Chasing Horizons #30: Cut Snakes in Queensland – Queensland, Australia

By: Phil Rado

Cut Snakes in Queensland

And so on to the holiday state. However, the rest of Australia thinks Queenslanders are a bit loopy, “as mad as cut snakes” is a common description. So it sounded like the sort of place I would enjoy, plus after the temperate weather in Victoria it would be nice to get back to a tropical climate. Queensland has four distinct regions, and it is best known for the heavily touristed coastal strip. The mountainous Great Dividing Range runs up from Victoria and New South Wales. Next come the Tablelands, which are agricultural districts where farming communities’ live out pseudo-cowboy lives on their ranches. Finally, the vast and barren Outback is hundreds of kilometers to the west and fades into the Northern Territory.

I had spent weeks traveling through the centre of the country from Darwin to Melbourne only to hop straight on a plane back to fly nearly 3500 km’s north to start the journey south again. I secured a seat on Australia’s only “no frills” domestic airline, Richard Branson’s Virgin Blue. Since the demise of Ansett Australia it’s the only option for cheap internal flights. The planes landed in Cairns just after midnight.

Aboard the plane, the girl on the seat next to me was called Kelly and we had got chatting. She was a country girl working as a sort of farm vet. She had been traveling for over 48 hours from WA to do some work with animals near Cairns. Kelly’s sister had met her off the plane so I collected my backpack and headed out of the airport myself in search of a bus into town. Outside, to my surprise, Kelly and her sister approached me to kindly offer me a lift into town which, considering the late hour, I gladly accepted.

After a short drive south we soon arrived in the centre of Cairns. I was dropped off on the Esplanade where most of the shops and restaurants had shut up for the night. Luckily I decided to grab a bite to eat at a late night kebab takeaway and got chatting to the owner about places to stay. She in turn was friendly with the night watchman of the adjacent guest house who opened up to let me in and crash in one of the empty dorm rooms.

What’s the difference between an Australian and a glass of milk?
If you leave the glass of milk out in the sun long enough it develops some culture.

I awoke to find that Thursday, 7 November was a glorious, sunny day and oh what a pleasure it was to feel that tropical heat once again. I went for an early morning walk around to explore the city. Cairns is considered the “capital” of northern Queensland and is well known for its laid back, holiday atmosphere. I made my way around the compact centre where evidence of the town’s rapid growth could be seen by the number of swanky hotels and souvenir shops. After walking a short distance north the mangrove swamps started, which once surrounded the whole area. I walked back down the Esplanade which borders the sea in front of town, the tide was out and although there is no beach the long sweep of mud flats contained many interesting water birds. Wharf Street is the southern continuation of Esplanade, the beach head where they meet is the harbor and jetties where I saw the huge cruisers loading up day trippers.

Cairns is also a backpackers Mecca and accommodation is at a premium. Luckily, Hostel 89 was where I was let into the previous night, and I was able to secure a dorm bed there for a couple of nights.

Northern Queensland is unique in that it contains two World Heritage sites that meet with all four criteria laid down by UNESCO. Even more unique is that the two sites, the Wet Tropical Rainforest and Great Barrier Reef, adjoin each other. Cairns is the main launching point for trips to the Great Barrier Reef. The choice of trips is endless I eventually took pot luck and settled on a daytrip with Down Under Cruise and Dive.

Next morning, after a couple of false starts, I stupidly left my sun hat and sun cream back at the hostel. I made my way down to the Marlin Jetty at the civilized time of 8:30am. We boarded the modern looking vessel called Osprey V. I was signed on to the boat and assigned a locker number. You are then hit with those hidden charges easily overlooked when booking your “affordable” reef trip. I handed over A$5 reef tax and A$5 Environment Management levy.

Down below I sat amongst a group of Irish travelers and a couple of English girls. The boat was quite full with a large Hungarian tour group and Asian holidaymakers. We left the Cairns harbor and motored into the open sea. We were served coffee and biscuits as we filled in the necessary waiver forms. Outside the wind freshened, whipping up the South Pacific Ocean. I was thankful that Osprey was a large sleek vessel with motion stabilizers. We sailed for over an hour across choppy seas before we reached Hastings Reef. Once we had anchored at the reef most of the passengers jumped straight in the water to snorkel. There were a few novice divers that were taking up the free introductory dive offered by the friendly crew. I was to dive with one other certified diver, Mark.

After gearing up, the divemaster from the boat’s crew got us into the water and quickly we descended. I must say, for all I had heard about the wonderful diving to be had on Great Barrier Reef it was a bit of a disappointment. Sure the weather conditions were not ideal and we did a good dive with long bottom time whilst swimming in and out of the numerous reefs. But there wasn’t the large variety and numbers of fish I was expecting. We did see turtle and whilst doing our safety stop under the boat a huge Napoleon Wrasse came and swam inquisitively around, so close I could touch it. The dive was OK really; I guess I have been spoilt for good diving spots over the last year.

Back aboard Osprey the wind had strengthened even more, causing the captain not to risk moving to another reef for the afternoon as planned. After a hearty barbeque lunch, Mark and I did have a second dive at Hastings Reef, this time it was unguided and we got horribly lost and didn’t see much. By mid-afternoon everyone was once again checked that they were back on board – this is the reason everyone is assigned a locker number when they board. It has been known that divers have still been below when the boat has upped anchor and motored off home. I made sure that we were close to one of the many permanent platforms anchored near the reef, just in case we came up from our dive to find the Osprey disappearing over the horizon. The bar was opened and the beer flowed during the rough sail back to Cairns. Live entertainment was provided by the crew and included very proficient didgeridoo playing along with pathetic attempts by some of the passengers. Also enjoyable were the sing-a-long Elvis numbers and the Australian classic Waltzing Matilda with some alternative verses not usually printed in the song books.

During my travels Down Under I hadn’t really rushed but now I was mindful of the fact that it was barely three weeks before my scheduled departure from Sydney on 28 November. Time was moving on quickly and I still had a long way to travel south down the Queensland coast with lots to see and do. So what did I do next? I took a bus north to Cape Tribulation for the weekend.

Bright and early Saturday morning I was collected by Cape Trib Connections coaster bus outside my hostel. After a few more pickups we headed out of town with a full bus. Cairns’ surroundings consist of many sugar cane fields which were looking like a dry tinder box due to the lack of rain in this region. At Smithfield, a northern suburb of Cairns, the McAllister ranges rise sharply to the rolling Atherton Tableland. Visible was the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, a gondola which travels all the way to the mountain town of Kuranda. Our bus followed the coastal Capt. Cook Highway which was a treat to travel on because it runs right alongside the shore. The tropical rainforest alternated with natural dry pockets of eucalyptus trees, mango and mangrove thickets line the superb beaches. We passed a number of offshore islands and once again Homer Simpson featured in the minds of the tour guides when pointing out their shapes. I thought Dolly Parton was a more apt description when our driver pointed out the well endowed shape of Double Island.

The bus journey north included a stop at the Kuku-Yalanji settlement at Mossman Gorge. By the turn of the 19^th Century the Aborigines in Queensland had been comprehensively run off the land. The white settlers had set up reserves for the survivors but these were invariably strife ridden places where people of different areas and cultures where unhappily thrown together under unsympathetic rule. Only in the 1980’s was control handed over to the residents and they became self-sufficient communities. These freehold “grants of Trust” are still subject to rights of access for prospecting and exploration. They fall far short of the freehold ownership granted to indigenous people in the Northern Territory.

The Mossman Gorge area is sacred to the local peoples and cameras are strictly forbidden. We had walked a circuit through the heavily vegetated forest with an Aboriginal guide. Vines hung from large trees. We were shown how to milk tree sap to treat fever, to identify and avoid the deadly stinging tree. At a small stream, different colored body paints where extracted by mixing water with ochre rock, clay, berries and charcoal. Our guide washed his hands with soap extracted from leaves whilst he told us about a medicinal clay and bark liniment. All extremely interesting stuff.

The bus stopped to let us of in Mossman town. We had late breakfast in the Palms Cafï¿½. Mossman is Australia’s most northern sugar town. It was Saturday morning and it many farmers and laborers were in town for a spot of weekend shopping. I even had time to walk around a small local craft market that had been set up in the church grounds. Regrettably I wouldn’t be carrying away any of the exquisite wood handcrafts, I spotted some lovely side tables and stands that would look lovely back home in my lounge.

As we approached the ferry crossing at the Daintree River, the impressive, octopus shaped Thornton Peak loomed up on the horizon and rose up into the clouds. We didn’t wait long before the bus was driven onto a cable ferry and we crossed the crocodile infested river.

The river ferry is the gateway to the Cape Tribulation National Park. Millions of years ago the entire Australian continent was covered with rainforest. By the time Europeans arrived only about 1% of the rainforest was left. Today, logging and clearing for farms in this area has reduced that amount to less than 0.3% – more than half of which is in Queensland. Originally, when this area was settled a thriving and powerful timber industry was established. Particularly sought after were the much prized red cedars. Throughout the 1980’s a series of battles over the future of the rainforest was waged between conservationists and the timber industry. In 1983 the blockade of the proposed Bloomfield track drew international attention to the plight of Queensland’s rainforests. The greenies may have lost the battle but the exposure led the to the move by the Australian governments to nominate the Wet Tropical Rainforests for World Heritage listing. The application was successful in 1988 and subsequently all commercial logging in the area was banned. These days most Queenslanders support the wet tropics as ecotourism to the area has become a vital part of their livelihood. The challenge now is to manage and minimize the impact to the environment the enormous growth in population and visitors is having on the fragile ecosystem.

The road wound its way up and down the scree slopes between Thornton Peak and the coastline. Here and there small holdings still farm fish and run cows but these are gradually being phased out and the land incorporated into the national park. The scenery was spectacular and diverse, we passed through the thick vegetation and our driver pointed out the many different trees: pencil cedar, white ash, fig, and nutmeg, fan palms and king palms aged between 300 to 400 years, which make up the rainforest.

This is also home of the third largest bird in the world, the cassowary. This is a flightless bird’s that is tall and heavy with grey head, black shaggy body feathers and a blue neck with red wattles. A sort of cross between an ostrich and a turkey. It has a distinct, bony casque or helmet which is unique in the bird world as it is a sort of armor protection. Its powerful legs have large 3-toed feet; the middle toe has an elongated, lethal claw. Found only in the rainforests of northern Queensland – sub-species can be found in New Guinea – they are rare and being threatened by the progressive clearing of its habitat. Despite its size, it is shy and hard to spot but when startled will attack by head butting and striking out with its clawed toe. Fatalities, although rare, have been known to occur. Threatened by extinction these birds are extremely protected and as we drove every 500m road signs warned us to be vigilant and careful of these elusive birds.

In 1768 a young British lieutenant came to the attention of the British Admiralty for his navigation and charting of Canadian rivers and coastline. James Cook was chosen to lead an expedition to search for the rumored “Northwest Passage”, observe the transition of Venus (from Tahiti) and to search for the “Great Southern Continent”, identified on maps as Terra Australis Incognita, which in those days scientists believed must exist in order to “Balance” the land masses in the Northern Hemisphere! Cook’s selection as the expedition leader was a surprise to some but the Lord of the Admiralty reasoned that his painstaking and precise surveying and excellent seamanship would be invaluable for the enterprise.

How right they were, Captain Cook sailed from England aboard a grimy, flat-bottomed converted coal carrier renamed Endeavour. His Epochal voyage would sight and survey hundreds of landfalls that no westerner had ever laid eyes on. Though the Endeavour would never fire her guns at another ship in battle, Cook was destined to bring under George III’s sovereignty more land and wealth than any single naval victory of the powerful British fleet. He didn’t find the fabled “Great Southland”, but did discover a country equally deserving of such a title – Australia. However, the most important discovery Cook would make was measured not in territory but in knowledge. Where his predecessors had been hasty and disorganized he was patient and methodical, he would sweep away myths and illusions on a prodigious scale and in the end would give to the world a long-sought treasure: a comprehensive map of the Pacific. It turned out Captain James Cook became the greatest explorer of his time – and the greatest Pacific explorer of all time.

During 1770, the Endeavour chartered Australia’s eastern coastline. One night in June whilst sailing up from the south the ship was holed and stuck on Great Barrier Reef where it is closest to the mainland at Cape Tribulation. They beached the badly leaking boat to the aptly named Endeavour River. Luckily, by drawing on the experiences of one of the ship’s mates the guns, ballast, and provisions were unloaded. They pumped madly then managed to mend the hole by making a plug from a sail sewn with wool and oakum and spread with sheep dung. It took weeks to affect the repairs. Captain Cook’s frustration is imprinted on the variety of names given at the time to local landmarks, Cape Tribulation, Mount Sorrow and Weary Bay. I was only surprised not to find a “F*ck, we are sinking” reef or “We’re all going to Die” port.

Nearly eight weeks later they were able to continue by limping further up the coast. The seas were still treacherous but Cook reached the Northern Tip of Australia and then on to rediscover New Guinea and eventually back to England via the Cape of Good Hope. To glory that nearly never was, Australia was claimed in the name of King George III and the British Empire. It was a close run thing there for a while though, and Australia could have stayed in Dutch hands. How different would history be then?

My journey down Australia’s east coast would be in reverse to the one sailed by Endeavour. So I will be bumping into Captain Cook and his famous voyage a lot over the coming weeks.

Cape Tribulation is certainly a beautiful stretch of coast. It has a jungle outpost atmosphere and we passed a number of self-sufficient feral communities. These “Ferals in the Forest” are really hippies that lead alternative lifestyles espousing radical environmentalism. They have ragged clothes, hob-nail boots and shaven or dreadlocked hair. Rather than being dropouts they see themselves as protectors of the rainforest. They reject materialism and consider urban life as nightmarish and unsustainable but that doesn’t stop them shopping in the supermarkets, collecting unemployment benefits and eating at late night takeaways.

Cape Trib is also hugely popular with backpackers and the few hostels can be booked out. Luckily, my bus trip from Cairns included a night at PK’s Jungle Village close to the beach. The bus dropped us off in the jungle setting around lunchtime and we were shown around the comfortable log cabins, a large bar and pool surrounded by palm trees. Most of the guests were still sleeping off the effects of a lively and late party from the previous evening. Because of the extreme tropical heat, guest houses in the area are plagued by bed bugs so all sleeping bags, sheets, etc are stored up front to avoid any new insect being introduced. The measures didn’t seem to be working as the bugs in the dorms were the size of mice and the mosquitoes carnivorous.

Still, I loved the weather and spent a relaxing afternoon around the pool and bar area. I met an Irish fella named Declan and we got chatting about our travel plans south down the Queensland coast. He gave me some good ideas and a couple of contacts in Cairns. The current Ashes cricket series between Australia and the touring England side was being televised. Predictably, the baggy green caps were totally outclassing the Poms, comprehensively beating them usually within four days. Declan was a bit of a soccer nut so wasn’t too interested but we did decide that the most useless thing to have in Australia was a ticket to the fifth day of an Ashes test. That evening PK’s lived up to its lively reputation by packing out its spacious bar and holding drinking games and dancing late into the night.

Unfortunately, I only have a day to enjoy Cape Tribulation. Apart from the beach and the rainforest there isn’t that much to do but it is a wonderfully relaxing place. I did have time in the morning to head down to Myall Beach to grab some great photo’s of the Cape itself. I strolled a short distance down the flat unpopulated beach and found the Dubuji Rainforest Boardwalk. I had the place almost to myself and although it was stifling hot I killed nearly two hours and walked through 2km of tropical forests and mangroves. It was made more interesting by the interpretive signs placed around the boardwalk.

Whilst waiting for the return bus to Cairns to pick me up I had time to pop into the Bat House. Injured bats are brought in for rehabilitation. I got the chance to see the large fruit bats and tiny mouse bats up close. I even had the chance to hold some of these impressive creatures.

The journey back to Cairns covered much the same road as the previous day. Only the previous week, a very good friend of mine, Mark, had been in this same area visiting his father who lives close to the Daintree River. Whilst waiting for the Daintree cable ferry I went in search for Mark’s dad’s guest house. I walked in the heat and found the Daintree River lodge but was unsuccessful in contacting Mark’s dad as he was out running errands.

We continued on southwards with our driver telling some awful jokes on the way. He claimed a worldwide survey was made to find the funniest joke in the world, this is the joke they came up with;

Two mates are out hunting in the woods when all of a sudden one of them collapses onto the ground. His mate is unable to revive him so phones the emergency services operator on his cell phone.

In a panic he tells the operator, “My mate has collapsed and is not moving, I think he’s dead”.
“Calm down”, says the operator, “the first thing we must do is make sure that your friend is actually dead”.
There is silence over the phone, then all of a sudden, BANG! The sound of a rifle shot.
The hunter comes back on the phone, “Now what?”

Not that funny, hey?

About 50km from Cairns we pulled into Port Douglas. In the early days of development in north Queensland, Port was a rival to Cairns. There was an easier route from here to Hodgkinson Goldfields and Port Douglas was a boom town during the gold rush. Cairns eventually got the upper hand and the town became a sleepy backwater. So it might have stayed but for the efforts of Christopher Skase. During the 1980’s this entrepreneur’s development company, Quintex, thrust the town back into the international limelight with the building of the Sheraton Mirage and Marina Mirage. In 1989, the Quintex empire collapsed under debts of at least $1.5 billion and two years later Skase declared bankruptcy. But the kick start Port Douglas need had been given. The model resort had burgeoned into a huge money-making machine.

Now I know what a playground of the rich looks like. We drove past deep water marinas where huge private yachts were moored. Designer stores what wouldn’t look out of place in Beverly Hills line the main street. The place reeked of money. I suppose if you want to take helicopter rides over the Great Barrier Reef or play a $280 round of golf this is the place, just bring lots of money.

Many local businesses suffered with the collapse of Quintex but some members of the community feel that Skase he should be honored as a visionary. He never faced the charges brought by the Australian authorities and fled to Majorca. He fought extradition proceedings claiming that a life threatening lung condition prevented him from traveling, despite being witnessed living it up in Spain. Even reports of his death in 2001 were seen by some Australians as an attempt to escape justice. We left Port Douglas along a street lined with hundreds of big African oil palms, sold to the Port Douglas municipality by a Quintix subsidiary. Go figure.