrove, both very unique areas. The rainforest is filled with ferns and palms and giant trees that are hosts for other plants and the mangrove has trees with aerial roots and their own snorkels to enable them to breathe as they grow in mud, it’s also very smelly in the mangrove.

After taking heaps of photos we took the ferry back over the Daintree and travelled to Daintree Village where I visited a woodwork gallery and a pottery.

On our way home we called into Port Douglas for petrol and to see if we thought we’d enjoy a visit there when we had more time, by this time it was 4.45pm. We’ll probably go there tomorrow for a look around.

I was surprised by the amount of traffic on the road home, we were travelling in peak hour traffic, I suppose everyone has the same idea to get home before dark. We’ve had another 300km plus day of riding.

The rainforest is magnificent, towering trees supporting ferns and creepers and providing shelter for the palms and ferns that grow beneath and the animals that live there. People come from all over the world to visit the Daintree National Park, I feel very lucky to have been able to visit it and proud that it’s in our country.

We rode to Port Douglas for a look around. It’s a very affluent looking place with many holiday resorts. I read that the population of Port Douglas is only 3000 but it grows considerably with all the tourists who stay there.

We had a look around the main street and had a counter meal in one of the old timber pubs on the main street. They mustn’t have a problem with flies in this area because everywhere you go they have all the windows open with no fly screens, they also have ceiling fans running.

We went for a short walk on the beach and I took some photos while I waited for a wedding to finish in a pretty little timber church right beside the beach. I then took some photos of the church, St Mary’s by the Sea, apparently it’s a very popular place for weddings.

Before we left town we rode up to a lookout and took a few more pictures and did the same at another lookout on the road home.

This afternoon we thought we better try and find out why we haven’t had a bill for our internet service as yet. We went to the provider’s website and signed up to access our account online. What a shock we got when we saw that our bill for two months access was $3,600! We had expected $100. Straight away we went to the phone box and rang them. After half an hour on the phone (much of it in a queue and then on hold) we had it sorted. The person who initially signed us up had made a mistake with the plan we were supposed to be on. The lady we spoke to today has sorted it out and our bill for $100 should arrive by email shortly. Phew!!!

At 8.15am we arrived at Freshwater Station to take a ride on the Kuranda Scenic Railway. The train left at 8.45 and headed towards the village of Kuranda. The train travels 75 km from Cairns through 15 tunnels, 93 curves and over dozens of bridges, its construction was begun in 1886. It’s a very pleasant journey with occasional piped commentary letting you know when to be ready for the photo opportunities that arise, and there are many, and a bit of the history of the line. The train travels past both the Surprise Falls and the Barron Waterfall.

 

When we got back to Cairns we went to the Post Office to collect mail, a birthday gift from my parents.

 

We stopped off at some shops in Cairns before we left town to spend my birthday voucher from Mum & Dad, I bought some tops and the new Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20) CD. We also grabbed a few groceries while we were there.

On arrival at the Mountain View Hotel we went in and bought soft drinks (in the can and only $1.50) and asked the barmaid about the bike show and where to camp. She told us that the best place to camp if we wanted a bit of quiet was down by the river.

After making sure there were no crocs in the river we set up camp, apparently the pub is at too high an altitude for crocs. It’s a really pretty spot with mountain views, obviously, and beside the Little Mulgrave River, a crystal clear shallow stream. It was really hot while we were setting up camp, we needed to put on sunscreen.

While we’ve been in Cairns we’ve ridden on a lot of roads that had been recommended to us by people we’ve spoken to as great bike roads, but we hadn’t yet done the Palmerston Highway. Paul from Mackay had told us that the Palmerston was magic, so we decided that we better go for a ride on it before we left town.

Riding up into the mountains on the Gillies the lovely sunny day that we’d been enjoying turned to cloudy, actually in the clouds, and then rainy, of course, this is Cairns. After stopping to put on the wet weather gear we rode to Millaa Millaa and got onto the Palmerston Highway. It has signs saying there are steep declines and we were bracing for another road like the one near Wollongong. It wasn’t that steep at all, there are signs that warn of 10% and 8% decline, but they’re long sweeping bends so you hardly notice that it’s steep at all. It would be a lovely ride on a nice sunny day, the scenery is beautiful, lovely rolling hills, lush and green, with mountain views all around.

We got back to the pub and went for a walk around to see if anyone else had arrived early. We spoke to two couples from Bowen and then went and had a counter meal. After tea we sat in the pub for a while but we thought that we’d be up late the next night so we went back to the tent and watched a movie. The batteries died on us before we got to see the end of Coach Carter, we’ll have to catch it another time. We really are used to having a powered site, but this one was free, so we can’t complain.

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