Cape Trib, Crocks and the 13 Sharks

After 10 days of work I had 4 days off this last weekend (the 12th-15th). We woke up at 5:15 on Saturday morning (no, that is not a typo, but it is one of the reasons I am in love with Lindsay) and we hit the road just after 6. Heading north we put on a little Johnny Cash. The first 4 hours of the drive we had done before so nothing new to report there. Between Townsville and Cairns its mostly cane fields, small cane towns, and the occasional rainforest pass. We picked up a great book on tape called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick which made the trip go by in a blur. It is the book that the movie Blade Runner is based on. Perfect for a couple of sci-fi nerds.

At Cairns we refuled and continued north. At about noon we pulled into the town of Mossman, a medium sized cane town about 30 minutes south of Port Douglas. After a great lunch of really good fried chicken, we wandered the town, which was in the midst of a Saturday market. It was great to see aspects of small-town Australian life. This was the kind of thing that Lindsay and I hoped to experience by living in a place rather than just traveling to it. We meandered between the numerous stands selling fresh fruit, candles and jams while listening to some irishman playing the ukulele in a park. It was great.

After lunch we took a short drive to the local natural attraction, Mossman Gorge, a small canyon that runs through part of the Daintree rainforest.

We continued north, past Port Douglas until we came to the banks of the great Daintree River. It's famous for a cable car ferry and infamous for the numerous man eating crocks that live in its waters. Earlier this year some fisherman stood a little too long down by the water gutting his fish. CHOMP. This ferry is the only way across the river. Every 10 minutes or so it glides across the river on submerged cables transporting up to about 30 cars. It antiquated but quite nice.

From there the next 45 minutes winded throughout some beautiful virgin rainforest along the coast. One moment we were looking at thick forest and the next we were driving by a palm lined beach. During the entire drive, the side of the road was peppered with a familar sign showing a prehistoric looking creature...the cassowary. These endangered, large flightless birds live in the jungles throughout Northern Queensland and apparnetly have a propensity for getting hit by cars. I have been hoping to see one since we have been spending so much time camping. I am still hoping.

We finally arrived at our destination, Cape Tribulation. It was named this by Captain Cook himself when his ship the Endeavor ran aground on a reef nearby. This makes sense considering that the Great Barrier Reef is closer to land here than almost any other place in Australia. Cape Trib, as it is called by Aussies, is a laidback, out-of-the-way backpacker/high-end eco-lodge kind of place. There are two stores in town and a bar. We were staying at a campsite on the beach.

After going to the store for provisions (which were insanely expensive since we were in the middle of nowhere) we got to our campsite and set up. That night we went into town for pizza, beer and listened to an aboriginal raggae band.

The next day we had planned to go sea kayaking but the wind was too high. So we set off south again, crossed the Daintree River and took a hour long nature cruise down the river. It was perfect. We saw a kingfisher (bird), a green tree snake, some goofy lizard and 2 crocks. One was a female lounging on the river bank in the sun and the other was "Fat Albert", the large dominant male in that part of the river. It was a bit of a thrill. After that we crossed the river yet again and slowly made our way back to Cape Trib, stopping at lookouts and short hikes in the forest. We stopped for lunch at Cow Beach and had a picnic. We tried to listen to the U of A game with our portable internet hooked up to a laptop, but no such luck. But the salami wraps were super.

Later after a few more hikes we were getting hot. So we decided to take a dip in the ocean. We jumped in and I splashed around for a bit. Lindsay was cold as usual :) so we didn't stay in that long. After our swim we looked around and realized that although there were many people on the beach, no one was swimming. This confused us. It was hot and humid, people were wearing bathing suits, but no one was in the water. As we walked to the car we figured it out. There right in front of the beach was a large "Achtung, Attention (something similar in Japanese symbols): NO SWIMMING CROCODILE AREA!!!" Suddenly it was crystal clear. The first words out of Lindsay's mouth were "your dad is gonna freak out". On the phone three days later, she was proven correct.

That evening we had some wine and brie on the beach and then made something resembling cheese steaks at the camp BBQ. Then we went to bed.

5:15AM again and we were up Monday morning. We left the campsite at just before 6 and headed south. We had to be in Port Douglas by 8:10. We arrived nearly a half hour early and after a muffin and coffee stop we parked down at the marina and proceded to board the "Posiedon", our dive boat out the GBR (great barrier reef).

We had 3 awesome dives that day with the third being one of the best ever. It was a drift dive at a reef spot called Helms Deep. A drift dive for those that don't know is a type of dive where you jump in at one spot and let the natural current pull you to another spot where the boat picks you up. Its kind of like mixing diving and tubing down a lazy river. Its a great way to dive because you can just float and not expend much energy while seeing everything pass by. This drift was slightly different because the currents/swells were so big that we were very quickly whisked by the reef much faster than usual. In addition the coral was pristine and we saw a total of 13 sharks. It was an awsome experience.

After returning to port we found a cheap hotel and decided to cellebrate our 5 years of knowing each other anneversary. Can you guess which one of us remembered it has been 5 years since we met AND felt we should celebrate the anniversary of that date? I'll leave you guessing.

Anyway it was an excuse to not eat fast food, camp food, or ramen. So we had a drink and calamari at a sea side bar for the sunset, had a roasted pineapple daquari at a treetop bar called Nautilus (once visited by President Clinton), listened to covers of U2 performed with a didjeridoo, and had a wonderful dinner of scallops, pancetta, and ahi at a place called 2 Fish. It was a great anniversary.

The next morning we got up, put in our book on tape and 5 hours later we were home. Here are some of our photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/matthew.berkman/CapeTribAndPortDouglas?feat=directlink

This week we finally got real internet (so now we can actually upload our videos onto this site) and last night we had a housewarming party. And we head to San Francisco soon so we will see some of you in less than two weeks.

Love Matt and Lindsay