Hong Kong & Australia 2006 (5/6)
2006 found us on a big trip to Hong Kong and Australia. I say "big" because we took 3 weeks instead of our normal 2 and we had a lot of flights getting from A to B to C etc. We had help with the booking this year in the form of Karen and team at Bon Voyage. Our itinerary was:
Red Centre
Port Douglas & Barrier Reef
QLD - North of Port Douglas
QLD - South of Port Douglas
Because there are so many photos, each of the above is on a separate page - please click on the one you'd like to visit. This section is repeated on each page so it's easy to get from one to the other.
After leaving Port Douglas, our first stop was a guided tour of part of Mossman Gorge - Kuku Yalanji Dreamtime. Our guide was Shaun, a member of the Yalanji tribe who are custodians of this part of the rain forest. It is a tour we can happily recommend if you are in this area.
Throughout the walk Shaun explained about how his ancestors lived, the berries etc that they ate, the wood they used for boomerangs and how they were made amongst many other things. In addition to all that there was beautiful scenery, trees and plants to admire.
We spent a little while by a huge strangler fig while Shaun told us stories of the old times - we could have sat there all day and listened - the stories were fascinating.
We also saw some cave paintings then Shaun showed us how the ochre paint was made then demonstrated on Jonathon. At the end of the walk, Shaun entertained us by playing the didgeridoo, explaining how they are made and played etc whilst we enjoyed tea and damper.
From there we took the Daintree Ferry and headed North through the Daintree National Park, heading for Cape Tribulation.
We stayed at the Coconut Beach Rainforest Lodge which, whilst not in Cape Trib itself wasn't too far away. The accommodation was really nice and it was a short stroll from Coconut Beach with the restaurant between our hut and the beach.
The view from our "hut" was impressive - all the huts were on stilts so you really felt like you were in the trees.
First stop after dumping our bags was the beach to watch the sunset.
The crabs make very pretty patterns in the sand when they're digging their holes - here's a few examples.
As you can see it was very pretty and got quite dramatic when the sun started to set.
Once the sun had gone down, we sauntered back to the lodge for dinner overlooking one of the pools, very dramatically lit it was too with lights being bounced off the tall trees.
It all looked very different in the morning when we arrived for breakfast but still very pretty with the morning light.
Not a bad place to sit and eat breakfast!
We would have like to stay here longer but time was short and we had to leave. As the original plan was to visit Cape Tribulation we spent a couple of hours on that beach before leaving the area.
There are a few boardwalks down to the beach and you are warned to watch out for the biting midges that live in the mangrove swamps that you walk through on the way down - very encouraging!
It's such a pretty place with the trees growing out in the water and the rainforest coming right down to the beach. It was quite cloudy when we arrived and we had a few spots of rain but nothing major and the sun soon came out.
All too soon it was time to move on and test Jonathon's off road driving skills as we headed off up the Bloomfield Track. This is what we needed a 4WD for, especially crossing the creeks and the steep gradient hills.
Finally we arrived at Mungumby Lodge. What a beautiful place. We thought we were going to be staying in Cooktown but this was so much better and only about 35 minutes drive from Cooktown to visit. Mungumby Lodge was a lodge with 10 bungalows, a tropical garden and a pool. It was in the middle of nowhere (3km+ track from the nearest road) which means that our nearest neighbours were bats, insects, wallabies and geckos to name but a few. The dawn chorus had to be heard to be believed.
To get to Cooktown we drove through Kalkajaka (Black Mountain National Park). We'd never seen mountains like this before - they looked like giant piles of coal.
In reality, the rocks are granite and a grey colour. They look black because of a blue-green algae that has gathered on the exposed surfaces.
As it was Sunday, a lot of Cooktown was closed but we found somewhere for a snack lunch before venturing up Grassy Hill to admire the stunning views.
Cooktown used to be the second largest habour/port in Australia (after Brisbane) and used to have a population of 30k. It's much smaller nowadays with a permanent population of c.1.4k and lots of tourists.
Grassy Hill was climbed by Captain Cook (as he later became) so there's lots of references to him and his exploits. It's granite and 162m high.
Back on the road for day 3 of this tour but not before we'd had a chance to admire some of the plants and birdlife at Mungumby.
We went inland on the Peninsula Development Road to get back to Port Douglas so went through Lakeland, past Palmer River Roadhouse and Mount Carbine then back to PD. The scenery was varied, mountainous and spectacular - very different from the rainforests or the lush green of the sugar cane country around Port Douglas.
Finally we had to leave North Queensland and head south.