Following in the footsteps of the great Captain Cook, GEMMA PRICE experienced her own voyage of discovery on the north coast’s tropical paradise… Cape Tribulation.
Captain Cook was such a big girl’s blouse. He runs aground in one of the most beautiful spots in http://www.tntdownunder.com/article/2437918549.html[Australia] and instead of kicking back on the beach for a bit, like any self-respecting traveller, he gets his knickers in a twist.
Just picture it: cloud-crowned mountains carpeted in a lush tropical forest that rolls down to meet fine white sands and vibrant coral reefs… Doesn’t sound like a bad spot to spend a few months does it? But what does he say in his ship’s log? “I named… the north point http://www.tntdownunder.com/chapter/2441552937.html[Cape Tribulation] because here began all our troubles.” Sounds like Jimmy threw his toys out of the pram to me.
So, to fully appreciate the Cape, I set off on my own journey of rediscovery, and in case my body is never found (obviously, someone didn’t check the beach thoroughly enough) I have recorded my journey in this Chick’s Log.
Chick’s Log: Day One
The journey up the Cape was long but by no means arduous – who needs a creaky rat-ridden lump of wood when you can get the bus? And with no jiggers to man or whatever, I was free to soak up the jaw-dropping scenery – azure skies touching aquamarine ocean on one side, and http://www.travelsearch.bugbitten.com/search_tours/TNT_Down_Under/trip_search/?search=cape+tribulation[lush tropical greenery] on the other. Once I’d run aground on the beach (parking the bus and going on foot, unlike somebody who wasn’t much cop at steering) and found my digs hidden deep in the jungle, my own voyage of exploration began.
Vines festoon the maze of trunks here like the silly string aftermath of some monster party, and after spending a few moments entertaining wild fantasies of swinging Tarzan-like through the trees, but inevitably ending up on my arse, I gave it up as a bad job. Besides, http://www.travelsearch.bugbitten.com/search_tours/TNT_Down_Under/trip_search/?search=jungle+surfing[jungle surfing] sounded like much more fun.
Faster than you could say “Holy shit, Batman!” I was swinging superhero-style 60 metres above the forest floor, and despite it being brown trousers time, the view was pretty special.
When I eventually managed to unglue my eyes and glance around, I had a bird’s eye view of the Cape that beat any crow’s nest. Steam rose off the forested slopes of Mount Sorrow in the distance (hereby renamed Mount Fun, as old Cookie clearly wasn’t in the mood to be naming things). Trees stretched to the horizon in every direction, a sight unchanged for centuries.
I enjoyed my adventure in the canopy, but the highlight of today was (weirdly) sampling some bush tucker and effectively giving an ant a rim job to taste its acrid citrussy goodness.
Mmm, sharp.
http://www.bugbitten.com/Cape_Tribulation-Travel-Recommendations-8029/[Read Cape Tribulation Travel Reviews]
