New Years Eve was a relaxing day. Iral and I had breakfast at the resort, poolside, before having facials and full body mud wraps that morning. This being my first body wrap I didn’t know quite what to expect. Wayne,, one of our hosts was going to do them. While he’s a nice front desk person, a pleasant waiter and a good bartender. I don’t think he’s well schooled in spa treatments. At my thanksgiving gathering back in early December I was speaking with a guest about this trip and he warned me Skinny Dips had a reputation for what we’ll call “less then professional behaviours in spa treatments”. Wayne is a mid 60s gay guy in a relationship with a mid 40 guy. He’s has a full grey beard and the time has come where he has more body hair than head hair. His Richard Simmons like outfit didn’t flatter him at all. After preparing myself in the private bath I came into the treatment room in my robe. Wayne proceeded to bath me with a warm cloth and took his time. He then applyed the facial substance and mud over my body, finally wrapping me in a warm moist blanket and a large sheet of plastic. Courtesy of Bunning’s (Home Depot of Australia) Wayne then left me alone and I drifted in and out of sleep with the warm damp cloth over my eyes. When we finished Wayne was more than helpful at removing the mud. Unfortunately, I needed his help as the stuff took a little elbow grease to remove and I was not able to reach the far points on my back. I do have to say over all the experience was pleasurable and my skin did feel clean and refreshed but I think I’d prefer a younger and much hotter man to administer it next time. Wayne asked me to send Iral in once I had dressed and I made my way back out to the pool area. I took a few minutes to brief Iral on the experience. He was a little nervous and in the end had the same feelings I did.
After our wraps we walked into town and picked up a rental car we’d reserved for a New Years short road trip. We wandered around a little and found a cute local place for lunch, The Lily Pad, a kind of vegetarian, hippy style cafe. The place was busy and the food was good. We did some window shopping then stopped into the casino for a reprieve from the humidity and to kill some time. At 3pm we had massages scheduled back at the resort. 1 of these came as part of the package when I made the booking months before and the other one was paid for already. Our wrap experience at least gave us some knowledge of Wayne’s techniques. I had laid a little ground work earlier in the day letting him know that Iral was a licences remedial masseur and how an unprofessional massage could cost one their licence. So while our massages were sensual and I learned a few moves I’d like Iral to use on my next home massages, I’m hoping Wayne wasn’t able to try all the tricks he had in his bag. You live and learn and you’ll never know unless you try. So lesson learned and now I know!
The rest of the afternoon was spent near the pool and the bar with trips into our room for air conditioning. In the evening we had a nice dinner at the bistro in the resort. I have to say Wayne makes a much better chef too. We were one of the first people to get dinner so while the other guests ate Iral and I relaxed in our room, which then turned into being asleep by 10pm on New Year’s Eve. (I know we’re SO OLD! But how many of you partied all night yourself???) Luckily the crowd gathered just below us and woke me up at 11:50. I looked outside, it was pouring down rain. People were gathered under the canopy or were enjoying the hot tub. I woke Iral and we did our own little count down in bed. As the other guest partied in night away Iral and I drifted back off to sleep only to be awakened by them several more times before 3am when they finally had enough New Year cheer.
At 6:30am we were well rested, up and getting ready for our road trip to Cape Tribulation and Mossman Gorge north of Cairns. After 17 years in Oregon a little rain wasn’t going to bring a halt to my plans and our first stop was this viewpoint at Rex Lookout. The spot is named after a politician that helped construct the Captain Cook highway. A single lane in both directions road, that we were travelling on. Not really a highway but the only main road in the area and one of the few paved ones this far north. A little farther along and we came to the tourist town of Port Douglas. Very nice but not really much beyond hotels, guest cottages, golf resorts, restaurants and souvenir shops.
Our first taste of the famed Daintree National Park came at Mossman Gorge in the southern most portion of the park. Not really a “gorge” like my friends in Portland are used to but more like a rocky river to raft down. There were some kayakers there practicing moves in the fast moving waters. I got a couple cool videos of them, but this site won’t let me load videos anymore. Walking back the short loop trail to the car park (parking lot in Australian) we saw a wild bush turkey. I’m told they’re not the ones we can get in the stores. These guys are like a big chicken and nowhere near the size of the typical Thanksgiving Tom.
We also spotted this VERY cool mushroom. I’m not sure of the name but it was about 5” tall and so neat I just had to take a photo. If someone knows the name please fill me in.From there we continued to head north. We had to board a small auto ferry to cross the Daintree River to get to the main coastal section of the national park. We decided to travel as far north on this narrow winding road as we could on sealed pavement then try and hit some of the sites on the way back. So we passed places like Cape Kimberly and Cow Bay, Bailey Creek and Thornton Beach heading for the point we’d have to turn around, Cape Tribulation. Here we took a walk along the beach where there are signs warning the tourist to watch out for saltwater crocodiles in the brush line and along the water’s edge. You’re also told not to swim in the water because of the deadly Iracongi Jellyfish. They even had a bottle of vinegar there used to pour on a wound if you’re stung by one of the tiny creatures. It won’t save your life or even stop all of the excruciating pain but it will help ease it as you rush to the nearest hospital 90 minutes away back in Cairns. Luckily the beach is about 15 metres wide (50’). So I ignored Iral’s pleads and stroll along down the middle of the beach. Figuring I can out run a croc if I had too and staying out of the water. About 30 metres ( 92’) into our walk I spot this fella, a Lace Monitor Lizard. He’s about 2 metres long (6’) and sunning himself quite happily on the beach. As I edged closer to get a photo he did seem to take notice of me but didn’t really move very much allowing me to snap several photos and get within about 10’ of him. We also saw some tiny ½” size sand crabs, a few birds but never a croc or a jellyfish. This was probably a good thing and I was able to tell Iral “I told you nothing bad would happen”. (You all know I’m not one to follow the rules, especially if someone tells me I can’t do something I want to do)
From there we headed back south a little ways to Dubuji beach where we sat in the sand and had a nice picnic lunch of potato chips, salami, mixed nuts, mango and Lycee. If you never heard of Lycee and I hadn’t until about a month ago. It’s a small round fruit about the size a large walnut. It has a tough bumpy outer skin you peel off and a peanut size seed in the middle. The flesh is pink and it’s VERY juicy and sweet. Most stores here carry the tropical fruit and you MUST try it if you can find them! The beach was sunny and warm. The sand was soft but firm to sit on and scattered with little balls of sand from the sand crab homes. We listen to the waves lap at the shore line and ate our snacks gazing out at the water and the Great Barrier Reef beyond.
After lunch we continued south and stopped at Jindalba rainforest boardwalk to do a short hike in the woods. It was here we found this really cool tree growing at an angle and in a maze pattern. I’m not sure of the type of tree but it’s one of the ones I mentioned in the last blog that grows up around a host tree eventually killing it and then the inner tree rots away leaving an empty space.
There’s one more blog entry to this trip and it’s all about the GREAT BARRIER REEF. I have 2 performances with the band on Tuesday for Australia day (think 4th of July without the fireworks). So it’ll probably be next weekend before I start to type it up.
Hope everyone is well and enjoying the last few weeks of winter. Until next time my dear friends take care! And come VISIT!!!
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