Cover ALL your arms AND limbs
Trip Start
Nov 07, 2005
1
19
75
Trip End
Nov 04, 2006
Cape Tribulation,
Australia
Thursday, February 2, 2006
We were picked up late by our tour Spanish tour guide, Xavier, who then (to coin an Aussie phase) raced around like a headless chook. Simon didn't understand a word he said in his heavy accent, while I found him saying the phrases "yummy brekkie" and "dodgy" a bit alien sounding.
Our first stop was at a cafe which also doubles as a wildlife sanctuary. I use the word sanctuary in the loosest possible term as it was, in fact, a total hole.
Xavier insisted on disturbing the nocturnal sugar gliders, who were cramped up in a hollow tree trunk, and had probably never been able to glide anyway as their enclosure wasn't much bigger than me
A flower. That's all.
. There were also 2 snakes, both of about 5m in length, in a cage abut 2m long, and a 1m croc in a concrete bucket who had apparently been naughty.Xavier insisted that these animals had everything they wanted, and were in paradise.
His English really wasn't good.
Thankfully my faith in Australia wildlife rehab was greatly improved when we visited the Bat House, near our hostel in Cape Trib. Its run purely on donations and we were bombarded with information as soon as we set foot through the door. One of the resident flying foxes, Rex, was hanging out (literally) in the information centre and he was very interested in giving us a sniff, preferring the salty scent of Simon's fingers which had just been surrounded by chips, to my insect repellent. In fact he took one sniff of me, grimaced and turned away. Nice.
The only down point was that we were told that he would probably die in a couple of years from a heart attack cos he ate too many bananas.
After being almost thrown into our hostel halfway through day 1, cos Xavier was running late, we were relieved when our guide for day 2, John, was a lot more calm, and even early
Alexandra Range Lookout, Cape Tribulation
. We went on a crocodile cruise which was ok, but not thrilling and then to a lovely cool watering hole in Mossman Gorge, where a few stupid guys kept jumping off rocks into the shallow water almost smashing their heads open. I, on the other hand, opted for swimming into the current and getting carried downstream.And then we were back to Cairns. And it was still nice. Its got an American/Asian feel and it basically made up of eateries and tacky tourist shops. I love it. I am officially a Cairns fan.
Other people's opinions can be great but you really have to make your own mind up. Sometimes you think you'll love somewhere and can be bitterly disappointed (Magnetic Island) but sometimes, when you're not expecting too much you can discover a real gem. A bit like relationships.
I am, however, slightly scared of this old woman who works in the hostel who looks like she should have retired a long time ago. Apart from trying to convince me to stay in a more expensive room, she then threatened that I should keep my money in the safe and claimed that on numerous occasions she would go into dorm rooms at night and un clip people's money belts to see if they noticed and they didn't.
That night I slept with my handbag under my chest.
