Mossman Gorge is part of the Daintree National park, located about 20km North of Port Douglas. Mossman Gorge is part of the protected traditional lands of the Kuku Yalanji people. When we arrived at the visitors centre we paid $9.10 so we could get a mini bus down to the start of the hiking trails. We could have walked, but they ask you not to as the road leads you through the Kuku Yalanji people’s village. Much more respectful, for 100s of people to not be trampling through their village.

We took a well trodden path through the rain forest, moving along board walks over a bouncy wire bridge called the Rex Creek Bridge, past some huge boulders and even bigger trees which have a very ancient feeling to them due to their size. Then on our way back we decided to take a swim with the locals in the cool water of the Mossman river playing in the, sometimes, fast flowing currents that carry you gently along. This was the most refreshing and cooling swim after walking through the hot and humid rainforest.

Afterwards it was back on the road up to the Daintree river ferry crossing. The only way to describe this is that it’s like a smaller version of the Torpoint ferry in Plymouth, except on this ferry you cannot get out of your car due to the risk of a crocodile pulling you overboard into the water (maybe a slight exaggeration – Simon wrote that bit). After the river we stopped at Alexandra lookout which gave us a beautiful view over the Daintee river and back to Port Douglas in the distance. Before making it to our accommodation we stopped at another board walk on the hunt for a wild Cassowary. Unfortunately, we didn’t spot one, but the walk was beautiful. I’m not sure I’d ever get enough of walking through the rainforest, looking out for wildlife and seeing all the massive trees.

We finally made it to our accommodation at Daintree Crocodylus village. As we pulled into the makeshift carpark, which was little more than partially cleared spaces between big rainforest trees, we began to wonder what we had gotten ourself into. We were literally in the middle of DENSE rainforest. We found reception but unfortunately it was closed until 4:30pm, but a sign did say welcome and please find your name and room details below. We wandered off to find our room and the whole accommodation looked pretty deserted and a little eerie. We were staying in what could only be described as a cross between a tent and a wooden hut with bunk beds in it. At this moment we were thinking  A) What have we got ourselves into? and B) Tonight is going to be interesting! Anyway we got sorted and went to reception which was now open and checked in.

We learnt 3 things that first night sleeping in the rainforest  A) Its very loud in the rainforest at night, especially from crickets, frogs, birds, and who knows what else  B) It rains a lot apparently and when your under canvas in your bed it’s not ideal and C) There are lots of bugs and creepy crawlies. Good luck to anyone else who decides to go stay in the rainforest.

The next day we woke up and headed right up to Cape Tribulation Bay. This beach was absolutely STUNNING! Beautiful white sandy beaches, palm trees and hardly any other people on the beach. It was a welcomed relief to be near to the sea again, as the rainforest is so hot and muggy! After walking along the beach and exploring some mangrove trees we walked up to a look out back over the beach. Take a look for yourself!

The whole Cape Tribulation area is strange (but beautiful). There isn’t a lot up there and everything is VERY expensive because they know that you will have to buy it as there are no other options. Signal and WIFI is very sparse but we quite enjoyed being disconnected for a while to truly enjoy the beauty of the area. I have to admit that the whole time I was in Cape Tribulation I felt DAMP! After our swim in Mossman the day before one of my tops was still a bit wet when we got to our accommodation. 48 hours later when we left the top was just as wet as it was the day we got there. I honestly couldn’t imagine living up here, but it is a magical place to visit.

We spent some time at Myla Beach around the corner from Cape Tribulation Beach. I don’t think we saw another person for about an hour which was just amazing. I definitely think we were spoilt! We decided to stop for a milkshake and then made our way to the Daintree Icecream company where we enjoyed a flavour pot. The company grow all there own tropical fruits on the plantation and then make super tasty ice cream from them. We enjoyed some mango, whattleseed, jackfruit and black sapote ice-cream. The black sapote was a lot like a mild chocolate and the jackfruit was a bit like blueberry. All very tasty and a great experience trying some new flavours. We’d had a busy day so we decided to pop in and see Cow Bay which again was beautiful and then we headed back to the hostel to relax.

The next morning we started our journey to Mission Beach, stopping off in Cairns to get Simon’s glasses fixed (he slept on them and broke the nosepad) and get some decent wifi. There wasn’t much to do in Mission Beach, but our hostel was great and was offering a free sausage sizzle that night (Free sausage sandwiches). We went for a swim at sunset on the beach. Had an early night, got up early and went for another swim in the sea before starting our journey towards Townsville. I will speak about Townsville in my blog post about the beautiful Magnetic Island (that’s where we are and we are LOVING IT!!!). Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to our car in Townsville. Sad times!!

After coming off the liveaboard we relaxed for a night in Cairns and went to PJ O’ Briens for a meal out with a voucher we had acquired from our Uncle brains tour. A meal and a drink for $9. Trust me when I say that’s cheap in Australia. Most meals are around the $15 point (£9ish). We couldn’t really argue with that. The meals were very nice and I even got a glass of sparkling wine with my meal deal. OOOOO ERRRRR

Got up early the next day to collect our hire car which we thought would be a tiny little Toyota, Hyundi i20 or something similar, but when we got there all they had left was a Hyundi i35. This car is very similar to a Nissan Quashquai or Honda CRV, which is the type of car we would like to purchase next, so we were very pleasantly surprise.  We decided not to have a car for the whole time because it would work out too expensive in the long run, so after these 6 days it’ll be the Greyhound bus for us.

So off we set. It took me a while to work out that I needed to keep my left foot pressed to the floor as the car was a semi automatic which no clutch. A very interesting experience trying to get used to that. Our first destination over night was Port Douglas, but on the way we decided to stop off at Palm Cove as we heard it had a lovely beach. We really enjoyed our few hours in Palm Cove, reading our books and swimming the ocean. I still find it bizarre that the water is 28 degrees. Compared to the UK it’s like a bath tub.

After that we took a brief stop at Rex lookout which had amazing panoramic views of the mountains and beaches of the area. Have a look;

Moving swiftly on to Port Douglas we checked in at Dougies Hostel which was a little strange, to say the least. It was quite busy and seemed to be quite full of people in Australia on their working visas. Some of the people at this hostel had been living their for months either in the hostel itself or in the camping grounds at the back. It felt a bit clicky and we felt like outsiders who had intruded on their community. But the hostel facilities were pretty good despite the kitchen always being busy.  There were 4 supermarket sized fridges stuffed full of cooler bags with all of the ‘residents’ food, so we struggled to keep our stuff safe and not damaged during our time here. We thought we had followed all the rules when putting our stuff in these fridges only to find out the next day our stuff had mysteriously been misplaced/nicked?

Anyway that night we went out for pizza which was very tasty and  we also went for a walk along four mile beach. It was huge (4 miles – duh!) and lovely white sand. Port Douglas itself was quite expensive and it seemed to be catering for a clientele with more money to spend than your average backpacker so beware if you are looking for a cheap spot in Australia.  Whilst we were eating our dinner at the Pizza place there was a table with a ‘family’ – both kids on iPads and a Mother and Father. However, turns out it wasn’t the Mum, it was the Nanny. Some of the conversation we heard from that table was interesting…. But it seemed like a lot of people had a lot of money there.

On another day we went to Hartleys crocodile adventures which was Simon’s favourite part of this area the first thing we saw upon getting there was the amazing crocodile feeding display. Massive, un-evolved powerful dinosaurs! The sound they make when snapping their jaws together can only be compared to a very loud hand clap (very loud!!!). We saw some more crocs that had gotten too big to be in with the main group and went on a boat trip to see more feeding and jumping crocs.

We fed some wallabies and kangaroo’s and I fell in love with this little Kangaroo Joey who I just wouldn’t leave alone. See the pics (many of them). I also got to have my photo taken with a Koala and Simon had his with a year and a half old saltwater crocodile which he wanted to take home. Why I have no idea?!? They also showed us the side of the business where they farm the crocs for crocodile leather and meat. Still not sure how we feel about that? All in all a great day out good value for money and would fully recommend.

(Can you see the baby Koala in the last pic?!)

The next day we started to head up to Cape Tribulation, but that’s a whole other ‘creepy crawly’ story.

We spent four amazing days, literally, on top of the Great Barrier Reef. We boarded Sea Quest a day trip transfer boat on the 24th Sept and headed out to the Great Barrier Reef for 3 nights.  Simon had been on a liveaboard with deep sea divers den previously but that was 8 years ago, so we were unsure what to expect when we got there. The company have changed their routine slightly, from taking the main vessel Ocean quest from Cairns to the reef with a specific tour length already planned, to now having a constant liveaboard vessel out on the reef and using sea quest to run backwards and forwards with the constant turn over of divers wanting to enjoy the reef.

Whilst on Sea Quest we met people who were staying just one night and many who were staying three nights like us. Once on board Sea Quest we were briefed about the boat and what would be happening over the next few days as we headed out to the reef. We were excited as we knew we would be diving within an hour and a half. Simon and I had not dived for over two years so we had to demonstrate some skills on our first dive. That completed we were free to enjoy the reef. 30 seconds in I saw a shark, and then two green turtles later on in the dive. Now obviously I’m not going to rabbit on about every single dive, but i will give you an overview of what we did and saw on our next 16 dives.

So we had morning dives with amazing visibility and the reef abundant with life just waking up, changing dive sites twice a day three more dives during the day and a night dive where we saw 5/6ft grey reef sharks which was simply amazing. Throughout the day frequent sightings included the most beautiful parrot fish I have ever seen (sorry National Marine Aquarium) many different spices of puffer fish, clown fish jealously guarding their anemomes, green turtles, black and white tip reef sharks and grey reef sharks. During the dark night dives we saw  stealthy night hunting trevallies and loads of red eyes from crustaceans caught in your torch beam, some rays, pipe fish and hump head wrasse of many different maturities.

The best way to describe the reef is to compare it to the Red Sea reefs we have dived in the past. I was pleased to see the coral was not as bleached and destroyed as i was expecting. However we did come across some dive sites that were either bleached or had areas of broken and destroyed coral. All our dives were non guided and we could have paid $30 extra per dive for a guide. An expense very few could afford.  Its easy to see how the reef could become destroyed through carelessness whilst diving and we did personally witness divers around us either through lack of awareness or bad buoyancy control damage the reef.

Whilst on board Ocean Quest the facilities were very nice, the food was lovely, but some guests felt the portion sizes were lacking. We thought they were perfect. By the end of our time on the reef we were exhausted and even though we were sorry to be leaving we were also relieved as 5 dives per day had taken its toll. We’re now looking forward to our next liveaboard in March with Loveday and Joe and also hoping to do some more diving in the next week or so whilst we travel down to the Southern Great Barrier Reef.

Most animal footage is videos i’m afraid, but we will share that as soon as it has been edited together.