Port Douglas to Cooktown

Day 76
Woke to find at least it seems to be more sunshine than showers today so decide to jump on the bikes and ride along 4 mile beach from Port Douglas. Headwind at first but when we turn around at the top its behind us so fly back down at a rate of knots.

Come upon yet another baby lighthouse and stop for a photo, this one is not even on the sea so im not sure how good it is at warning ships.

As we have failed to have a bucket of prawns at the Tin shed (They do them but they are too expensive) we decide to buy some ourselves and so get 1/2 kilo which come from a prawn farm just up the coast and some seafood sauce. Head to the park to eat them and just as we arrive the rain starts again so we shelter under one of the huge fig trees and settle down for our feast. As we are enjoying the prawns (really sweet) I glance up at the tree and immediately think how climable it looks....

where's wally

So 5 minutes later im halfway up the giant tree (much to Carmens amusement) and loving it. Carmen eventualy coaxes me down with talk of fishing and we head back to the van where i get the rod out and Carmen has a nap (her way of avoiding fishing trips).
Think ill head down to one of the spots i had seen at the yaucht club, surely there are some whoppers down there. Half an hour later I decide ive lost enough lures for one day (1 in a tree and 1 on the bottom) and head back.
A treat tonight as we are off to the open air cinema to see the new Pirates of the caribbean film in 3D no less.
Double bonus because we still have gold class tickets (a birthday present last year) and so we get to go in the 'Gold grass' section, which basically means you get a deckchair and a free drink. Rip off if you had paid for it but for free, not too bad.
I wish i could say the same about the film. To start with the cinema was in a resort and so they must have had noise restriction because whenever a loud bit came on the volume suddenly went down and then up again for the talking bits, rubbish. Secondly the film wasnt really much good either (They probably should have stopped at three).
All in all a good night out though.

Day 77
Sunday morning and its finally looking sunny (ish) so we head to the famous Port Douglas sunday markets for a look. Pretty much standard market faire, fruit and veg and lots of holiday tat but worth an hour strolling around.

Moving on tomorrow to a National Park so time to stock up on provisions and do some cooking in the camp kitchen. Still nice (not raining) when we get back to the van and so we take a cheese platter and a couple of beers and go and sit on the beach and while away our last afternoon.

Day 78
Moving on today so up and pack Polly and head off further North to Mosman and the Mosman Gorge. Not much to say about Mossman itself (small country town) but the gorge is rather nice (probably not as nice as the Boulders and Josephone falls though).

Drive on and instead of heading straight for the ferry to the Daintree we detour slightly to visit Daintree village. Probably shoudnt have bothered really, nice enough but the main event is on the other side of the river and so we head back to the ferry crossing.
Just in time as well, almost as soon as we pull up here comes the ferry, we are on and over before we know it (The river really isnt that wide).

The roads are a bit different on this side of the river, narrow and winding with 4WD's tearing about the place, it's enough to make Polly jealous!

Stop for lunch at cow bay and it must be warm because Carmen has her shoes and socks off and is paddling about.

Continue up the coast to pretty much the next beach and our campsite.
Noah beach, Daintree National Park which is the only National Park campground in the whole of the Daintree and only big enough for 15 spaces, spread out through the rainforest.

Set up and go for a stroll along the beautiful beach, the only access to which is through the campsite so pretty much our own private beach.

Having missed out in Port Douglas Im straight in for a swim and the water is lovely, warm even and there arent any croc warning signs (unless the crocs have moved them). No need for changing rooms here and for the first time (since i was a child anyway) Im wearing my birthday suit on the beach!!
Quickly cover myself up though as the sun is roasting and some of those bits havent seen the sun for a long time.
No kitchen here so we cook in Polly and settle down to the sounds of the rainforest and the crashing waves in the distance.
Bliss.

Day 79
Another beautiful morning and today we jump in Polly for the short drive up to Cape Tribulation where the rainforest meets the reef (Near to which captain Cook ran aground on a reef and so named it cape Tribulation).

Stroll along the beach and it is very pretty but is also busy with tour busses and lots of French people it seems. We walk up to the lookout, take a few pictures and head just down the road to a boardwalk through the mangroves with lots of information boards telling you how important mangroves are.

Get back to base camp and a surprise in the form of a (half empty) bottle of rum waiting for us with a note attached to it.
There are lots of Aborigibnal communities around here and they have alcohol restrictions for anyone entering and so our neighbours, who were heading up there have thoughfully left it to us. The note attached said 'I hope you can make use of it' and I immediatly made very good use of it!
Gorgeous afternoon so we head to the beach and Carmen is straight in (after some encoragement), the water is lovely again, nice and warm and we notice a group (?) of Dolphins playing about just offshore.
Carmen lies down for a sleep (her way of avoiding bike rides) and I cycle up and down on the hard sand right up to where the creek joins the sea (watching out for crocs all the way).

Get back to the van and have a surprise package for the second time in a day. Its Census night tonight and it seems you cant hide form the census man anywhere and the form is waiting for us to fill in.

Filling in the census and enjoying free Rum!

Our address (We think)

Carmen fills it in and we wonder what statistic we are adding to;
No fixed abode,
No jobs,
No income.

Day 80
Up and a reasonably big drive today so we get going nice and early but not before the ranger comes around to pick up our census form. Its 4WD only North from Cape Tribulation so its back across the Daintree ferry and back to Mossman for the inland route to Cooktown.
Head off along the highway, up through mount Molloy where the scenery changes from dense, lush rainforest to hot, dry scrub in a matter on minutes and stays that way for the next 350km's.

The road is good tarmac all the way but it does feel remote and considering this is the only way up (barring a 4WD) it's pretty quiet.
Arrive in Cooktown and do the obligatory lap before deciding on the Cooktown Orchid caravan park, right in town (and opposite a pub :-).
There is a funny old woman who really sells it to us when we arrive. We ask if there is a space for our van, 'Yeah there might be' is her reply. Then, once we have established that there is a site (there were a few) she continued with the tour 'the BBQ's are over there but there probably not very clean' and when asked if the site had power she replied 'there might be'. As it turns out its a good site under a shade cloth, with power and water.
Set Polly up and cycled along wharf area as the sun set to check out the fishing spots and called in at the local on the way home (it would be rude not to) the Cooktown hotel top pub (!) to celebrate our Northern most point on the East coast. The Northern most point is up the Cape York peninsular (the pointy bit on the map) another 800km's or so up the road! Also we will be further North than this when we get to Darwin but this is it for the East coast.

Captain Cook

Day 81
Time to check out those fishing spots we saw last night so after breakfast (just 1 today) we cycle to lure shop to replace some of the lost tackle from port Douglas. Head down for some preliminary fishing but only manage a couple of bites as it is mid-tide and the fish are not feeding (we tell ourselves).
Decide to book a fishing charter for the next day as that way we can pick up a few tips and are pretty much guaranteed a catch.
Time to head back to the van and put some closed toed shoes on because this afternoon we are off with Willie Gordon of Guurrbi tours to see Aborigional cave paintings.
Willie is from the Nugal-warra aboriginal clan who live near Hope Vale (30km's away). He picks us up and drives a group of us to his ancestral rock art sites.
He is the storykeeper of the clan and he explained that the paintings we were looking at had been repainted many times and so were probably only 80 years old (his grandfather did some of them). But the stories they were telling and the knowledge they were passing on were thousands of years old.
All very interesting and Willie is quite the character telling us about when he used to work in the Beef and Bourbon in kings Cross (Sydney) years ago.

Get back to the van and after that cultural interlude its time for fishing proper. Ive consulted the book (rapidly becoming the bible) and seen that it is coming up to high tide and the moon is in good alignment for the fish biting (i kid you not, its all very scientific). So we head down to the wharf in the fading light and throw a couple of lines in.
Shortly after and I get snagged up and manage to loose my hook (luckily only the hook) and just after that Carmen is in a snag and looses her set up.
Trying to thread hooks and tie knots in the dark is no fun and so we move down beside the boats where there are some lights at least.
Half an hour later and not a bite between us and cursing that bloody book we console ourselves with excellent fish and chips from just down the road and retire for an early night as the fishing boat leaves from the jetty at 7am!


Day 82
The alarm is set for 5.45 and when it goes off i think there must be a mistake as its still the middle of the night!
The backup time piece is checked and it really is 5.45 so up we get in the dark and have a coffee before heading down to the boat ramp.
Not that we needed to bother as the boat wasnt there when we arrived. Then he comes around the bay and just shouts that he is trying to get some live bait and will be back in a minute. Another 10 minutes later (We should have had a lie in) and he moors up empty handed and jumps in his car to go and buy some bait!
Good start this we both thought!
He comes back 5 mins later and we are finally off, just around a few boats and he sees some live bait so its out with the cast net. He gets loads and so now we are off.....
The bloke who runs the fishing charter is amazingly from Reading (100 miles form where I grew up!) and picks my accent (Didnt think i had one) straight away.
There are 5 of us on board, Mark (the skipper), Carmen me and two other Australian blokes on holiday from Hervey Bay and we head out into the estuary.
Another 5 mins and we are anchoring up and all of a sudden we are fishing. Simple set up. Big hook, live fish, cast.
Before long, Bang. Not a small bite but the rod is nearly in the drink and my arm is coming out of its socket. What a fight as well and finally reel him in and its a spotted mackerel and a good size.
Finally something we can eat!

Not content with that Carmen hooks up another one even bigger which she literally couldnt reel him in (she blames an old elbow injury from work).

Carmen's fish

All of us are hooking up huge fish and Mark is flapping about the boat shouting instructions to all of us.

Mark unhooking a shark

In the middle of the fish frenzy we see a pod of whales between us and the shore. A mother and baby and another group a bit further away. Amazing and we all stop and have a moment to watch them glide past.
The fishing continues at a frenetic pace and before long the boat has caught a dozen or so huge mackerel, at least three sharks (the one i got was about half the size of me!) and the coup de gras at the end, I got a good sized Tuna, which the skipper tried to claim as his.

The boat is full of fish and so we decide that if we catch anymore we will sink and so start heading back to shore.

 As we do the whales are back again and even closer this time just off the bow of the boat.
Mesmerising to watch, we follow them until they make a final deep dive and show us their tales before disappearing.

None of us could be happier, weve caught more fish than we know what to do with and have seen whales frolicking in the ocean right next to us and its only 10.30am!!
Divyed up the fish. We only took half the tuna (the skipper had the other half) and one of the big filleted mackrel as we have no room for anymore and let the guys have most of them.
Rode home and cut the fish up into more manageable portions and stuck them in the campsite freezer and lunched on the freshest Sashimi we have ever had.