Day 12 – Tue, 13 Jul to Cape Tribulation

Well the day broke with overcast conditions and the odd shower. And that is how the day progressed – light showers, sunshine, then more showers then more sunshine – and ended with you guessed it, more showers.

Today was a short ride from Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation, but it was lots of on/off the bike doing sightseeing, rainforest walks, dodging rain showers. You can get from my constant reference to showers that we are pretty sick of them. I’ve decided that this sort of touring – on/off the bike in the humidity – is extremely tiring, harder than riding a 500km day. I’ll have to consider this in the planning of the remainder of the trip. Rod agrees as he had a catnap whilst I was taking a shower.

We went to Mossman Gorge first up and watched dickheads (sorry kids but that is what aptly describes them) drive their caravans up narrow roads contrary to the advisory signs not to proceed. The walk through the rainforest was wonderful – cool and peaceful. Crossed a suspension bridge over the creek – obviously we were big kids trying to make it swing.

We then rode up to the Daintree village before taking the ferry across the Daintree River heading north. The roads are quite busy, but quite comfortable to travel. It surprised me that the rainforest basically comes right up to the side of the road and you have to actually pull off and park to see any sights.

Lunch was had in you guessed it another rainforest area where we took another walk through the surrounds, and another shower. A chat with a number of tour operators concerning the road north of Cape Trib was also included, and they donated a half dozen fresh bread rolls to be added to our travelling pantry.

We then headed into Cape Tribulation where we are currently staying in PK’s Jungle Village – well the room facilities look like they never made it out of the jungle. As I said to Rod, their standard room has two single beds and that’s it – not even a hook on the wall – well there is a mirror. Oh well it was better then setting up camp in the rain and trying to cook outdoors.

So we are presently enjoying a cold ale in the bar with a bit of UB40 going strong – far better than Sink the Bismark. Red Red Wine will be next for the umpteenth time – oh well maybe they have a limited selection here in the Jungle. It appears it is basically setup for backpackers or combie drivers.

So we’ll decide how far we get tomorrow based on the conditions as they appear. We have had mixed reactions to our questions, from you can do it easy, to you’ll never make it on those things. So I guess it is really up to us to find out.