We stopped in the small village of Karunda on our way to Port Douglas - right in the middle of rain forest and mountains. It consists mainly of "tourist traps" but was fun walking around as there were so many things in the shops that I had not ever seen in Perth. The markets are open 7 days a week much to Chris's regret!! There are also forest sanctuaries of butterflies and tropical birds to visit as well as a sky train that goes right over the forest area to Cairns. As we were driving we didn't have the need to travel the sky train though the views would be beautiful. There are a few more beautiful waterfalls in the area which we didn't go and see. (I think we were waterfalled out from the days before!)
We bypasssed Cairns as we were on our way to Port Douglas though our first view of the ocean was stunning after being inland for so long. The roads, once again, were very windy and one lane only.
We were very glad to finally get to the caravan park we are staying in. It lies at the foot of the mountain ranges, is so tropical and is - pretty full!! (This is high season!) We have a lovely family from Perth camping next door to us. We had met them before at Mt Surprise. They have a 6 and 8 year old who diligently do their distance ed school work each day. I think they have learnt far more from travelling around than anything they'd learn in the classroom!
We have 7 days to explore the whole area - Port Douglas, Cairns, Daintree, Cape Tribulation and Mossman (the next town N from Port Douglas). We have decided we are not going all the way to Cooktown - and are still deciding whether to do a snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef - expensive and weather not too good.
We spent one morning walking around "upmarket" Port Douglas -mostly boutiques, travel agencies advertising trips to the Barrier Reef and funky coffee and ice-cream shops. There was actually a Coles in the middle of all those and we found the cheapest vegetables we have come across - 48c kg for onions, half a Kent pumpkin was 56c, tomatoes 1.98 kg, avocadoes were 50c each, 4 pieces of cut corn was 1.99. I spent a while stocking up on fresh vegies as I cook all our meals as we seldom go out to eat. I find eating out in restaurants is a fortune! I even made our own hot chips tonight with delicious, fresh from the ground potatoes - $1.20kg - those lovely muddy, unwashed ones.
Another morning we drove up to Mossman and explored the Mossman gorge and rain forest. After a long walk into the forest we were saturated. The atmosphere deep in the forest is heavy and oppressive though a privilege to be able to walk through. The height and width of the trees and the size and shapes of their roots is amazing. I think we were lucky too to have cassowaries walk out openly from the dense bush.
The whole area North of Port Douglas seems to be a favourite place for tourists. When we got to Mossman Gorge we were amazed to see how many cars were parked. We nearly turned around and went home - but were glad we persevered as the deeper we got into the forest the fewer people there were.
Sometimes I wish we were back in rugged Western Australia. Let's see what the rest of the east coast is going to bring!
