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The morning was bleak; the monsoon still having its wicked way with us. We were in a small cabin made from plastic made to look like wood and in the light of day was quite hideous. We'd felt like we had betrayed the much loved Ponda Rosa and in the morning felt at a loss in the cabin as the van now holds everything we need and more. We wasted no time in checking out of the cabin and set up the trailer. Making sure the tarpaulins are all secure located in their rightful positions; it was the wet season after all!!
After drying out a little the first stop was to the tours booking and info centre at a place called Yorkies Knob. We set about booking various excursions with our extremely gay agent (he was almost as gay as Graham Font or Matthew Williams (Although a lovechild of the combination of these two would be formidably gay) and as if on cue his boyfriend walked in (who was essentially just the above combination) welcoming us to 'the Knob' and before we knew it he had us in stitches, laughing at his mannerisms as much as his jokes. With a pocket full of slips of paper we stumbled into a market which was much the same as the market in Darwin (a little wetter and the fruit a little more exotic) bit it was a nice vibe in the place. We had a look around town, there was a vibrant feel to the place and there seemed to be mostly backpackers and travellers walking the streets. We enjoyed a coffee at the waterfront and we took in the view.
Cairns is set amid steep mountains covered in dense rain forest. An amazing backdrop for any city, it's boundaries clearly defined, wedged between the sheer almost cliff like giants of the Great Dividing Range on one side and the stark blue ocean home to the Barrier Reef on the other. This place was breathtakingly, outstandingly beautiful. The view made ever more impressive by the dark clouds of the monsoon covering the mountains in a misty shroud from time to time. (I like the place, does it show?)We had an early night as I'd booked 3 Scuba dives on the outer reef for the next day; Gem in turn was looking forward to a day of relaxation.
The rain had eased slightly in the afternoon but was more than made up for it in the evening. It came in torrents and the already flooded campsite was struggling in its drainage. The toilets were an ankle deep wade through the water.The morning came damp and miserable as expected. I had a felling my alter ego 'captain Chunder' would make an appearance, but I had allies in the fight against the dreaded Motion Vomit, lots of travel sickness tablets. I said my goodbyes to Gem and rattled to the dock sounding like a walking pharmacy, my boat awaiting my arrival. I booked in and got chatting to an Aussie (quite a bizarre rarity while travelling), he was funny but in an 'I get paid to be polite' manner, turns out he worked for Hilton in hospitality, figures.I offered my travel sickness tablets around like sweets when we got on the boat. I had a feeling they could become the currency for the day. I took two more just to be safe.
The journey out to the reef took about an hour, in which time we had a dive brief and filled out some paperwork so we couldn't sue the company if we got eaten by a shark. I walked the boat feeling quite excited. It dawned on me that it was rough and I wasn't feeling nauseous, despite many others depositing porridge lumps in white paper bags. I'd cracked it!! It only took about 4 times the recommended dose of travel sickness tablets and there you go Capt Chunder kept at bay, alas!
We had a ten-minute warning and started to gear up. I felt confident and excited 'I'm about to dive on a world heritage listed site'. It mattered little that the monsoon didn't give any rest bite or that visibility in the water would only be about 2 metres, I was here and a life long ambition was about to be filled, that's all that mattered. I was eager to get off the boat and into the water. I'd hired an underwater camera for the day so I could try my hand at a bit of underwater photography. (See the results for yourself)I got into the water and down into the coral, it was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen, every colour imaginable on the fish and coral alike. It was a whole other world, I just couldn't describe the experience unless you've been there it is hard to convey. The camera annoyed me a little, I felt slightly obliged to get photos and at one point I felt like I was viewing the whole thing through a camera lens. So I made a concerted effort to ignore it for a while and immerse myself in the experience.
The two dives that followed were equally as spectacular. I enjoyed my first encounter with a turtle which I particularly longed for. The turtle was nonchalantly going about his business seemingly un-offended by my intrusion. There were also sharks (small reef), a bull ray (yep the type that killed Steve Irwin, I tried to keep the use of the word 'crikey' to a minimum so as not to offend) and too many fish to name. The coral itself intrigued me, it was all so different. I could write about it all day but I'll leave it there, conclusively saying that it was one of the best experiences of my life to date and I dearly hope the impact of the commercialism the reefs have seen over the last 30 years is kept minimal. Time will tell.
The return journey was a little better than the way out but another 2 tablets saw me safely through. Back on dry land I raced back to the camera shop to see how my attempt at underwater photography went, but it would take an hour. I went to pick up Gem in the meantime and then back to the shop for the results. Some of the pictures came out better than I could have imagined others not so. We got back to the van, the rain still unyielding, and I was beat. A combo of overdosing on sickness tablets and diving had taken its toll. I lay down and the Ponda Rosa felt like it itself was in the high seas…in fact I thought I'd better check because the campsite had all but flooded and the toilet block was a shin deep wade through water away.
Morning came and the rain hadn't stopped for what must have been 72hrs straight. It was getting a little tiresome to say the least. More so when we arrived at a train station to catch a ride to a place called Kuranda up in the hills and rainforest. The old train winds it way up into the mountains past some spectacular waterfalls and breathtaking scenery. The weather had taken its toll and a landslide buried the track, oh dear. "You can go up in the sky rail if you like" said the girl behind the counter. The sky rail being a cable car that takes about 45 mins each way, holds 6 people and isn't big enough to bury a cat in. We left it for the day, as it really didn't seem the type of day to be in a feline coffin 100ft in the air atop a sheer mountain drop. We'll see if the train tracks are clear by tomorrow, and the weather for that matter.
After a quick chat in the car we had swapped plans and adopted the next day's itinery.We headed north along the coastline on a narrow stretch of road between the ocean and the rainforest. We were headed towards Daintree and then Cape Tribulation.Before I go on, a brief description and history. The area is home to very ancient dense rainforest. The forest was around when all the landmasses of the earth were one and when the first plant life came to be. It's global location and climate has changed little so it now houses some of the world's oldest species of vegetation. Notably the angiosperm (thought to be extinct with the Dinosaurs) which is essentially the godfather all flowered plants. Every flowered plant is a genetic descendent of this one plant found in only one place in the world, here! The forest is so dense that researchers have only investigated the fairly accessible regions of which there are little.
Ok back to the trip On the way we had a ferry crossing, all the usual signs along the bank "don't swim as you are likely to become something's lunch" The rain had continued and after a few river crossings we had made it to Daintree, then a further 30km to Cape Tribulation where old Capt Cook was forced to stop and make repairs to his vessel after hitting coral. Thing haven't changed much in that time or indeed for a few hundred thousand years before that and is a place of exceptional awe. Well deserved is its world heritage listing, and along with the Great Barrier Reef in the waters just off the shore makes it unique in that it's the only place in the world where two such places from the twelve sites in the world live side by side.
We had lunch at a café at cape tribulation (I'm pretty sure that Capt Cook would have had a coffee here too!) and while eating we were entertained by a little blond boy telling us the intricacies of spiders farting, obviously encouraged by myself. He was somewhat worried about us making a mess on the table as we ate, though it was covered in bird waste, so I asked him if I didn't make a mess with my food was I allowed to poo on the table like the birds do? (A fair question I thought) He was obviously delighted with the question and after roars of laughter he told us all about spider's pooing!He was both funny and vivacious; I liked him even if he did have a peculiar fascination with spiders.
The next morning the weather looked up a little. We phoned the train company but the track was still closed, deciding to cut our losses and drive up. Kuranda was a small market town where they sold your typical tourist bull***t. But he place thrived as usually train and nearly always cable car loads of people were dropped off here. The main attraction is the Barron River Falls which were immensely impressive and powerful especially due to the recent rains. The afternoon was spent carrying out chores while the rain held off and we were set to move off in the morning, coming to the conclusion that we weren't quite finished with this area and that we'll be back (ignoring all obvious and lame Arnold Sscwartezznegger jokes)(bloody hell!!! Try and spell that name, I can't)
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