Saturday, January 17, 2009

Cairns Day 2

We began day two in Cairns by renting a car and plotting a course north along Captain Cook Highway. This road runs north along the coast of Australia to the northern most point one can travel to by car, the town of Tribulation. Travel after that point must be done by 4WD or on foot.

The drive was very nice and the views were wonderful.



We took a boat tour of a river where crocodiles are known to live and breed, but unfortunately the recent rains and high tide drove most of the crocs to the bottom of the river. We were only able to see on baby croc, about two feet long.





After the tour, we were back on the road again on our way to Tribulation. The road skirts the Daintree National Forest and goes through Cassowary territory. There were numerous roadsigns warning drivers to be careful, and speedbumps were placed along the way as well. Here is a set of signs that together warn of an upcoming speedbump and caution drivers about the Cassowaries:



Someone saw an opportunity for a little humor and altered a later set of signs to the following:



The townfolk of Tribulation apparently thought this was funny as well and appear to have adopted it as their unofficial slogan. Post cards and t-shirts with the signs were all over town.

I took the below photo at our last stop in Tribulation. Beautiful.