After our three day stay in rainy Sydney, I flew to Cairns to finally see some sunshine and to go on a two day tour to Cape Tribulation. The main reason of course was to see the Great Barrier Reef, but on the way there we saw so much more.

Cairns

We booked the tour in 2008 with Adventure Tours Australia. Get Your Guide offers a great-looking one day alternative. The first day was spent in Cairns. Cairns is a really lovely little town in Queensland. I didn’t explore the town too much because the moment I saw the big Lagoon I was sold and I spent all day there.

Cape Tribulation

Port Douglas
The next morning the bus tour would take us to Cape Tribulation. On the way we stopped at a few locations. The first one was Port Douglas. Port Douglas is a quiet little seaside town in the north of Queensland. I didn’t get much of an impression because we did not spend more than twenty minutes there.

Mossman Gorge
The second stop was Mossman Gorge in Daintree Forest. Daintree Forest is a tropical rain forest which has been listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 2015. So when I visited this was not yet the case but it didn’t make it any less special. Actually the whole tour would be in Daintree Forest because that’s where Cape Tribulation is as well. Mossman Gorge has a little river area where you can go for a swim. Me and my friend decided to go for it; many others who joined the tour were not so brave (of course we went for it when it was confirmed there would be no crocodiles).

Daintree River
The best part of the road trip to Cape Tribulation was the stop for a Daintree River Tour where we would check out the local flora and fauna (of course the most memorable animals I would see on this tour would be the crocodiles). The mangroves also made quite an impression on me.

A group of Japanese people who joined our boat trip were acting very irresponsibly. They were told by the tour guide it would be dangerous to run from one side to the other on the boat and they were told that the boat would turn in circles so everyone could see. They did not listen of course. One guy even put his hand in the water! He put his hand in  crocodile infested water… He’s lucky he still has that hand.

Ferntree Rainforest Lodge
The next stop would be the end of the road trip and the start of our stay at Ferntree Rainforest Lodge in Cape Tribulation. During the day the place looks absolutely lovely. The lodges themselves were spacious and pretty. However, at night the place turned into a creepy crawler freak show. Bugs were running, bugs were flying, bugs were making sounds. It drove me crazy. Just as I got up from the bed I saw a huge beetle (or flying cockroach) flying straight at me and it landed on the pillow I had just left. This is the price to pay for staying in a rain forest. Even seven years later I have not seen so many bugs in one room.

The first day there, we also explored the area around the Lodges a bit. There was a cute little boardwalk you could take, which would take you around the rain forest. The board walk starts with warning signs: Beware of Cassowaries (may cause injury or death), Beware of Crocodiles (may cause injury or death), Beware of Snakes (may cause injury or death)… And so on. You can imagine when I was walking this board walk route every sound made me jump out of my skin. It got darker and darker (because of the density of the forest) and I started walking faster and faster.

At the end of the board walk you end up on the beach. A beach which (according to the signs) is inhabited by crocodiles so beware because they may cause injury or death. And don’t run into the sea because there may be Marine Stingers. This was an interesting little excursion but I never walked back to a hotel faster than I did that day.

The day after the road trip the tour went to Great Barrier Reef. I will dedicate a separate post to this experience and I’ll wrap this post up by describing my first zip lining experience ever. A very interesting way to explore Daintree Rain Forest. Even though I’m afraid of heights I didn’t feel scared zipping from tree to tree. Somehow the cable construction feels very secure and the fact that you’re above trees rather than above the ground makes you feel that if you would fall you’d fall into a fluffy soft mattress of trees.

I would recommend this way of experiencing the jungle to anyone. I don’t remember which company organized this tour for us but they were really good, really professional and we were the lucky to be on a private tour.