Cape Tribulation - Australia - March 2005
LOCATION: Approx. 150km north of Cairns
The cape itself was named by Captain Cook its founder, in the late 1700's, since it was just a little north of here that his troubles tribulations started when he ran his ship on to the Endeavour Reef. In the '70's it was a hippie outpost with a number of settlements, particularly at the infamous Cedar Bay, further north towards Cook town. Today with further improvements to the road, Cape Tribulation is becoming more popular for visitors. It's not surprising as this stretch of the coast is incredibly beautiful. It's one of the few places in Australia where the rainforest runs right down to the water. The Wet Tropical Rainforests here are now protected by World Heritage Laws so tourists have the privilege of visiting unspoilt virgin rainforest and crystal clear jungle creeks.
We spent 3days in Cairns where we hired a car and drove approximately 5 hrs to Cape Tribulations and stayed there for 5 days.
Our first stop was at Trinity Beach, where I stayed a few years back and had breakfast there, after which we stopped at Port Douglas for lunch at the pier
From glamorous Four Mile Beach to the wilderness of Dickson Inlet, picturesque Port Douglas has become an international holiday Mecca with five stars to budget accommodation, shops, galleries, and enticing restaurants.
After Port Douglas we made our way to the Daintree rainforest for a quick walk and from their it was to the small town of Mosman,
Mossman River to Daintree Village is a picturesque 35 km, half-hour drive. Mossman is 15km north of Port Douglas, and Cape Tribulation is 38km north of the Daintree River Ferry. All main roads and the majority of side roads are sealed as far as Cape Tribulation, with the remainder being good all weather unsealed.
We arrived at Cape Tribulation at about 2:00 Pm in the afternoon, where we booked a cabin at PK Jungle Village for $150 a night, only to find out that the place smells and that there was no fridge and the Aircon wasn’t working. We immediately went to reception and asked them for a refund and that we did not intend to stay there.
After driving around for about an hour, we came across a fabulous 4 stars resort the “FernTree” and is part of the Coconut beach hotel chain and managed to get a superb bungalow right in the middle of the rainforest for $80:00 a night, including breakfast.
We offloaded our gear, put on our swimmers and ran for the hotel pool, only to find out that it was boiling hot from the tropical sun, after a few beers from the bar, we got used to it.
Since that it was a long drive and we were quite tired we had dinner at the “Tree Fern”. After killing a few spiders and other critters in our room for Pat (After all we were in the rainforest) we called it a night.
Waking up at Cape Trib: