Cairns--Cape Tribulation, Daintree Nat'l Park

From Airlie Beach, I arrived to Cairns after a 12 hour overnight bus- ride on Sunday (Sept 3, 2005).

Once in Cairns I found myself completely exhausted and beyond lethargy. My near perpetual travels, tours, sleepless evenings (playing and socializing everywhere along the coast) with long nights on buses for the last three weeks were really starting to catch up on my body and mind!!
Instead of enthusiastically taking on this new and final destination on my East Coast tour, I just wanted to vege for the rest of my stay—in particular the very evening of my arrival, but I was to meet up with Sofie as she was leaving the next day on her own voyage down the coast.
With hindsight, I can pinpoint the root to my greatest state of distress: my jellyfish sting was driving me up the wall and nearly out of my skin!! But all in all, my evening with Sofie was as delightful as ever; we cooked at my hostel and chatted the night away about every and all things since we had parted in Melbourne three-weeks prior (so many stories!!!).
I told her that night that I wasn’t even sure if I was going to the Great Barrier Reef while in Cairns, and she totally talked me out of it (as she had spent that very day at the Reef, throwing up all the way there and back—but “worth it!!!” she said…so I conceded)!! I had plans to see Daintree Rainforest and perhaps even go so far as Cape Tribulation, but in my blown-out histaminergic state with the jellyfish sting, compounded with anti-histamine creams and pills…I just wasn’t in the mood to do anything anymore.

I was tired and cranky!!! Oh, poor-me…(really??!!? How pitiful!!! Here I am in OZ traveling for 2+months and I’ve got something to whine about?!?! Yes, I know!!! I know!!! “Stop your WINGING!!!” said the English sailorman…)

Somehow though, the next day, I found a little motivation to chase down a 50-meter pool where I was able to work-out a bit of my lethargic state…added to the discovery of a fabulous fish market where I bought some Terakihi (New Zealand) and got very excited about my evening meal:






So eventually, I found myself in a huge queue in the middle of the city, waiting at a travel agency to book two more tours—and the LAST ones at that!!! PPPUUUULLLLLEEEZE! NO MORE!! “I don’t wanna see anything anymore!!!”…(whine, whine, whine…bitch, bitch, bitch!!!)

On Tuesday, I was to go to Daintree Rainforest, Cape Tribulation, Mosman Gorge on a day-tour, and then Wednesday, I was to finish off my stay in Cairns with a tour of the Great Barrier Reef with snorkeling/diving—and then hop on an evening bus to rejoin Sofie again in Mission Beach before we parted ways for the last time.

My day to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation were filled with amazing natural and wild-ilfe sightings (and fresh-picked bananas) and I must say that I would have sincerely regretted making it this far north and missing out on these places!!!

-Mt Alexandra (one of the highest peaks in North Queensland—standing at 483m) on our way up to the Daintree National Park:



-Crazy weaving vine-trees around a now-obsolete tree in the Daintree Rainforests:





-Beautiful circular palm trees only found in this region:



And of course—a trip through OZ wouldn’t be complete without the CROC!!!:




And, here I am posing on the Daintree River (a wonderful place to see snakes, crocs, fish, birds, turtles!!):




Our Northbound adventures ended with Cape Tribulation—for many Australians, this is the “end” of their treks thru Northern Queensland:



Another stunning southern view of the area from a Daintree National Park lookout point (the mouth of the Daintree river):




On the beautiful coastal road on our way back to Cairns, we were privy to another gorgeous southern view of Yorkeys Knob (around the next cape lies the city of Cairns):




And finally a few photos of Cairns (a mega-tourist destination—japanese EVERYWHERE!!!):

The famous lagoon at sunset:




Moonrising over the city:



And I can’t forget this HILARIOUS van at the Mosman Gorge!!! SouthPark is without a doubt alive on the other side of the world!! Imagine driving around in this one!?!?!!!



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