We pick up a hire car at 10am and after a brief foray at Rusty’s for Sue to buy fruit, we set off north from Cairns.
It takes a few hours scenic drive along a sweeping coast road before we arrive at the Daintree River ferry. On the far side is Daintree National Park. Now we are into Tropical Rainforest and it becomes hotter and more humid as the road winds through the hills.
Signs warn “Beware of Cassowaries”. We reach the end of metalled road and carry on for a short distance to arrive at Cape Tribulation Beach House where we will stay. Our room is in one of many cabins set in the forest. There are two other rooms in the cabin and we share the kitchen and bathroom.
It is a short stroll to the idyllic looking beach, but once again it would be foolish to do much more than stick a toe in the water. Signs warn of stingers (box jellyfish) and crocodiles.
We eat at the restaurant and I eat kangaroo – again – but this is the best yet. Two weeks in Australia now and we still haven’t actually seen a live kangaroo - though I must have eaten most of one.
Back at the cabin Sue breaks out the dessert, black sapote or chocolate pudding fruit which we bought at Rusty’s earlier. About the size and shape of a cooking apple, it is very soft and when opened contains black flesh the colour and texture of chocolate mousse. It tastes like a very mild version of chocolate mousse, one where someone has been a bit mean with the cocoa powder.
We sleep (fitfully, it is so hot and humid) with the strange sounds of the rainforest all around us. Dawn breaks with a cacophony of screeches, squawks and screams. Unknown creatures rustle the undergrowth outside our window.
