Cape Tribulation, North Queensland, Australia

Location of Cape Tribulation

We visited Cape Tribulation in the month of June, 2012 to escape one of those dark cold winters of Melbourne. Cape Tribulation is located in far north Queensland within the Daintree National Park which is a world heritage wet tropics forest (documented in Wikipedia) and shown here in the map. We had been in that area before, probably in 2002. The sheer primitive beauty of the place hypnotized us and we have been since planning to go there. The opportunities came when in 2011 newspapers reported that an all-wheels road was finally built through the Daintree National Park which led to Cape Tribulation.

Captain Cook's Endeavor, from BBC images

The name Cape Tribulation was coined by Captain Cook as his famous ship Endeavor got scraped by the coral reefs in that area on his way back from New Zeeland (as it was named at that time or New Holland). He was the second European after Abel Tasman to visit the Islands and the first European to land in so called Terra Australis. He called the place Cape Tribulation as troubles with their voyage began from there.

Water fall from cable car

Yellow bird on a yellow boy

It might have taken Captain Cook a lot of tribulations, but we were fortunate to have access to flights and cars which made our journey much more enjoyable than his. We flew from Melbourne to Cairns and did some touristy stuff there, such as taking a ride in Cairns rainforest cable car and visiting an aviary among others that were in our to-do list. 

We then hired a car and drove to Daintree National Park where we took the ferry to get across the river into the wet tropical rainforest. Our accommodation at the Crocodillas was a couple of hours ride from the ferry crossing through the dense tropical rainforest.

At Crocodillas

Here I must mention a few things about Crocodillas. There weren't many choices to stay inside the National Park in 2012. We chose to stay there as it was right in the forest, in fact it was part of the forest itself. If you were looking for a five star accommodation then this would not be the right place for you. The rooms were little tents with minimal lighting and no mobile signal! The meals were simple but delicious and were cooked in house. The guests would all congregate at the big meal area in the evening to dine, chat, read, share their stories and play at the dart board. We became very good at darts by the end of the trip and had to install one at home as soon as we were back. The paths around the tents were frequented by wallabies and other small marsupials and you could hear the calls of the giant goannas at the nightfall.

Croc eating python. Photo courtesy: offthemainroadnz.com

One particular feature of this area that I still vividly remember is the humidity. It was winter, the dry (as the native Australians say) when we visited but our clothes became dank as soon as we took them out of the suitcase. The paths were slippery and my son had a few muddy falls which gave us immense pleasure at his expense. There were a few little walks around the area which we enjoyed and then took a river cruise to watch the wildlife around the area. There were quite a few water birds and water snakes. Needless to say the murky Daintree river was teeming with crocodiles.

Croc free watering holes where we took a dip

We used to go out and about in the forest as soon as we were up and would spend the day either going on long walks or swimming in the sea or in one of the watering holes (that were deemed safe by the locals). The watering holes are natural pools of water in the forest which hold water from various springs. In the peak of summer, they run dry but they were mostly full to the brim during our visit. These places are also very popular with the local crocs and the forest rangers go through a lot of trouble to keep them 'human friendly with a croc-free guarantee'. Taking a dip in a completely isolated natural pool surrounded by leafy green trees and bird song was an experience I would remember for ever. If you could call something heavenly, this would be the one in my list.

Under the canopy of fan palms

Murky-smelly swamps with decayed trees

We went for many walks around the area. The forest was eerily silent but the peace was broken by the occasional laughter of Kookaburras and the sudden sharp whistles of the whip birds which added charm to the experience. The flora of that area have remained untouched over many million years - in fact, the plant species are from the Jurassic era. There were fan palms covering the forest floor and above. The tree trunks were long as if they raised their arms to catch a little sunshine and the whole area was swampy. The pools that formed were as black as ink filled with the decaying leaves.

Silent and empty beaches

Emerald green forests on a cloudy day

The beaches we went to were pristine and for miles after miles there was not a single soul. If I take analogy from the gemstones, the sea was aquamarine over the shallow end and sapphire towards the deep end. The hills that surrounded the sea were emerald and the beach was citrine sparkling in the golden sun. The coral reefs are very close in that area and a little snorkeling even in the shallow end lets you peek into another world. The colour of marine life in a reef is very different from anything we see on the land with green-blue-red reefs moving and shimmering in the filtered light. The yellow, green and red fish scuttling around and the occasional reef-sharks slowly ambling in the water. Then there are stinging jelly-fish which can land you in the hospital if you are lucky and are otherwise life-threatening. 

Art works by tiny crabs

A blue winged Kookaburra (Kooka) (photo courtesy: Nature Conservancy Australia)

The beaches were full of little red crabs which looked like rubies darting from one little hole to the other. They made beautiful art work on the beach while creating their little crab-holes. Those art works were as transient as the waves themselves. The waves crashing on the shore gathered all the works of the crabs and wiped the slate clean every now and then. We walked on the beach for quite a while and could see no one walking on two feet as far as our eyes could gaze. It gave me goose-bumps to think if Captain Cook had also skirted this part of the world just like Abel Tasman, totally oblivious of Terra-Australis, these forests and beaches could remain a virgin for a much longer time. 

Fruits to be tasted were displayed

A highlight of our trip was a visit to a tropical fruit tasting event at a local farm. The background story of this family was that they had been travelling in campervans with their children when they came to this farm. It was on sale and they bought it to bring up their kids in natural surroundings and to spend their life away from the rat-race. They had groves of trees which are very common in India such as, Jackfruit, Custard apple, Carambola (kamranga as we say in Bangla), Arjun tree, ground nuts, cashew nuts and many more. I was going wild and was babbling about my favourite subject, plants, the whole time. The owners then took us to a side and asked us if we would like to buy the property as they were growing old and it was getting hard for them to maintain. We asked them what the maintenance of a few hectares of land involved and were told that the hardest task was to repair the fence every month or so which were usually dug up by the wild boars. Then there were the issues with harvesting both electricity and water as this area was not connected to the main supply lines. Our meek Bengali hearts lost a few beats at the prospect of living such a life but we were soon raised from our reverie and swiftly got away from the place before we were sucked in by change of heart.

The old dark Gondwana forest

Our trip to Cape Tribulation was an experience that could be had only in Terra-Australis. The land was still the oldest in the world, part of the Gondwanaland, which had remained civilization (?) free for eons maintaining the oldest flora and fauna. The trees were witness to dinosaurs that roamed in those parts and still witnessing far meaner creatures like us roaming under their canopy. On our way back to civilization, we came face to face (car) with a Cassowary which slowly came out of the forest and crossed the road. Then came the profound question from our son, 'Ammi, why did the Cassowary cross the road?'

Cassowary (photo courtesy: Culture Trip)