June 10, 2011- Day 44
Where: Cape Tribulation to Port Douglas
Dinner: Massive lunch overlooking the water, chicken noodles for dinner
Woke up to pouring rain. Fitting as we are in the rainforest, but not ideal for exploring. We went into the hostel, which is actually outdoors but under big tents. It was still fairly warm but obviously very wet. We had some breakfast then hung around and read and typed for a while. We overhead some American guys talking and I found that I'm no longer that interested in talking to Americans. At first I liked it because it was fun to compare where we're from and whatever else, but now I kindof want to keep my distance because it just reminds me that all of this traveling will come to an end. Of course there will be some great parts of going back to the States like seeing my family and friends, but it's always a bit of a letdown to end your travels. The first week or so of being back is nice, but then I find that I miss the adventure of walking up every morning knowing that I today will see something brand new today. Traveling for long periods wears me out though too, so I guess it's just a balance. Anyways, hearing the guys today just reminded me to enjoy all the time I have left here. I suppose I just relate better to people who have been in Australia traveling and working for a while than those who are just here for a couple of weeks.
Once the rain let up a bit we left the hostel and drove up north about 30 minutes to Cape Tribulation. It's not much of a town, but it's as far north as the paved road goes and there is a lookout there. You could see out to the mountains and also down along the beach. Today there were clouds covering the tops of the mountains and everything looked misty, which I thought was really cool. We did get pretty wet walking up to it but from there all we had to do was drive for another 45 minutes back down to the barge at the river. I'm so happy that we decided to visit this area at the last minute. The rainforest is such in incredibly place and I really enjoyed learning more about the plants and animals that live in it.
This afternoon we arrived at Port Douglas which is about 45 minutes north of Cairns. It's a lovely little vacation town and a particularly popular destination for Australians on holidays. The town mainly just has a lot of cute little shops and cafes. It would be a wonderful place to come and indulge if you had a lot of money. It's not quite as fun if you're trying not to spend money, but it's still pretty. We had lunch at the sailing club and sat out on the deck overlooking the water and mountains. It was a gorgeous view, and the food was too bad either. Pat had the largest burger I've ever seen. He wasn't hungry again for the rest of the day. We walked around town and quickly visited their “Four Mile Beach.” It was overcast though, so not a good beach time. We drove up to a lookout over the beach and ended up hanging out in the van there for a while talking to Pat's mom.
Because Port Douglas is a touristy area it's harder to find somewhere to park for the night. We ended up driving south about 20 minutes before stopping at a beach parking lot. I hate driving around at night trying to find somewhere that looks good to sleep. Maybe it was just that I also wanted to be staying in one of the fancy hotels instead. Oh well, we found somewhere and it was fine. I think Pat and I are both getting a bit worn out with the road trip, especially since we have three more days and we're basically out of things to do up here. We were supposed to check into the hostel on Monday, but they emails us today saying they made an error and we can't check in until Tuesday. Lame. That won't give us much time to clean out the van before returning it, but it will work out. It will be relieving to move our stuff into a temporary home and be able to settle down for a while.
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