Day 4 - Sunday 3rd July
There had been steady rain overnight and there was still light rain. The standard trip would have headed north along the coast on the Bloomfield track. Apparently this is a very windy road that would be difficult to navigate at the best of times especially for our bus. It also goes through several creeks.
APT head office had decided this route would be too dangerous because of all the recent rain and so instead we headed back south along the road we had come on until we got to Mossman. From there we would take a longer but safer route inland.
Along the way, we needed to cross the Daintree River on the car ferry we'd seen yesterday. Once again, we passed by sugar cane plantations. The low clouds on the mountains on our right were attractive photo opportunities.
Like yesterday, there were also warning signs along the road to watch out for cassowaries and tree kangaroos. We had a short stop at a park in Mossman next to some very tall trees and across the road from an old church.
From there, we headed north along a long steep windy road through the clouds to the top of the mountain.
The next stop was at the Rifle Creek camping area for morning tea. Nicola and Mandy set up tables next to the bus and then pulled the morning tea out of the storage area on the side of the bus: tea, coffee, biscuits and a tasty sponge. Luckily it was no longer raining.
Later, lunch was at a rest area at Lakeland. Once again, they pulled the table and food from containers in the side of the bus.
While people were standing around chatting, a very colourful butterfly flew around the people and landed briefly on Judith's shirt. Luckily someone managed to get a photo. The bus set off again at 1:30 bound for Cooktown.
Along the way we stopped for a break at the Lions Den Hotel. This was a great location with a lot of character. People were enjoying a drink on the veranda and in the various rooms inside the pub. Outside in the camping area, there were large trees and, in the nearby paddock, we saw grazing cattle including a bull with impressive curly horns.
When we reached Cooktown, the bus took us on a tour of the main street of the town before stopping outside the Cook Museum. Captain Cook had stopped here for more than a month as his crew repaired the Endeavour which had run into a coral reef and almost sank. One of the star attractions is the anchor from the ship.
We spent about 30 minutes in the museum before going for a walk along the main street and got photos of the statue of Captain Cook. Along the way, we stopped at a souvenir shop, admired the park and the river, took photos of the historic buildings and chatted to our fellow travellers. There was also a bowls green with an all-weather canopy roof.
Our walk took us back to our hotel, the Sovereign Resort Hotel. Thankfully this was a big improvement on our accommodation last night in the Daintree rain forest.
At about 5:15, we boarded a small bus which took us to the top of the nearby Grassy Hill. At the top of the hill, there is a decommissioned lighthouse. This spot has a panoramic 360 degree view of the coastline, town and hinterland. A great photo opportunity.
Next we drove a short distance down the hill to another car park which gave us a great view of the sunset. Pete, our driver guide, gave us a history of the area as we went along and as we waited for the sunset.
He was very chatty. I suspect he would have still been talking at midnight if we had let him. It was a very informative trip.
Dinner in the hotel restaurant was scheduled for 7pm.
Suzy wanted to start with a brandy and dry. When I went to order it at the bar, the barman didn't have a clue what I was talking about. I repeated my request multiple times and just got blank looks. It turned out that he had never heard of brandy and didn't know what I meant by "dry". He asked some of the other staff until he found someone who knew what brandy was. They found a bottle and they also found a bottle of dry ginger ale.
Mission accomplished I thought until I asked for a glass of red wine and got a puzzled look. But I needn't have worried because he did know what red wine is but needed more information about which variety I wanted. After all that I needed a drink.
Although the service was very slow, it at least gave us time to chat to people in our group. However, when Suzy's fish main course arrived, it was tough. She couldn't even cut it. When we complained, the chef came out and she eventually got a generous serving of lamb instead.
Back our room, the wifi was very slow but at least slow is better than none that we had last night.
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