The drive up to Mt Molloy was interesting , going through more sugarcane , then grazing land and past Lake Mitchell . We arrive at Mt Molloy , with low cloud over the mountain peaks , and threatening to rain again , we have had showers on the way up .
The landscape changed from the dry of Mareeba to lush green as far as the eye could see - we were back in the mountains closer to the coast again . The road started to wind its way to the coast , and stayed windy for quite a distance - imagine Macquarie Pass on steroids !!! They have signs on this one saying " All vehicles to use low gear " not just trucks & buses !!
This was driving in amazing tropical rainforest , a drive we will remember for a long time - the rainforest looks completely impenetrable , but magical , ferns growing down to the road edges , trees stretching to the sky above and at times forming a tunnel over the roadway .
There was a lookout over Mossman , on a good day will be really picturesque , today however was shrouded in cloud and rain .
Mossman can be seen on the middle left of photo .
Continuing on down the mountain , we ran into the rain so decided Mossman Gorge wouldn't be so nice so we headed to Port Douglas instead . As we turned off the highway , we immediately found houses & resorts , this place has grown enormously since our last visit . We drove up to the lookout , and checked the view over the beach .
This is race week at Port Douglas and Cairns for those who participate in triathlons , so there were people everywhere .
Driving back to the park at the northern end of Port Douglas , we had a walk around and watched the Quicksilver Cat take another load of patrons out to the reef in less than favourable conditions , followed by another catamaran taking others out somewhere - but they would have been feeling the swell a lot more as they were much slower . We were happy we were on dry land , the seas didn't look happy at all , the water a murky brown colour , stirred up by all the strong winds and rain of the last week or so .
We left and headed south back toward Cairns . This drive would be one of the best roads to drive - it has views of the coast nearly all the way to Cairns - one side of the road has the beach ( sandy or rocky ) and rainforest on the other side . Mid way along is Rex Lookout , great views of the coast and mountain range to the south .
As we pulled up there were TV cameras and vehicles everywhere , men in ties , and a group of cyclists training for Sundays triathlon - one of them was a Saudi Arabian Prince !!!
Continuing on we pulled into Palm Cove , then Kewarra Beach - this is what your front garden could look like !!
Off again , calling into Yorkeys Knob , then Smithfield , then into Cairns . We had decided to try out some fish & chips for lunch - we passed a couple of seafood shops , but decided to go down the esplanade & find something - we drove around for about half an hour before coming back to one of the seafood shops - people were queued up inside , so we thought that was a good sign and ordered . 15 mins later we had our lunch & headed to the Botanical Gardens to eat it - and it was really good !!
We followed up lunch with a walk around the gardens - there are some amazing plants , flowers & trees - one tree doesn't like having anyone climb it - there are spikes about 20mm long coming out of it from ground level upwards to the top .
We wandered through the gardens for a while , deciding to head for the hills , the rain started as we got to the ute - good timing , as it didn't stop for the next 40 mins as we drove back up the mountain to Kuranda & onwards to Mareeba . We stopped for a brief photo at the lookout above Smithfield - you can see the coast & Cairns airport . Again would have looked better on a fine day .
Booked in for golf again tomorrow , so don't expect too much from tomorrows blog . Cheers
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