Underwater Wonderland

At the end of October we had family visit from Melbourne for a few days and we took a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef with Wavelength, a company that does small boat tours out of Port Douglas.

We left the glassy, sheltered marina and headed out to Agincourt Reef, about an hour away.

We donned our wet-suits and snorkelled in 3 different sites  We saw some evidence of coral bleaching which is a great threat to this area of the reef.

We also saw plenty of brightly coloured reef fish and live corals and other marine animals.

A fantastic day!  The Wavelength staff were great and they took plenty of photos.

Bushtracker Owner Group Muster - Winton 2016

In September we loaded up our caravan and headed into Winton in Central Queensland for the annual Bushtracker Owner Group Muster.

We've been to Winton several times and have fond memories of this small outback town.  Winton is about 900km from Mossman so we stayed overnight at Lake Louisa, a great free-camp about 100km north of Hughenden.  We were lucky that the unsealed road was open because Central Queensland had been subject to lots of rain and floods.  After a stop the next morning at Hughenden we drove on to Winton.  The countryside was green with plenty of new growth and flowers everywhere.

We were able to visit the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum to renew friendships made when we worked there in May 2015 "prepping" dinosaur bones.  There are still plenty of packets waiting for intrepid volunteers to work on.

The BOG Muster was a great opportunity to catch up with friends and swap stories and experiences.  This year the theme was "Masquerade" and the colour "Maroon".  The showgrounds and racecourse turned from a dustbowl to a quagmire overnight following rain.  The race meeting planned for the day after the muster ended was cancelled.  We just had to cope with VERY muddy feet.

Far North Queensland

Our time is Far North Queensland is going quickly.  We've been kept busy looking after Rainforest Estate and also participating in the Mossman community.  There's never a dull moment, which is why I've been a bit slack in updating this blog.

 





The city of Cairns is about 70kms away and it takes about an hour to drive there along the Captain Cook Highway through the World Heritage Site "Where the Rainforest Meets the Reef".  We get to Cairns from time to time, although not too often.  The gardens next to the casino have war memorial walk with sculptures depicting branches of the Australian Defence Force.  Each branch has an etched granite pillar with bronze sculptures depicting the appropriate kit bag and hat.  Very tasteful.

The Tanks Markets are held in the Cairns Botanic Gardens each month from April to November.  We only discovered these markets in November, and they're on our list to revisit in 2017.  There are many stalls and performers.  We stayed for a few hours.  It could easily be a whole day affair.

The scenery around Mossman is everchanging with the nearby mountains and cloud formations.  Nearby Mossman Gorge is a popular tourist spot with rainforest walks, cooling swimming holes and a good cafe/coffee shop.  The Historic Church under the rain trees in Mossman has a history going back to 1899.  The current church with it beautiful stained glass windows was built in 1952.

The town of Port Douglas is our local "big smoke".  "Port" is about 15km from Mossman and is a tourist town with many resort and tourist activities.  There's more shopping than in Mossman and there are plenty  of places to eat and drink as well.  The weekly Sunday Market has plenty of variety and is always well patronised.

Cape Tribulation - Paradise in the Rainforest

Cape Tribulation is 65km north of Mossman, on the northern side of the Daintree River. This really is the place where the rainforest meets the reef.  The Great Barrier Reef is only metres from the shoreline.  The drive to the Daintree Ferry is only about 30 minutes from Mossman.  We had earlier visited the local Douglas Council office to collect our Daintree Ferry Card.  We qualified for this card because we're living here for a year and our caretaker agreement allowed the council to use their discretion to issue the card.  We didn't fit into any of the 8 specific criteria clauses, and relied on clause 9 which allows the discretionary issue of the card.  It's been well worth the visit to the council office as the $15 card gives us free ferry travel (for the car and caravan) until July 2018, saving the $24 ferry fare for each trip.  We did a reconnoitre day trip the week before we needed to take the caravan, to check out the campgrounds and caravan parks.  We selected the Cape Trib Campground and booked in for 5 nights for the following week.

It really is a beautiful place.  Patchy TV coverage, no wifi, no phone so effectively a technology free holiday.  This area is "Gondwana Rainforest".  There are many plants that are only found here - like the first flowering plants.  They have survived, and some have evolved, from the time before Australia split away from the ancient Gondwanaland.  The ancient heritage has been preserved because this area did not experience the volcanic activity which affected the rainforests further south and west.

The Cooper Creek Rainforest Walks had been recommended to us so we booked in to do the 2 hour rainforest walk before we left Mossman.  On the Saturday morning we arrived at Cooper Creek and we were greeted by Angie who would be our knowledgeable guide.  On our walk we saw several interesting spiders - Northern Jewel Spider, Golden Orb Spider (the web glows golden in sunlight) and the St Andrew's cross Spider (the cross is formed by thickening the web) and the well camouflaged Lichen Spider (can you see it on the tree trunk).  As we walked we learned about the history of the area, it's inclusion in the Daintree National Park, different flora and fauna.  We could hear plenty of birds although we didn't see many because they live high up in the canopy.  Our walk took us through the Fan Palm Gallery and we saw many different types of palm trees.

There are many self guided walks through the rainforest in the Cape Tribulation area and we explored the Mardja Botanical Walk.  There were plenty of interpretive sighs explaining the plants as we walked through the rainforest and mangroves  along the well maintained boardwalks and paths.  The basket ferns are home to many different rainforest animals including birds, lizards and snakes.  We could hear the "cannonball" seed pods exploding to release their seeds as we walked along.

We tried the ice-cream at both of the ice-cream factories in the area.  The Floravilla Ice Cream Factory had about 30 different flavours so we bought 4 small tubs of different flavours - macadamia, mango/ginger, mango/coconut -  to try over a few days, delicious and creamy.  The Daintree Ice-Cream Co. is nearby and is located in an orchard of exotic tropical fruits.  We tried tubs of different flavours - Davidson's Plum, Black Sapote, Wattleseed and Jackfruit - and  bought a 1litre take home pack to enjoy later - also delicious.

In all we had a very pleasant 5 days with some walks along the beach at low and high tide. At low tide the reef is exposed very close to shore.  We'll definitely be back to visit more of this beautiful paradise.

Tomorrow we're heading off in our caravan for a couple of weeks to attend the Bushtracker Owners Group Annual Muster in Winton, central Queensland.  It will take us about 2-3 days to get there (it's about 900km away).  We're looking forward to visiting Winton again and catching up with our friends at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum.  It will also be good to renew friendships with fellow Bushtracker Caravan owners.  It's always a great time of socialising.