Today was essentially a rest day for us all, after the big day out yesterday. We slept or stayed in the apartment at the resort for the entire morning, venturing out for a swim in the resort pool after lunch, at around 2pm.
Unfortunately for us, we happened to have the best weather thus far, beautiful blue skies and stellar weather. Not to miss an opportunity, we decided to jump into the Passat and drive north. We will ultimately retrace this route tomorrow on our way to Cape Tribulation, today we just headed north to the Daintree river and the Daintree village.
Our trip took us to Cooya beach, which is an unassuming beach littered with driftwood, nothing particularly remarkable was present. We re-joined the highway and whipped past Mossman and north towards Wonga.
It was a pleasant drive, taking in the copious cane fields framed beautifully by the foothills of the Daintree rainforest looming in the background. This land is very lush and green, quite a contrast compared against much of the New South Wales countryside, particularly surrounding Canberra.
View of the outside / Sugar cane at Cooya Beach
Cooya Beach / Driving North to Wonga
As we passed Rocky Point, we started to hone in on the turnoff we’ll need to make tomorrow. As we dug deeper to the north, the lush vegetation seemed to get closer and closer to the curb, until we were virtually surrounded by it. As we neared our destination, we started to become more aware of the alternative farming – cattle in particular – surround the green pastures either side of the Daintree river.
Approaching Daintree Village / Boat ramp at Daintree
Returning south / Church at Mossman
At the boat ramp at the Daintree Village there were plenty of signs warning of crocodiles, although in my short time on the riverbank, I didn’t see any. It was now 4pm and Jake was starting to get a bit tired. We beat a retreat back towards Port Douglas stopping twice along the way.
Rocky Point
The first stop was Rocky Point, which juts out from the coast north of Mossman. From here I snapped off a succession of photos to form a nice panoramic looking north to Cape Tribulation and the mountains beyond. Our second stop was brief, just south of Mossman where I’d spotted an unattended sugar cane train with the town’s name proudly emblazoned on the side.
“Mossman” Sugar Cane Train
We returned to the Ramada at just after 5pm, Jake is down for a sleep and dinner preparations have begun. Tomorrow we have another very full day, including around 3 hours of driving.