From Palm Cove, the place just north of Cairns where we settled so easily, we headed up further north. We made a few stops along the way, in touristy places such as Port Douglas, which was really overrated and far too expensive, after stopping at nearly every beach we found that was deserted and white.. It was all so beautiful and the scenery got greener and the weather got warmer the further up we headed.
That first night, after leaving Palm Cove, we parked in a dirt road to camp for the night as we were trying to hide from any rangers (or as we call them at home, the police) that would be lurking about, on the proul for tourists breaking the law when it comes to setting up camp illegally (which is nearly everywhere up here in North Queensland). They never got us though! We camped near Newell beach. But didn't realize just how close we were to the beach, until we woke up the next morning to find the sand only 20 meters down the track. It was the most amazing thing! It was so unexpected, but absolutely brilliant. We ended up hanging out for hours, doing yoga on the beach, Jason was swimming with the chance of encountering a croc.. All very exciting. Well, he thought so, I was just acting like a concerned nanny, nagging and being worried..
We had to head onwards and upwards still, and entered the rainforest. It was the Daintree National Park, that leads up to Cape Tribulation. We had to take a ferry across the Daintree river. Well, when I say ferry, I actually mean that it was more aof a plank on water, that holds 21 vehicles and takes all of about 2 minutes and costs 20 dollars! I was appalled.. (there was the nagging me coming out again..) But as soon as we drove off the ferry it was like entering a whole different world. A small, green, tropical world, or community even, of which we were took part. It was one road with lots of walking tracks and beaches and rivers and creeks, all in this wonderful rainforest. We didn't manage to camp for free, seeing as though we were in a national park, so we had to book a night on a campsite. It was right next to the beach again, so we, once again, had found another spot where we so easily could have stayed for ages. We hadn't really planned to stay for 3 days, but that's how it turned out. We realized as soon as we were due to leave the rainforest on day 2, that we weren't done with this special place just yet. We were actually sad at the thoughts of having to move on. But then we thought: hang on.. who says we have to leave??. We were on no tight schedule and if we wanted to stay, we could and we did.. Then that song of Phil Collins came to mind and we continued to sing it for the rest of the day.. "Oh, think twice, it's just another day for you and me in paradise.." Which it was. I have to add that everyday in this life is really a paradise, if that's what you want anyhow. Just being alive can be classed as paradise, no matter how hard things get. It's all a blessing..(sorry, getting slightly sidetracked).
Anyhow, they were amazing days (Can't even remember the dates, I think it was around the 17th to the 19th of June). We got up each morning, 3 days in a row, and stepping on to the beach, going for walks, doing yoga and sitting by the shore in the eveings, stargazing and keeping a look out for crocs. This brought us up to last Friday (the 19th). It was time for us to leave the forest and the rain behind. These short days we spent there were so great. We didn't think that after having the best camping experience in Palm Cove that we find such a place again, but we did. And it was equally beautiful.
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