Australia East, Part I (photos)

1 April - 16 April

Australia's East Coast


Cape Tribulation

This is a beautiful section of Australia. Cape Tribulation is a World Heritage Site, and it is the only place in the world where the rainforest meets the ocean. We camped right off the beach, and we went for a walk before it poured outside. We crossed the estuary during low tide so we could actually see crocodiles. Thankfully, no sighting. We continued to the rocks when the rain came down.

While leaving the campsite, we saw a hercules moth, the largest moth species in the world. It's lifespan is only for a day. Wild, huh? We then went on a tour of the rainforest. Fascinating overall. We also saw our first forest dragon. Here is another picture of him. Overall though, I liked the strangler trees. These trees use another tree as their host. Slowly, over a period of a couple hundred years, they suck the life out of the other tree. No picture though.


Driving South From Cape Tribulation
Mossman Gorge
Port Douglas
Hitchinbrook Island


Mission Beach

We spent the day driving down the coast from Cape Tribulation in the rain. Our guide book described Mission Beach as the perfect place to rest and relax. We were ready ... We were ready to get out of the rain. We splurged on this great beachfront hotel. The ocean view was fabulous, and the palm trees swayed in the wind and rain. We were out of the rain, warm and dry, enjoying cable. We stayed for three days. It was a little slice of heaven.


Finch Hatton Gorge

Our next step was to see the Whitsunday Islands. We made our plans and then took a side trip to Eungulla National Park for the platypus and Finch Hatton Gorge for the swimming holes. It was a lovely drive out there through the valley and the sugar cane fields . We passed through the small town of Finch Hatton towards Eungulla.

So, there was this huge mountain, and we decided that we could make it to the top. I was driving, of course, and the car started to overheat. I pulled over as soon as it was registering way too hot. We opened the hood, and steam was pouring out. We looked closer, and one of our radiator hoses sprung a leak. Worse yet, we were not close enough to town.

Thanks to Jim's quick thinking, we turned the car around, went back downhill and hoped to arrive in Finch Hatton without ruining the engine. We made it with no coolant left. We then waited in front of the mechanic shop on a Saturday. We had a long day waiting for Dave (the local mechanic) who ended up going camping for the weekend with his family. Thankfully though, Dave's dad was a mechanic too. He agreed to fix Betty the next morning. Yay!

We had a wild night hanging out with the locals in the pub. We ate some burgers and fries with gravy. We also played lots of pool and listened to some classic Australian tunes, like Silver Chair, Jet, AC/DC (which we just learned is from Australia, not England).

Early in the morning, Joe, our retired mechanic, started working on Betty. His eyes were not so good, but Jim helped him here and there. He fixed it though. $40 and Betty was as good as new.

After the car was running again, we decided against climbing the mountain to see the spectacular views from Eungulla National Park. Why risk it again? Instead, we crossed four flooded creeks to see Finch Hatton Gorge. We did finally swim in the refreshing, but freezing cold, water there.