Daintree Forest and Cape Tribulation

On Monday we took a road trip from Cairns to Cape Tribulation along the Great Barrier Reef Drive. This 140 km bitumen road winds through some breathtaking scenery from Cairns to Cape Tribulation and the world heritage  Wet Tropics Rainforest. In our previous post we talked about our visit to Port Douglas taking this same road.  Again, we were lucky to enjoy the fabulous views over the Coral Sea on this trip, as this road follows close to the ocean. 

Anyway, before taking the cable ferry across the Daintree River to Cape Tribulation we decided to stop in at the Daintree Village. This funky little village hosts a few restaurants, a corner store and picnic areas where you can sit and watch the Daintree River flowing past. Like most spots in Tropical North Queensland (TNQ) there is the obligatory “No Swimming, Achtung, Warning, Crocodiles” signs posted everywhere. Supposedly quite a few crocodiles are sited basking in the sun along the estuary here and several wildlife-watching cruise boats leave daily from the area and will be more than happy to show you them. 

We also found the Daintree Riverview Lodges and Van Park. The day we visited there quite a few camp trailers, motor homes and vans. The park was advertising sites for $12 pp. You could also book rooms in the Lodge which from what we could see had some great views over the Daintree River.

Cape Tribulation

Next we headed towards Cape Tribulation. But first we had to cross the Daintree River.  There was quite a line up of cars waiting to get on the ferry. Before driving onto the ferry we paid the “Ferry Man” before we got to the other side (sounds like a good line for a song) $26.  The ferry operates from 6 am to midnight. We were given our ticket and told to “Follow the instructions on the top of the ticket and turn engine off when you get on the ferry”. 

We waited for approximately 30 minutes before driving onto the ferry which worked in our favour. This gave us time to eat our (homemade) salad lunch. Once we got to the other side there was a mad dash of cars winding up through the beautiful rainforest roads. If you drive off the ferry and have a chance to pull over it may be to your interest. At least then you can take more time to enjoy the drive rather than be in a race to get to the end. Also watch out for the many speed humps along the way as these are in place for the Cassowary birds who frequently cross the roads. Unfortunately we were not lucky enough to see any.

The settlement of Cape Tribulation has around a hundred permanent people by Myall Beach. You will also find a couple of resorts and the usual restaurants and cafes along with small shops. We also found a beautiful swimming hole at one of the cafe stops. Still it’s not a place that I would jump into as I am still worried about all those crocodile sign warnings that you see everywhere.

We did see some beautiful sites and of course we would recommend the drive to anyone. Take the trip and enjoy the experience and if possible give yourself a couple of days to do it. In so doing you will have the time to enjoy this beautiful region.

A day trip was not enough time to go and explore places along the way like the Discovery Centre or drive into some of the bays. Next time we may even stay a night at one of the resorts. Still it was an adventure in it’s own and we are happy that we did it.

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