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| cape tribulation |
'Cape Tribulation' and 'the Daintree' are two terms
used to describe the area north of the Daintree River. If you
want to see the oldest rainforest in the world you will have to
cross the Daintree river.
You can do a detour to Daintree Village south of the river, it is a scenic drive and there are some accommodation places and wildllife tours but do not expect this to be the village in the rainforest. All the trees around here were cut down over a hundred years ago, in their timber museum you can see old black and white photos of the huge red cedar trees that were cut here.
You can do a detour to Daintree Village south of the river, it is a scenic drive and there are some accommodation places and wildllife tours but do not expect this to be the village in the rainforest. All the trees around here were cut down over a hundred years ago, in their timber museum you can see old black and white photos of the huge red cedar trees that were cut here.
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| rain forrest |
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| cape tribulation |
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| the beach |
When you're in Cape Tribulation you might also like to
have a look at the Easter Island Moai, find them at Rainforest Hideaway
on Camelot Close, signposted from the main road, right in the heart
of Cape Tribulation.You may be lucky enough to spot
a cassowary, up to two metres tall, covered in coarse black
double stranded feathers, and with brilliant colors of red
and blue on its neck and head this would have to be Australia's
most spectacular bird. They are highly endangered and live
only in the Wet Tropics area of North Queensland, another
patch of remote rainforest high up on the Cape York peninsula,
and New Guinea.
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| cassowary |
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| cassowary in the habitat |
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| sign |
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| wild life |
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| pond |
The sign on the left shows a bit of creativity by local midnight artists, it looks like even the local council has a sense of humour as this graffiti has been here for years now.
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| cape tribulation |
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| coconut trees |
Aborigines - For many thousands
of years, the Kuku Yalangi Aboriginal people lived along this
coastline, foraging for rainforest fruits and hunting the rainforest
animals, there is no evidence they ever permanently lived in Cape
Tribulation but they used to camp here at times and travel back
and forth between Mossman (70 km. south) and Wujul Wujul, (35
km. north). This was why there was already a well used track from
Cape Tribulation to the Bloomfield River when white settlers arrived
in the area. Some of the earliest settlers, the Masons, who lived
just north of the cape where now the parking area for Cape Tribulation
beach is, frequently had Aborigines passing by their kitchen window
as they had, without knowing, built their house on an Aboriginal
road. As early as the 1880s timber cutters called had already
used this track to search for red cedar. For a while the cassowaries
seemed to have disappeared but in recent years they have made
a comeback in Cape Tribulation.
James Cook - The next chapter
in the history of Cape Tribulation is James Cook. He had been
sent out from England to Tahiti to observe Venus passing in front
of the sun. Thanks to his measurements scientists could now work
out the distance between the earth and the sun and a range of
other things. But to justify the expense of the journey the British
Crown had decided that he was also to take possession of New Holland
to expand their empire. Cook sailed up the east coast and did
quite a bit of surveying and drew up numerous charts, as so far
he only had a fairly basic map from the Dutch explorers that had
been here 160 years before him. Things ran fairly smoothly until
one night after passing this area his ship struck the reef. The
Endeavour came very close to sinking, luckily a large chunk of
reef had broken off and remained in the hole and actually worked
as a plug, this together with a sail covering the hole, the crew
pumping like mad and the dumping of all non vital heavy things
like cannons, they managed to keep the ship afloat. So when Cook
looked out on the coast at first daylight he was not in the happiest
of moods and named a few features with not the most cheerful of
names; the cape he could see was named Cape Tribulation (tribulation
means trouble) and the mountain behind it Mount Sorrow. The reef
the ship had struck was named Endeavour Reef and a bay to the
north where they rested while towing the ship up the coast with
row boats was named Weary Bay. Finally they found a river to go
up and beach the ship so it could be repaired, this one was then
named the Endeavour River and that is where Cooktown is located
nowadays. After seven weeks of repairs, some run-ins with Aborigines
and discovering the kangaroo, they headed further north where
they planted the Union Jack and officially took possession of
this country. This makes the striking of the reef off the coast
of Cape Tribulation all the more significant; had they sunk here
they would not have been able to claim Australia later on and
it could have still been New Holland nowadays. Cape Tribulation
would look very different indeed with windmills instead of coconut
trees along the beaches and coffee shops in the resorts instead
of bars. And the moisture of the rainforest and the Australian
termites would have made short work of the wooden clogs as well.
Sub-divisions and hippies
- In the 1970s Cape Tribulation was discovered by the hippies
and it became the end of the London-Kathmandu-Cape Tribulation
overland trail. Marijuana growing, smoking and running around
naked on the beaches were the main activities during this decade.
Cape Tribulation was also discovered by the property developers
during this time. A few enterprising individuals with friends
in the right corrupt government places took out large grazing
leases, then converted to freehold, and then divided them into
about 1200 smaller lots, in Cape Tribulation two hectares is the
smallest size but in Cow bay there are many one hectare blocks.
Though normally the developer has to provide services like power,
water etc. this was all overlooked by the various government departments,
who were either corrupt or incompetent or perhaps both. The local
Douglas Shire Council opposed the subdivision but was overruled.
A nationwide advertising campaign was started and people bought
blocks of land for reasons that varied from preservation to intending
to live there to investment as all power and water services were
promised and many thought land values would skyrocket.
Declaration of National Park
- In 1981 the rainforests surrounding the privately owned land
were declared Cape Tribulation National Park, under protest from
local council and state government who wanted to keep it as a
State Forest, so it would be available for logging.
Blockade of the Bloomfield Track
- Cape Tribulation really became famous when in 1982 the Douglas
Shire Council began bulldozing a track north of Cape Tribulation
in 1982. Protesters came from everywhere and tried to stop the
road, leading to several arrests by the army of policemen. The
protests were unsuccesful in stopping the bulldozing of the forest
to clear a road but it did lead to the nomination and subsequent
inclusion of the area on the World Heritage List because of the
publicity surrounding the issue. The protest leader, Mike
Berwick, stood for mayor of the council he protested against
and won! He remained mayor for several terms until in 2008 a state
wide council amalgamation meant that the Douglas Shire no longer
existed and he had to look for another job. The amalgamation had
been for the purpose of eleminating financially troubled shires
but the State Government saw here the perfect opportunity to once
and for all get rid of Berwick's dysfunctional council that had
wasted so much time and money with inquiries over the years.
World Heritage Listing - In
1988 UNESCO declared Cape Tribulation National Park a World Heritage
Area because of its outstanding value and beauty, once again local
and state government protested to no avail.
Backpackers - In 1985 the
first backpackers hostel, the Jungle Lodge, was built. Cape Tribulation,
in particular PK's, developed a reputation as a major backpacker
party place amongst the young crowds that shag and drink their
way around Australia. Highlights included drinking games, cane
toad races, limbo competitions, beach bonfires, and spontaneous
alcohol-inspired things like dryer riding
Solar power subsidies - In
1996 the Queensland state government offered residents north of
the Daintree river subsidy to install solar power. So far only
mayor Mike Berwick and some neighbours were the only ones north
of the Daintree river to enjoy mains electricity from a cable
hanging over the river. The denial of mains power to others from
the Daintree river to Cape Tribulation was deliberate to discourage
settlement as this would lead to degradation of the fragile eco
system of this area. During 1996 and 1997 many houses were fitted
with solar panels, batteries and back-up generators. Most households
run their generators a fair bit as solar power in a rainforest
is not the ideal solution but it scored Australia points at the
Kyoto Greenhouse Convention. Currently many residents are calling
for "mini-grids", it would be far more efficient for
a community like Cape Tribulation to have one big generator with
a cable network for the town than thirty households run their
own generator, this is not too difficult to organize, where ever
there is a small Aboriginal community in the outback this system
is used, but so far no results.
Flood - 1996 also saw some
very wet weather, in february 1996 1500mm of rain (yes, one-and-a-half
metre) of rain fell in 36 hours in the Daintree river catchment
area and the river rose that high the cafe at the ferry crossing
only had its roof sticking out of the water and the current was
that strong that the ferry cables on the north side broke and
the ferry would have washed out in to the ocean had it not been
for the cables holding on the south side. When the water subsided
again the ferry was sitting high and dry on the riverbank and
it took a week to get it back in action again. Meanwhile the reef
trip operator in Cape Tribulation used his boat to ferry tourists
out to Port Douglas and food back up. You can see some more pics
of awesome Cape Trib weather on our weather
page.
Completion
of the road - In April 2002 the last section of
road was sealed. It had taken the local council no less
than TEN years to surface the 36 kilometres of road from
the Daintree river ferry to Cape Tribulation. When you consider
the 6700 km. long Great Wall of China was also built in
ten years, at the rate of a mile a day, that does make you
wonder about the productivity of the Douglas Shire Council
employees a bit.....
Development ban - In June
2004 the Douglas Shire Council managed to severely upset a lot
of people by announcing a 12 month moratorium on all building
and development permits, which was also meant to become part of
the town plan, turning it into a permanent ban on all building.
Many landowners that had not yet built suddenly found their land
worthless and were very upset. For nearly a year an enormous amount
of time and money went in to consultants, lawyers, meetings, planning
etc. and then it was voted out again in May 2005, then voted back
in and so the saga continued on, much to the distress of affected
landowners. Finally in September 2006 a new townplan came in to
force allowing some people to do limited building again, and then
in 2008 the shire was amalgamated with Cairns so once again all
local laws and regulations have to be adapted.
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