We’d heard from the mechanic that Deli-chan was ready for pickup last night, but instead of being good parents and fetching her straight away, we left her with the mechanic for an extra evening. She didn’t seem to be sulking when we finally picked her up, so I guess we were lucky. I couldn’t wait to find a piece of open road to test if the repairs were successful – I can safely say that they were indeed! We have power again! We can accelerate, and we can drive up hills! It mightn’t sound like much, but it’s life changing.
It was about 12pm by the time we finished packing (and making a few running repairs to Deli-chan), so we didn’t travel all that far today. Back up to Mossman, caught the ferry across the Daintree River ($13 one way, $23 return) and had a quick introduction to the Daintree Rainforest.
The first thing I noticed is even with all the bed and breakfasts, and other hostels/hotels, this area is spectacularly pristine. Looking out to the Daintree River mouth from a lookout you can really imagine it hasn’t changed a whole lot since Captain Cook first saw this area – beautiful rainforest, rugged hills and long sandy beaches. Even the drive along the road was amazing – so lush and green.
There are signs everywhere for the elusive Cassowary, but apart from the one we saw with Chelle on our way to Wallaman Falls, we haven’t seen any…
We are spending the night in a national park ($5.45 each), and apart from the inconvenience of having to book prior to arrival (phone/internet), we’re pretty happy with our site here at Noah Beach. Each campsite is enveloped by lush rainforest, and 20m behind our site is the Pacific Ocean crashing on the shore. It’s been a while since I’ve gone to sleep to the sound of crashing waves.
We went down by the shore to eat our dinner (pasta with tomato, capsicum, bacon and eggplant) and I realised that it is the first time that we have been camping at the beach. I’m sure there will be plenty more to come by the time we get to Western Australia.
We sat, ate and watched the sky turn shades of pastel. Feels like we’re on holiday!
It was a warm, moonless night, and because Timmy has nagged me, I took a quick photo of the Milky Way from the beach. It’s a shame that it’s so hazy (I guess sea mist?) and the clouds are rolling in, but still, you get the point. You couldn’t clearly see the Milky Way with naked eyes, either. I still have to get the hang of these photos. This time it was ISO 3200 f2.8 30s. Also tried ISO 1600 f2.8 and 45s, but I think there is too much movement…
１８日目 ５月３１日（金） 別れと旅の再開！
朝、奇跡的な再会を繰り返したサイモン、マイケル君と来年のオクトーバーフェストでの再会を誓い、旅を再開！！
今日は、先日ヒュンダイでドライブしたポートダグラスとモスマン渓谷を通り過ぎ、Daintree 国立公園で。 ここへ行くには、１００m程の川を渡らなければならないので、今回の旅で最初のカーフェリー（車の渡し船）に乗りました。
川の向こう側は、熱帯雨林が広がっていて、ジュラシックパークで登場人物が島に向かうシーンみたいでした。 ここは国立公園で厳しいので、今晩は、途中で電話で予約したキャンプサイトに泊まっています。 一人＄５ トイレがあるのみ。（トイレに電気もない！）
今日はパスタを作り、すぐ裏のビーチで夕日をみながら頂きました。 なんて贅沢♥
明日は、公園内を散策し、Cook Town(クック船長が、オーストラリアに上陸した所) を目指します！
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