Off to the north

On Tuesday afternoon we went on our first little road trip - our destination Port Douglas - a small town north of Cairns. On the way, we stopped at Trinity Beach and Palm Cove.

At Trinity Beach, we took a little walk along the beach and climbed over the rocks at the end of the beach.

A few kilometers further, we made a second stop at Palm Cove beach.

Here we finally went into the water. In an area delimited by a net, you can swim without fear of jellyfish and crocodiles. Otherwise, the sea in this area at this time of year unfortunately should be avoided. :(

To dry off, we walked along the beach to a lookout pier from where we had a view of the beach and some islands.

We then continued our journey to Port Douglas. After a quick shopping at Coles - an Australian supermarket chain - we went in search of a place to sleep. We didn't dare wild camping yet, so we went to a small campground adjacent to a hostel - Dougies Backpackers Resort. The fun cost us $30 - for that, we got sanitary facilities and a kitchen, not even Wifi and breakfast. Before going to bed, we had to go hunting for mosquitoes - the whole interior of our car was buzzing when we got in. We caught at least 10 mosquitoes, but some of them managed to escape, and some small black creatures also kept us awake all night by biting us. It was the first night when not only Kenny suffered from mosquito bites, but Krissi was also occasionally bitten.

On Wednesday morning, we probably met the gardener of the hostel. He was cutting down the palm trees and offered us a coconut directly. He had already opened it for us. Even Kenny liked it, although he wasn't really a coconut fan before. But the juice of this fresh coconut is totally different from the taste of coconut milk in Germany.

For the day, we planned to visit Port Douglas.

We strolled along the little weekly market, along the beach (again at low tide, still beautiful), and hiked to an observation point at the highest point of the town, the Flagstaff Hill Lookout.

We enjoyed a great panoramic view of the city beach - the Milebeach - and the surrounding sea, including a huge cruise ship. Then we went to the tourist promenade for lunch and to the beach for a swim. The climb had made us sweat a lot.

Afterwards, we had to look for a place to sleep again. We headed to Cooya Beach and the surrounding fields to camp wild, even tried out different parking spots, but we were hesitant because it seemed too remote and there were many 'no camping' signs. Then we discovered a campground in the Wiki Camps app for $12, which had great reviews. On the way there, we had to pass an extreme winding road uphill. At a viewpoint, we noticed a little smoke coming out of our engine compartment - not good. :( We let the engine cool down and decided to visit a workshop the next day. At the viewpoint, we met two German backpackers for a short chat and exchange of information about camping spots. Nevertheless, we continued on our way to our chosen campground. We passed by another campground, which was too expensive for us. In the darkness, we drove through the Australian bush, even though it is not recommended, but somehow we had to get to our sleeping place.

The drive was definitely worth it though. We were warmly welcomed by Fred at Feathers & Friends on his electric scooter. He and his wife own a huge piece of land where they have a campground and a bird-watching point. Besides two older couples who slept somewhere else on the property, we were probably the only campers. Our car was the only car on our huge field. Despite the darkness, Fred calmly showed us the sanitary facilities and had time for a chat. He warned us about the numerous mosquitoes (apparently it is the most mosquito-rich time in years) and told us that there are many wallabies (a small kangaroo species) and other wild animals on the property. He even showed us a special parking spot for our car that would be in the shade the next morning so that we wouldn't melt in our car from the heat. For dinner, we ate inside the car, and due to the darkness surrounding us, we went to bed early. However, the night was not really restful. The cold, the loneliness, and the unfamiliar noises around our car disturbed our sleep. I guess we've watched too many horror movies. It got better when we realized that there was not a person sneaking around our car in flip-flops, but wallabies hopping around. We also spotted a small black dot, which we suspect was a wombat, but we are not really sure about that. However, the morning was truly breathtaking. All alone on a large field, surrounded by nature. Next to the 'bathroom', there was a wallaby that was not bothered by us at all, and the roaming chickens also didn't mind us. During breakfast on the huge field in the sun, we spotted another quite large wallaby at the edge of the forest, which probably had a good view of the field and us. Then we briefly explored the surroundings and made our way to the town of Mossman - a bit further south - to the workshop. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures of this really great and beautiful campground. There are only a few pictures of one of the wallabies.

The workshop in Mossman was quickly found, and the mechanic knew after a quick look that the cylinder head gasket was leaking, loose screws caused oil to leak and drip onto the exhaust, which caused the smoke. We could leave our car there and pick it up 3 hours later. In the meantime, we wanted to go to the city center of Mossman. It was about a 3km walk. Kenny came up with the idea that we could hitchhike because a Dutch couple had recently told us that it works really well here in Australia. After a few passing cars and an apologetic gesture indicating that a driver unfortunately didn't have enough seats in the car, a van stopped next to us. A free spirit took us the last kilometers to the city center. In a cute café, we had coffee, burgers, hot dogs, and fries for lunch. Since there was still some time before we could pick up our car, we went in search of the campground in Mossman. Even after asking the butcher next door, we couldn't find it. We picked up our car, the engine compartment was clean again, but we were $150 poorer. Kenny is still annoyed that he could have figured out the problem himself, or at least fixed it himself after the mechanic named the problem.

There was no more time for an excursion, so we headed to the chosen campground on Newell Beach. When we arrived, the hosts were not there, but a super cute couple who were permanently camping there told us to just park our car, showed us the sanitary facilities and the pool. We then went to the beach first, although we really longed for the pool after the walk through the town. But it seemed a bit cheeky to dive into the pool before even checking in. At the beach, we met three women who were walking their dogs - again, one of them was German (they are everywhere :D) and has been living in Australia for years. On our inquiry about bathing places, they warned us about crocodiles - apparently, a crocodile had been seen on this beach a few days earlier. So we settled for a nice walk. Back at the campground, we checked in and jumped straight into the pool. During the shower afterwards, Krissi got a big shock - the blonde ends of her hair suddenly turned blue-green. The hope that the lighting and the blue tiles of the bathroom were to blame finally died when Kenny confirmed the mishap in daylight. Luckily, as backpackers, we don't see ourselves in the mirror often.

In the evening, our host even gave us honeycomb to eat. We chewed on the wax and sucked out all the honey, then spit the empty wax into the bushes. :D We took a short walk to the beach in the dark, and the starry sky was breathtaking. However, the cold and the bubbling in the water in front of us, along with the crocodile warning from the afternoon, quickly drove us back to the campground. The next morning, we drove a bit along the beach until suddenly we were on an off-road track, and Kenny finally got to test the off-road capability and the four-wheel drive function until we suddenly found ourselves right by the water and the road came to an end. We had landed at the estuary. It was an idyllic place, but for us, it was time to continue to Mossman Gorge, a national park with bathing spots.

Following Fred's recommendation, we parked the car in the public visitor parking lot and walked the 2 km along the road into the rainforest instead of paying $9 per person for a bus shuttle.

We were immediately greeted by a great bathing spot in the middle of the river. Luckily, there weren't too many people around, so we could enjoy the really cold water and the refreshment - climbing on rocks, jumping into the water, and drifting with the current.

Afterwards, we explored the 2 km long path through the rainforest.

Kenny then wanted to take a non-public path, but it turned out to be a dead end. Only on the way back did we discover a small snake that we probably passed on the way there but didn't notice. Fortunately, the distance was large enough that neither side felt threatened, but we still had a good view. Afterwards, we identified it as a non-venomous tree snake.

On the way back, we jumped into the river again. At the visitor center at the bottom, we discovered two huge spiderwebs and spiders. At first, we thought that they were not real, surely the staff in the center would have removed them, but when one of the spiders moved, we were proven wrong. After not seeing any animals in the past few days, and the subject had become somewhat less threatening, these encounters woke us up again.

Next up - the first night of wild camping at Cooya Beach - a romantic dinner at the BBQ spot, endless deliberation about where to park the car so that it is not too easy to spot, although it is always visible from the road, and a brief consideration of going down to the beach and then withdrawing again, we are such scaredy-cats. :D

It was a very restless night, with fear of the ranger passing by and telling us that we are not allowed to sleep there and we have to pay a huge fine, as well as the usual but unfamiliar noises around the car - rustling and loudly screeching birds. Above all, getting up early, the alarm went off at around 6:30 am so that we could leave again at sunrise, robbed us of our sleep. But everything went well, all the Aussies who passed by greeted us kindly, and we were not woken up by a ranger in the middle of the night.

On Saturday, we made our way back to Cairns. On the way, we stopped at Oak Beach. We sneaked through the adjacent resort in search of the beach. First, we ended up on the wrong side of the sea.

We climbed over many, many cliffs until we reached the idyllic beach and startled numerous lizards and crabs.

At 10 am, there was still no one at the hotel beach, so we grabbed two beach chairs, enjoyed the peace and quiet, the view of the sea, and dozed off a bit.

On the way back, we went through the deserted resort, we only saw employees on the way to our car. Next stop: Palm Cove beach. We went swimming, lounged around, and listened to the audio drama 'The Kangaroo Revelation'. (Thanks again to Felix at this point :D) After a few hours, we mustered up the energy to go to a dive shop in Cairns to book our diving courses. This went smoothly, and now we are $665 poorer. In return, we get 4 days of courses, 2 days of theory and training in the pool, and 2 days on the Great Barrier Reef. Afterwards, we will have our diving license and will theoretically be allowed to dive alone. ;) In the evening, we parked our car in a side street and went to bed early. On Sunday, we had to get up early because of wild camping and the diving course.

Let's see how big our class is, if we can understand anything in the English-speaking course, and if diving is something for us or if we have wasted a lot of money. Booking a trial course was not an option. :D