Cape Trib (May 9-10)

This is a continuation from the entry titled Roadtrip to Cape Trib (Monday, May 8), which tells the tale of our trip to Queensland at the beginning of May.


O U R   B E A C H    H O U S E

Our beach house bungalow (it was a duplex; we had the left side):




Chillin' out on the porch:






The local bar/restaurant where we stayed, all outdoors and protected by rain (and falling spiders) by a big circus-like canopy:










B E A C H   H I K E   O N   T H E   C A P E

The Daintree Rainforest stretches right up to the sandy beaches of the Coral Sea at Cape Tribulation — meaning that there was plenty to explore along the beach of Cape Trib. So much, that we dedicated a whole day to just wandeing about. Don't let the gray skies fool ya — it was plenty hot. Perfect to take a dip in the ocean, right? Nope — surely you haven't forgotten about those deadly box jellyfish I mentioned in an earlier post already, have you?



Oh, take a dip in the fresh water creeks nearby, you say? Oh, did I not mention the crocodiles?


(sign warning about crocs in stream: "Attacks may cause injury or death")


You can see our dilemma.




The Flora

A successful crossing of a deep stream — Crash: 1, Crocodiles: 0
























The Fauna


Dragonfly...




Butterfly...








I tried so hard to photograph the large blue and large green butterflies we saw all over...



...but this was the best shot I ended up getting:




I pestered this poor crab FOREVER to get this shot. Then it ran away.






Stealth lizard.




Spiders. BIG BIG BIG spiders. As big as my hand, and EVERYWHERE. { * shudder * }


















Creatures from the deep blue sea:









N I G H T W A L K

We went on a creepy-crawly guided nightwalking tour in the rainforest one night, where flashlights were minimally used and the darkness seemed to creep in around us and tangle about our legs the minute we turned them off. My photos don't do it justice; we saw all sorts of things, including a decaying tree that glowed in the dark (it really did!)

A yellow snake in a green banana tree!




Scorpion!




Lizard!




Butterfly!




Frogs!




Americans!




And the peaceful, peaceful moonlit beach back at our place on Cape Trib.




It was a great couple of days in the rainforesty-beach cape, definitely worth the trip from Cairns. Life in northern Queensland is not all about the Barrier Reef, I found out. (Which, by the way, is what's coming up next on this trip!)