Day 50 Cape Tribulation to Cairns

One of the things that I am finding increasingly difficult to understand on this trip is why people feel the need to smash headlong through life without care or thought of where they are and what they are doing, or how it may affect someone else.  These ramblings of wisdom are coming from an ageing man, but I'd like to think there is still plenty for me to learn as life goes on. 

This morning was wet.  Outside, inside, and through everything.  The puddles were deeper, but the caravan was looking much cleaner than it has since leaving Perth.  A hearty breakfast was followed by a swift pack up, and then we were on our way.  There was so much water and mud around this morning, I elected to use low range 4WD to SLOWLY pull the caravan up the dirt road (400m) to the highway.  This was both fortunate and unfortunate. 

Up ahead of us we had a second cassowary sighting for the trip, and were clearly able to see a large male frolicking back and forward across the road.  The camper van that came screaming up behind me, ignoring my waving arm out the window to slow down, continuing past me and spraying mud everywhere did not see the cassowary, and was nice enough to scare it off into the bush for nobody to see.  They even had the gall to stop and try and reverse into us to get a look.  Nice one idiot!  What the hell did you come to the rainforest for if not to see the unique and endangered wildlife? 

Any how, I continued on my way and took it very easy today.  This bridge seemed a bit shaky and rickety when we crossed it in the dry.  The creek was only about 1m wide two days ago.  The rain has swollen the size considerably and the bridge was not so much fun to cross today.  I could see Lisa gripping the seat with both hands whilst we were on it.  Thin, windy, wet, slippery roads were the order of the  the morning, and we came across another cassowary on the road (This is a loose term for a single lane, 90 deg bend in the road with a granite cliff to the right and sheer drop into the jungle on the left).

We crossed the Daintree River on the ferry again, and were on our way back through Mossman, with all of the sugar cane fields spread out before us.  There is sugar cane as far as the eye can see, and most is ready for harvest. I imagine that it would be quite spectacular to watch them fire the cane in the fields before harvest. 

From Mossman we continued South down the Captain Cook Hwy which runs down the coast to Cairns.  Now I am not a believer in GPS being the be all and end all of road directions, but when we passed the marker on the map for Bonnie Doon, Lisa and I couldn't help but look at the serenity that seemed to go on for miles.  We almost turned off onto the Bonnie Doon Road,but were  worried we'd be captivated by the serenity for too long.  So the Captain Cook Hwy it was to be.  This road is similar to The Great Ocean Road in Victoria and winds its way along the coastline.  Most is double white line with the odd passing turnout for slow vehicles.  To the moron who was overtaking and almost had a head on with us in heavy rain because you were too impatient to wait 20 seconds...GOOD ON YA GENIUS!!!

The rest of the drive was quite uneventful and we have arrived in Cairns without incident.  The caravan park is a full on holiday resort, and I'm sure we will get good value out of our time here.  We have already booked a trip to Kuranda on the Railway and Skyway, as well as a Barrier Reef Cruise and tour for Friday.  There may be some other things in between, but we will cross those bridges when we get to them.