And into the forest I go - Palm Cove, Daintree Rainforest, Cape Tribulation, Port Douglas / 01.11.2018

Today we had to get up early and after cutting some fruit into yoghurt because our new hostel - Reef Backpackers - doesn't include breakfast, we stood in front of the meeting point of our Rainforest Tour at 7 o'clock in the morning - Gilligan's, the most crazy party hostel and club in Cairns. We will also go there tomorrow evening to celebrate with our girls group before we leave Cairns on Saturday.

Our tour guide was a funny-sarcastic Australian who was around 28, maybe 30, and originally from Perth, which is why he also told us that if we ever have the opportunity, we should definitely explore the West Coast of Australia. There were 7 other girls on the 13-seater bus and everyone was relaxed, three of them were also German and with one of them - Meike - we made plans to meet later in the day in Mission Beach or on Magnetic Island - our next stop after Saturday.

First we headed north after hearing some interesting facts about Australian history, to Palm Cove Beach, which by the way was the first beach we've been to in Australia so far, because there is no real beach in Cairns, first because of the ebb and flow and second because of the crocodiles. That's why you're not allowed to swim at almost any beach in the north and northeast.

From the big jetty we even briefly spotted the dorsal fins of dolphins passing by.

The next stop of our trip was the Mossman Gorge, where there was a river with clear green shimmering water flowing through a stone bed, which reminded me a bit of Corsica, if it hadn't been for the dense rainforest in front and behind us. You could also swim here if you wanted, because there were no crocodiles and jellyfish here. You just had to be careful with the sometimes quite large rocks.

Afterwards we went to the Daintree River, which flows through the Daintree Rainforest and where you could take boat trips. Shortly before the boat trip, a little gecko landed on my arm and then hid in my T-shirt for the whole hour-long trip, until I noticed in the bus again that I had a stowaway. The boat tour in general was one of the highlights of the day for me, because I always wanted to see crocodiles in the wild.

We saw a total of 5 saltwater crocodiles, including a small baby crocodile about a year old, hiding under the many roots on the riverbank. It was quite impressive to experience the animals so up close and not just at the zoo. In addition, our tour guide ordered our lunch while we were on the river at a restaurant right in the rainforest where there were two beautiful free parrots and we were allowed to feed wallabies afterwards, which are mega cute little kangaroos.

We even got our lunch for free because of spontaneity - by now we are professionals in hitchhiking because of saving money and such.

Then we continued to Cape Tribulation, the place where the Great Barrier Reef meets the Daintree Rainforest and where Captain Cook, when he discovered Australia, got a hole in his ship because he didn't know that the reef existed yet. So he had to go ashore to repair his ship and only survived because he unknowingly docked in sacred land, and the Aboriginal people were not allowed to attack him - they helped him to fix his boat. It's also called Cape Tribulation because that's where Cook's 'tribulations' began, as he described in his records.
We also found a few coconuts there, which we opened and divided among ourselves.

We then went to a beautiful viewpoint overlooking the sea and the forest in Port Douglas, where the very rich people live, which has been going on since the gold rush back then. Some hotels even have their own private beach here.
The way back to Cairns was not that long anymore - I was just a bit sad that we didn't stop at a small car park right by the road and by the sea, as there were hundreds of little stone men built on a few rocks, which reminded me on the one hand of Hape Kerkeling's journey along the Camino de Santiago, because he also tells of a valley where every pilgrim builds his own stone man, and on the other hand there are so many of them on all the hiking trails in Corsica and both are so connected to my family. Besides, I'm just a big fan of such motifs.

We arrived back in Cairns around 7 pm and went to Woolworth's to buy potatoes for our skilful dinner. After that, in the twilight, I sat on a bench next to some palm trees and called my mom because it's her birthday today.


Song of the day: Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus, because our tour guide said right at the beginning that he has a weak spot for Miley Cyrus and accordingly we listened to some pretty cool music all the time.