Day eight

Post-dated


A busy day!

We woke up early this morning and went down to the Cassowary Café at the restaurant for breakfast and then back up to reception where we were meeting our van to take us kayaking around the Cape Trib headland. Our driver, Stewie, arrived and we headed off up the Cape Trib track (just past our lodge the only road north turns into a dirt track – the only route to the next town which is 106km away). After a bumpy journey we pulled off road and through the forest into a clearing where Stewie kept all the equipment. The actual kayaking itself was great. We went from Cape Trib beach, past all the mangrove forests and around the headland onto Myall beach. The tide and winds were working against us on the way there so it was bloody hard work and we got totally soaked. We stopped for a bit on Myall beach and took in the sights. Stewie went off to find us some coconuts, and we set off back around the headland to Cape Trib beach. It was much easier coming back again (particularly for me as I was in the back of the kayak on the way home so I could slack off a bit hehehe). We were just navigating over the shallow coral that lines the beach when we saw a brown patch just to the left of us. Then the brown patch lifted a flipper up at us! It was a turtle! Wow – what a sight, to see a real turtle just swimming around about ten metres from where we were. It was really amazing. After we had finished kayaking we went back to the forest clearing and Stewie husked the coconuts for us and we all drank the milk and ate the flesh which was pretty cool.

Stewie himself needs a little explaining we think. Thirty-something bloke with unkempt hair who walks around the forest and beach without shoes on. He calls people “bro” and “sister”, his house has no windows or doors, he eats berries off trees and his motto is “where palm trees don’t grow, I don’t go”. He pointed out a shack in the forest (literally four wooden posts, some corrugated iron and a few planks of wood for walls) where he lived for THREE years before he moved to the house with no windows or doors. Apparently when his wife makes him go to Cairns and stay in hotels he refuses to have the air con on and leaves all the windows open. He owns the company and basically spends his mornings kayaking, has four hours off then goes out again in the evenings for two hours. In the quiet months he likes to go to the bush and go camping. He was certainly a true Aussie beach bum.

This afternoon after a quick shower we walked just up the track to Cape Trib exotic fruit farm for a fruit tasting session. It was really good – the farm is totally organic and is run by a couple who came here from Melbourne to retire. We tasted Tahitian lime, bread fruit (this was cooked like chips - Mark’s favourite), pomello (like grapefruit), longan (like lychee), sapodilla, yellow sapote (looks like hard boiled egg yolk - Mark’s 2nd favourite), star apple, black sapote (looks like chocolate – tastes like yuck), rollina and soursop (Siobhan’s favourite). We went for a walk through their orchard where they grow over 150 kinds of exotic fruit and all sorts of other stuff like tumeric (which looks a bit like ginger), cinnamon and vanilla.

This evening we went for food at the Cassowary Café (burger for me, pasta for Mark) and then walked along to Cape Trib beach again. It was absolutely stunning as the sun was setting and it cast this fantastic orangey hue across the whole beach, which in itself has everything you could want in a tropical paradise – sand, sea, forest and mangroves. We walked up through the forest to a lookout point which takes in the whole beach.

We learnt a lot more about Cape Tribulation today. There are only 100 people who live here, and they all know each other. The road was only tarmaced (and that is a loose use of the term) five years ago and before that if it rained it could take days to get from the Daintree River to the village. (The Daintree is the place where you leave civilization behind – you cross the river on a little barge and then all roads, phone signal and life disappears behind you – I suggest you Google it if you’re interested). There is one school which is about half an hour down the road and from ages five to eighteen there are about 25 pupils. The local grocers charges for plastic bags and gives the proceeds to the school.

It’s only 7.25 – I’ve been in my pajamas for an hour already! It gets dark pretty early and the dark is so penetrating you don’t really want to go out anywhere. However, it’s really nice just chilling out and reading our books. Back to Cairns tomorrow morning.