Iter Facere

Cape Tribulation

Friday, July 14 Bastille Day

Cape Tribulation 8:45 PM

Today we learned about the plusses and minuses of having a rental car. The minuses of a rental car are finding the parking, the expense, being lost, the tedium of driving. The pluses come from not doing what we did today. Since we’re tied to shuttle service, here is what we did. Up at 5:30, so that we could make sure our bags were ready for pick-up by 6:30. Wait for the shuttle to the airport at 7:30. Nothing is open for breakfast as that hour, so wait. Shuttle to the airport. Wait for the canteen at the airport to open. Wait for the 9:00 plane. Fly to Cairns. Arrive at 10:30. We have to wait for a shuttle to our destination that leaves from the airport at 2:00. The beauty of a rental car is that you can get up and leave when you wish, and you have someplace to store your luggage. Of course, we couldn’t have gotten from Hamilton Island to here.
We went into Cairns to try to find an internet connection and see the town. It’s a scruffy, instant tourist town. Every establishment seems to be dedicated to people on holiday. We found an internet cafe, but it didn’t have a wireless connection, just two cables for people with laptops. We decided to wait for the two guys on the cables we needed. We sat down with our Coke and long black (I finally figured out what that was) and waited. One guy was assiduously doing something. The other, some young hipster, was looking around, talking to people on his cell phone and watching us wait. Eventually, hipster’s girlfriend showed up. He dispatched her to look at us and she reported back. At that point Jenny and I decided that we should find some other place, or be prepared to wait a while. Cairns is filled with backpackers and affluent tourists and people who have very different ideas than I about personal hygiene. It is an odd combination. There are some interesting older buildings, which seem to be often elevated off the ground by a couple of feet. They often have louvered shades and deep porches, quite tropical looking. There are also a swarm of brand new buildings, condos, hotels, stores...many many trinket, aboriginal art, and opal shops. Each time we walked into an internet spot, there was no accommodation for laptops. Grr. One nice guy gave us directions which we didn’t follow correctly and we ended up at Cairns Central, the giant mall in the center of town, anchored by Target. The customer information person said that there was a coffee shop that had an internet hot spot, so I was put in my place by Jenny who had suggested we go in the mall while I had said that a mall was a poor idea.

So I bought a sandwich and a long black and proceeded into jerk mode because I couldn’t figure out how to get onto the coffee shop’s wireless network. The userid and password would connect me and I just couldn’t figure it out. Finally, around 1:00 we connected and uploaded our posting and received some email. Since it took awhile for our email to arrive, I initially thought none had been sent, and I was a little disappointed. Then...pop! 3 messages (plus some spam from Astral Plane, which was nostalgic) and I was surprised how excited I was.
We took a cab back to the airport and boarded our shuttle for our 2 1/2 hour ride up to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree rain forest. It took a while to get out of Cairns, dropping off and picking up folks for the ride, another point for the rental car. We had a delightful conversation with a couple from Melbourne as we drove around (point for the shuttle). They couldn’t believe the length of Jenny’s summer break. The summer (or should I say winter) break here is about six weeks, starting just before Christmas. They seem to have two other breaks of about two weeks each, one at Easter and one other.

We dozed off during the ride up to Daintree. There isn’t much to see on the road except sugar cane fields and green hills. We woke up when we crossed the Daintree river by ferry into the national park. The forest closed in, and suddenly we needed headlamps to see, it was so dark.

After a half hour we got to our hotel at Cape Tribulation. The town is five buildings, not counting the camping spots and hotels. Our little room is on two levels, a loft and the main room. Very nice. Empty minibar though, so I suggested we walk into town to buy Coke and beer. The town is one pub with attached camping lots and a motel, and a building with a pharmacy and a grocery store in it. The pharmacist greeted us as we walked in and inquired where we’re from. Turns out, his brother lives in Yardley. So, on the shuttle we pick up people from Philadelphia, at Hamilton Island we meet people from PA, and this guy’s brother is in Yardley. Cosmic convergence in Queensland. The pharmacist couldn’t sell us a newspaper or beer, so we went next door the hostile IGA for a paper and potato chips. A very frigid reception. Yikes. Don’t buy food in Cape Trib. Still no beer. We need to walk 1/2 a kilometer to the bottle shop for that. As we walk, we discover why it’s called a rain forest. It rains. We had left our rain gear in the room because it wasn’t raining when we left. We get to the bottle shop, soaked and we make our new best friends. Do I want some wine? Here’s a list of what’s in stock. What about ponchos? We have some in the back you can buy. Sure, we can break a 50. Jokes, questions, pleasantries. Quite fun. Back to the hotel, making quite the fashion statement being armored in our new ponchos.

I read the newspaper and drink my hard earned beer on our porch while Jenny giggles at David Sedaris. Funny stuff. We decide to eat at the resort’s restaurant because of the rain. I have barramundi, a fish and Jen has pasta carbonara.

Tomorrow we are on our expedition to the Noah Valley and the Daintree. Adventure awaits!

posted by Jim @ 2:16 AM