Zoo Day 2

On our second day staying at the zoo, we found ourselves with time to kill.  Having explored all regions south and west, and with the northern regions yet to come, we felt like we were in a bit of a stall pattern.  

I dug through my folder of material that I had printed at home and found a random tidbit that mentioned a croc-free swimming hole that was accessible if we could find out about Gus and Bobbie somehow in Daintree Village.  That’s really all we knew.

So we drove nearby, had lunch (Barramundi, of course) with a plate full of tropical fruit the likes of which we had never seen in our lives, found a store that had an information sign, and I asked the lady about Gus and Bobbie.

 “Oh, sure!” she said.  She gave us directions to a nearby cattle ranch where the owners’ (Gus and Bobbie) property backed up to the Daintree national forest.  If we walked down a ‘clearly marked’ path through the jungle for about 2.5 km, we would find a croc-free swimming hole.

Sounded perfect! So, off we went.  We left money in the nice folks’ mailbox and began our hike.  And it started raining.  And let me just tell ya, when it rains there, it POURS!!  Something about the rainforest…tricky!!!
We were drenched pretty quickly, but it was hot enough outside that no one was complaining. Over the river and through the woods we went.  Literally.  Until the path disappeared. And we were surrounded by mosquitos, again, and we all looked at each other and realized we were lost.  The path was non-existent.  We backtracked and Justin ran back for a map we had left in our car and sure enough, we had missed a major turn.  

Happily and sweatily, we began our hike anew.  I will let the video speak for itself.  

Never had I dreamed I would find a place like this to enjoy.  We swam for as long as we could.  Some of us got cold.  And probably the same ones of us got a little creeped out by the possibilities of what lurked beneath the murky water.
When you know there are two foot long lizards hanging out on the rocks and giant fish and who knows what else lurking beneath the water, a couple of bumps on the legs sends an imagination into overdrive.
We hiked back to our car through what looked like Jurassic Park, cleaned up and headed back to the village for dinner.

We found a lovely little restaurant called The Village Restaurant where we had amazing Barramundi in an open-air restaurant in a tropical downpour under a corrugated metal roof with only candles and lanterns to light the tables.  Fish and chips or fish of the day (grilled) were a daily staple for our whole family and even the non-fish eaters became believers. This is Justin’s seafood platter…

By now, we had all fallen in love with fresh passion fruit.  A local man brought in a whole supply to the restaurant and we bought a whole bag to eat.  Fascinating little fruit!

When the mossies drove us indoors at night, we taught Kyrsten how to play Euchre which started us down a unexpected road where our daughter who previously resisted playing any game, begged every night to be able to play cards.

So, bellies full and minds blown, we headed back to our little zoo, visited the animals in the dark, went back to our strange room, played some cards, scratched some bug bites and headed to bed.

It’s a jungle out there!

It literally is!

And I have never been more aware of my scaredy-pants self as I am in the rainforest. I mean, seriously, I am currently on the continent with the 25 of the 29 most deadly animals, and they make me, perhaps for the first time in my life, want to stay on the designated path.

Typically, I’m not much of a follow-the-blazed-trail kinda girl. And I’m pretty proud of that.
On our previous adventures, when faced with whales, bears, and unidentified dorsal fins I have a tendency to instinctively run, swim, or paddle TOWARD the big, dangerous animal so I can get close enough to SEE it!! Even while my family is saying, “Momma! STOP!”

A bug? Not so much. I will cry hysterically and scream like, well, like a girl and make a boy take care of it for me.
Now, make the bugs deadly or extra huge…I might stand in one spot and I might, maybe wet my big girl pants.

So, we went to the rainforest yesterday (Mossman Gorge) and saw some epicness. Epic trees, epic water, epic native people.

And, yes, epic bugs…

We hiked 2.5 km through the jungle to find a stunningly beautiful river made up of waterfalls and rushing water that provided any number of swimming holes free for the enjoying. Thanks to the 100 degree heat, a place to cool off and not worry about crocs or stingers was welcomed beyond words.

We found two spots that called our name, the first of which looked like something out of my imagination with a waterfall gently flowing into tranquil water, palm trees, little fish nibbling at our toes…

Toward the end of our hike, we ventured off to the trail to swim in a swimming hole upriver from the rest of the folks. Our spot is best shown by our pictures and video. My words cannot do it justice.

*photo and video credit is shared with Justin and his new GoPro camera

And Aussies! They are so friendly and helpful! People in the market or in service positions have taken upwards of twenty minutes to stand and talk to us and tell us about the land, or stories about the animals, or about their personal property that’s croc and tourist free (really, which is worse?) that we can go visit. They look us in the eye and want to make our experience the best it can be and they give us their time.
And that fascinates me. The hurry, hurry, rush to the next thing feeling is absent. Every sentence ends with, “No worries!” in a delightful cadence.

We met an aboriginal man. He took time to tell us some neat facts about this place and its animals. He showed us an Australian coin that has a kangaroo and an emu holding an Australian coat of arms and asked us if we knew what those two animals have in common.

Of course we didn’t and he told us that those two animals cannot walk backwards. It’s symbolic because as a country they have decided to only move forward and not look back.

Americans have a lot to learn about choosing not to look back.

And about friendliness, and respecting each other, and slowing down to see the people with which we inhabit the earth.
In the land of pushing and shoving to get ahead and forgetting that there are roses–let alone that they need to be smelled–the place where the phone and the clock rule, I wonder which place really is the dangerous jungle…

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