Wanting to get some sun and enjoy a great Australian beach before leaving for home, I walked over to "Four Mile Beach" near Port Douglas. Not sure why the name isn't in kilometers, but whatever. It was overcast and the sun went behind the clouds sometime after I’d flipped over to sun my back. After a little while I got up, walked along the beach, and even went into the water for a bit. I was on the beach for about an hour and a half.
By the time I got back to my apartment I was worried that I’d get to Daintree National Park too late. Not really having many more days to do this and afraid I'd hit it after dark I drove there without showering or eating dinner. It was warm, so I wore shorts forgetting about the mosquito situation and rumors of Dengue Fever in these parts.
While crossing over on a small car ferry to get into Daintree I could see a Lucy rental van in my review mirror. It looked as though the driver and passenger were both female. Female travelers. And they looked kind of attractive. But soon we'd be on our way and headed to different parts of the park, so I didn't think anything more about it.
The ferry pulled up to the opposite shore and we all filed off in our cars. I didn’t know where I was going as I hadn’t done enough research on this. I had expected there to be a national park entrance and visitor center or something, but never saw one. So I followed the other cars that headed north confidently.
After a little while I saw signs for a lookout so I decided to pull in. I noticed that the van that had been behind me on the ferry had pulled in as well. I got my camera then joined one of the girls at the lookout. I took some pics, then went over to where she was standing and said, “Hey”. She said hi back and I think commented on the view but I didn’t quite hear it. Soon she was joined by two others from her van. Three in all. Bryony was the first one I met, and her travelmates Montana and Ana joined her. All very attractive and friendly. We talked for a bit, and they mentioned that they were just following me assuming I knew where I was going. They mentioned they had an extra map that I could have and said that they were heading to a short walk just up the road. I had wanted to do something like that so I asked if I could join them since by that point I'd gotten to know them well enough to ask that. They said it would be good.
So we went to the location of the walk and started walking. We started getting chewed up my mosquitoes right away so I went and got the bug repellent that I happened to have in the car. So glad I had that. I had visions of Dengue Fever running through my head and since we were all in shorts I could see the mosquitoes Facebooking about the feast they were about to have.
We walked and talked for a bit and took a group pic before it got dark. It was getting dark, so by the time we got back to the car I was thinking I’d drive around for a bit looking for night life. The three girls were going to find their campground where they'd spend the night. We exchanged Facebook info then parted. I followed them for about 20 mins before turning around to head back. I was running low on gas but was able to fill up just outside the park before driving back to my place. Didn't see any night life at Daintree, or very many animals actually, but did get to meet some cool people.
Follow up note: As I was traveling back from a trip I'd taken in Texas I received word from Montana that Bryony had passed away in a quad bike accident on July 19. I didn't know her well but was sad to hear the news. I'd enjoyed talking with her about photography stuff during our short walk through the rain forest.
By the time I got back to my apartment I was worried that I’d get to Daintree National Park too late. Not really having many more days to do this and afraid I'd hit it after dark I drove there without showering or eating dinner. It was warm, so I wore shorts forgetting about the mosquito situation and rumors of Dengue Fever in these parts.
While crossing over on a small car ferry to get into Daintree I could see a Lucy rental van in my review mirror. It looked as though the driver and passenger were both female. Female travelers. And they looked kind of attractive. But soon we'd be on our way and headed to different parts of the park, so I didn't think anything more about it.
The ferry pulled up to the opposite shore and we all filed off in our cars. I didn’t know where I was going as I hadn’t done enough research on this. I had expected there to be a national park entrance and visitor center or something, but never saw one. So I followed the other cars that headed north confidently.
After a little while I saw signs for a lookout so I decided to pull in. I noticed that the van that had been behind me on the ferry had pulled in as well. I got my camera then joined one of the girls at the lookout. I took some pics, then went over to where she was standing and said, “Hey”. She said hi back and I think commented on the view but I didn’t quite hear it. Soon she was joined by two others from her van. Three in all. Bryony was the first one I met, and her travelmates Montana and Ana joined her. All very attractive and friendly. We talked for a bit, and they mentioned that they were just following me assuming I knew where I was going. They mentioned they had an extra map that I could have and said that they were heading to a short walk just up the road. I had wanted to do something like that so I asked if I could join them since by that point I'd gotten to know them well enough to ask that. They said it would be good.
So we went to the location of the walk and started walking. We started getting chewed up my mosquitoes right away so I went and got the bug repellent that I happened to have in the car. So glad I had that. I had visions of Dengue Fever running through my head and since we were all in shorts I could see the mosquitoes Facebooking about the feast they were about to have.
We walked and talked for a bit and took a group pic before it got dark. It was getting dark, so by the time we got back to the car I was thinking I’d drive around for a bit looking for night life. The three girls were going to find their campground where they'd spend the night. We exchanged Facebook info then parted. I followed them for about 20 mins before turning around to head back. I was running low on gas but was able to fill up just outside the park before driving back to my place. Didn't see any night life at Daintree, or very many animals actually, but did get to meet some cool people.
Follow up note: As I was traveling back from a trip I'd taken in Texas I received word from Montana that Bryony had passed away in a quad bike accident on July 19. I didn't know her well but was sad to hear the news. I'd enjoyed talking with her about photography stuff during our short walk through the rain forest.
Crossing the river on the ferry... how the GPS displays the trip