Beach camping, the Daintree & Cape Tribulation

From Bramston Beach we headed up to Cairns. We stopped at a mall where we did our grocery shopping and picked up supplies to restock the fridge for a couple days. We planned to pass Cairns and head straight for Port Douglas since we’d spend the last night of our trip in Cairns. Arriving in Port Douglas we were somewhat disappointed to find it very developed and a resort town. We thought it’d be a little wilder. We discovered that the reef trip we wanted to take was booked for the following day so after much “spirited” discussion Jonathan’s plan won out – we booked a reef trip for next week and headed further north that day. Yes – we are doing A LOT of driving (and riding). We reached the Daintree River where we boarded a car barge to cross onto the Cassowary Coast (seriously, they say those birds are everywhere but we have yet to see one!) The road that met us on the other side was canopied by rainforest and steep with hairpin turns that make Skyline Drive look wide. What a cool environment. The vines and trees were so dense it was as if they’d reach out from the side of the road to grab you. 30 kms later, we arrived at our beachfront campground on Cape Tribulation. Unlike other places we have stayed, this campground’s clientele was largely European backpackers – not nearly as friendly as the retired Aussies that we’ve encountered elsewhere. We had a scrumptious steak dinner, a walk on the beach and retired to our small piece of oceanfront property.

Sarah playing on a rope at Cape Tribulation

Kookaburra

Note: A long time ago, when Sarah wanted to go to the Australian rainforest her father said “what, are you crazy? They have bugs there that are big enough to write home” Well, we now believe him. Jonathan caught this small guy by our camper. The others were trying to catch us.

Who says the French don't like Americans??

We had our first “spot of rain” since we’ve been here and the second morning on Hamilton Island wasn’t as sunny (or water-sport-friendly) as we had hoped. So after a quick (cold) snorkel, sting ray sighting, and one last dip in the Jacuzzi, we headed back to the mainland and continued our push north. Our time in the islands inspired us to listen to Robinson Crusoe which Jonathan happened to have on his ipod. For the first time on our trip we had some trouble finding a campground. We checked 5 places and not one had a spot. Without a nearby National Park (we are always able to access with the 4wd) we had to continue on the next town 60 miles away and got the last spot. We arrived after dark, made an excellent dinner and went to the “camp kitchen” to do our dishes. The camp kitchen was hopping! The kitchen was full of backpackers who are apparently in the area to do farm work (zucchini, pepper, and pumpkin picking - earning a little money before continuing their travels.) There were many from France (who stayed on one side of the kitchen) and another large group from Japan (who stayed on their own side). When it was discovered that we were Americans (our accents gave us away?) we were the hot commodity – apparently it’s not so common to meet Americans here (at least in the backpacking scene). We spent the evening chatting it up with some overzealous French backpackers and have a new best friend if we ever visit France. Jonathan was also hugged and kissed by said French guy too many times to count – Sarah was getting jealous. After a couple glasses of wine and well wishes to our new friends, we retired back to our camper to get ready for the next day.