Day 27: Cairns – Cape Tribulation

Cairns could even be the tourist center of north Queensland, but it is little more than a collection of not particularly attractive hotels. Cairns is our starting point to push north until the asphalt ends and there is only jungle ahead. We cross the Daintree on a barge, a beautiful forest road leads to the tiny settlement of Cape Tribulation, so named by the explorer Cook who was about to sink right here in 1770. We keep on for a few kilometers along the legendary Bloomfield Track, a dirt track that follows the sinuous profile of the Coast, running in between the green of the vegetation and the blue of the sea that we intermittently spot through the mangroves. Regrettably, there is a steady stream of big trucks and frequent road works, it looks like a motorway under construction… What a disappointment. We give up and finish the day on a forest-bordered beach of white sand which looks set up for Robinson Crusoe. The Road Menders are gone, cell phones do not work, there is also full moon. The perfect evening!