Driving the Road to Mossman

We took a slow start to the day, including a morning dip in the pool. Let's just say the water temperature was, er, refreshing! Yowser! Regardless of the cool temp, all those under 40 thought it was juuuuuuust right, as evidenced this smiling pic on the right.


With the ocean a short walk away, we decided to take a walk over there as well. It's a beautiful beach, certainly less crowded than Kaanapali even with this being a school holiday weekend for most states in Australia. From mid-October through December/January, the waters off the beaches of Queensland is often frequented by dangerous box jellyfish (referred to as stingers). We're technically OK now but watched to make sure we weren't being careless about this.

A quick shower and change of clothes and we were off to the grocery store to stock up for our four days here. Then we hit the road to explore up north. Our goal: a little area called Mossman which is supposed to have a beautiful gorge that is safe to swim in (we were reportedly warned that crocs are a realistic danger for most waterways in Queensland. You can imagine how excited that got the kids about donning their swimmers).

The trip to Mossman had characteristics of the Road to Hana: windy, narrow, and beautiful scenery. This trip had the extra bonus of me driving it all on the wrong side of the road, which added a level of fun!

About halfway up we came to a scenic lookout parking area. Turns out it's a big hang gliding launching point and some brave soul was about to jump off a cliff strapped to a kite! We were all drawn into the drama as the guy began looking more nervous the closer he got to launch. The first 3-5 minutes seemed pretty tense for his crew on the ground (they complained a bit that he was too panicky, thus grabbing the bar too tight).

We got to Mossman before sunset and enjoyed a low light walk through the rainforest to the gorge. We saw some wild turkeys (black with a colorful beak) that scampered around in the bush around us.

We crossed a swing bridge where I took this picture. It's a true snapshot of our kids' personalities. Notice Barrett leading and focused. Notice Zachary dancing on the swaying bridge. Notice Christa cautiously grabbing on, wishing her brother was doing more walking, less jig!

Yep! That pretty much says it all!

We had an enjoyable walk through the gorge, with some wading in the water. We ran into two fellow Christians who are governesses at ranches more inland in Queensland. It was fun to share our awe of God's glory together.

It was dark by the time we hit Port Douglas on the way home (still a good 70 km from Yorkey's Knob). Little stomachs were growling in the backseat so we pulled out our trusty guidebook and found a reasonably priced restaurant that dished up what was probably our best value meal yet in Australia. The food was great: an asian stir fry, seafood platter, and curry of the day.

As it turned out, we got a dinner and a show as they had a large screen projection TV showing Australia's equivalent of our Super Bowl: the Grand Finals for rugby. You'd think our boys were hard core rugby fans the way they were glued to the game, cheering for their teams and questioning some of the referees' calls. Of course we know hardly anything about the sport but the more we watched, the more we were amazed at the sheer violence and athleticism of the sport. Note to self: Never let kids try out for local rugby team!

The twisty road home now had the extra thrill of being dark and twisty, without shoulders in many areas. Interestingly, in very little time I feel very comfortable flying along the road while driving on the other side of it. I'm not even hitting the windshield wiper stick instead of the turn signal anymore!

We got home in one piece in time to watch the last quarter or so of the Grand Finals. The Brisbane Broncos took the game from the Melbourne Storm, much to our general disappointment. But the day itself was not the least of a disappointment as we experienced a slice of Australia quite different than we had expected when planning a reef vacation to Cairns.