Mossman Gorge

Above:  Freeform pool at our Port Douglas accommodation, by night.

Mossman Gorge

After breakfast we headed out in our car, first to Four Mile Beach around the corner from our accommodation.  The sandy beach was lovely but again, the water was stirred up with sand.

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We continued to Mossman about 20 mins away to see the Mossman Gorge, which is part of the Daintree National Park.  It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage site.  I hadn’t looked into this attraction at all but it involved an optional bus ride from the visitor centre to the walk (and back) which cost under AUD13 per person.

Due to the absence of footpaths, one would have to walk on the narrow road up that’s used by the bus.  Kim didn’t have appropriate footwear so we decided to spend the money on the short ride that was about 2km each way.

The actual walk began on elevated walkways so as not to damage the environment but later parts were built on the ground.  The route took us through beautiful rainforest, a suspended bridge and gushing waters.

Due to recent rainfall, the river was considered dangerous with current even though some people were swimming in it.

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The total walk took about 20 mins.  While it was very beautiful, it wasn’t anything new to me hailing from Borneo and living in New Zealand.  For Australians who may be from very arid parts, this would be a lush tropical paradise.

Also, I found the experience very civilized and sanitised.  Our feet hardly touched bare ground until the end of the standard walk.  From there, the paths were on bare ground but still nearly kept and not mushy.

Attending to business 

As we were without wifi at our accommodation, we took lunch at a café in Port Douglas town which had a good connection.  Kim had matters to attend to and I helped him do that on my laptop.

Back at the Ramada, we swam in the pool where the temperature was absolutely perfect. There was no temperature shock stepping in and once in, it was still refreshing.  Our north Queensland experience has been very pleasant temperature-wise and it makes us want to return every year!

After 1h30 waiting for Air New Zealand to answer our call last night, we tried again.  I did some exercises while waiting this time and after 1h15 our call was finally answered.  It took a further 20 mins to rebook us both on Sunday’s flight.  It was a little complex as our PNRs had been purged after our flight “departure” date (it was cancelled); without knowing the border reopening situation we didn’t rebook to a new date any earlier as we could have ended up rebooking/calling several times.

With several things accomplished today, we thought we deserved a night out.  We drove to Tin Shed which we understood was the name for Port Douglas RSL.   At the door, there was a sign saying that walk-ins cannot be accommodated and waiting time was around 2h for dinner.  Attempting to book for tomorrow, we were told we could take a buzzer and have a drink upstairs; the estimated wait was now an hour.

The hour went quickly and we enjoyed a lovely dinner looking out to sea, partially obscured by a fishing boat.  The wait didn’t bother us as the whole town’s restaurants appeared full being school holidays.