Mossman Gorge

 Mossman Gorge 

We had breakfast at Grant's for the second time in Mossman and then turned up the road to reach the Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre and the start of the Mossman Gorge which is part of the Daintree National Park.

We were driven up the narrow road from the centre by bus to the start of the walk through the Mossman Gorge. Traffic was originally allowed to dive up by themselves but the road is narrow with few passing places and limited parking so it became a bottleneck of a nightmare so only park buses are allowed up although people can park their cars at the visitor centre and walk up the road.

A view of the river...

...and another view...

...and a view of the swimming hole although swimming is banned when water levels are high. Some of their promotional material shows people swimming in the river and relaxing on the boulders in the river but conditions can change rapidly. Several people have been washed away, some never to be seen again, knocked unconscious, eaten by crocodiles or washed out to sea.

There is no physical barrier to stop people swimming, just signs to say that it is unsafe but people are ignorant of the dangers, or full of bravado. Common denominators are young male, alcohol and German. Many of the warning signs are bilingual in English and German to ensure that tourists are aware of the danger. 

Another view of the river.

Some fungus.

An unusual spider and on that our guide had never seen before. It was the size of a man's palm so fairly large.

A swimming hole although it was so small, that it was more of a plunge pool and cooling off place in the height of summer than a place to swim. 

A twisted vine climbing up a tree. We searched every trunk for a sighting of the Boyd's Forest Dragon, a lizard as long as a man's forearm but we saw none. Our guide even encouraged us with a prize of a drink of our choice but we  didn't find any. It was a rainy day and they often retreat into dense vegetation to avoid the rain, so we weren't likely to see any but with a reward in view, I checked every tree but to no avail. 

We passed the local sugar mill which was still owned locally as many have been bought up by huge sugar corporations. Te locomotives are housed in sheds and are carefully maintained whereas the wagons are left out on spurs all across the network.

Some of the cane wagons in the depot next to the sugar mill. Just to the left of the photo is the tail of a huge mound made up of bagasse. Bagasse is a byproduct of the sugar refining process and is the remains of the sugar cane after all the sugar has been extracted. It has several uses such as being weaved into sheets for carpets or screening, for cattle feed, to make paper or to use as a fuel to produce the steam to extract the sugars from the cane and to refine the syrup from a yellow liquid into sugar. 

Next was a cultural tour along the beach and through the forest led by a local called Link whose family have lived here since 1850s. This a native honey bee colony although much smaller than commercial hives.

We were introduced to green ants which make their nest inside leaves that they have sown together. Hold a green ant by the head and lick its abdomen and you have a candy like citrus experience. Some people didn't want to join in with the experience but I had to do it. It was an experience to be enjoyed and it was tasty and I do love to learn bushcraft. But I am not about to brag about licking ants bums in my local pub.

Some of the items that the locals hunt and eat or collect for different uses including boomerangs and musical instruments.  We also had a walk through the forest and Link told us which plants were edible and leaves and berries for medicinal purposes.

Our last stop for the day was at an art gallery where we had a talk on aboriginal art and had some practise the paint our own beans in a traditional pattern.