Mossman Gorge, Qld

Day 3

Another day, another market. This time we are at Port Douglas and the market is pretty huge, even if it is the same old, same old. Not to worry, someone enjoys browsing in every stall and trying on every top, skirt, wrap on offer.

With the market out of the way, we took ourselves off for a leisurely stroll of the Mossman Gorge. What!!!!! What is all this building and information centre and shop and why is the road blocked? Seems that last year they built this decent sort of information centre and closed traffic access to the gorge itself. Now, for only $6, you are driven up and back in a minibus. The carpark is the same but they have installed a big new walkway up the gorge and including a suspension bridge over one of the creeks. It’s an odd place though; you keep expecting to come across the head of the gorge and a waterfall, but you don’t. You’re led up the path through and above the rainforest, with views of the river and then up to a lookout. You can’t see anything much because the rainforest has grown so much, and then you go on to a junction where you can take a 2km round trip hike. I was by myself at that stage and elected to give it a miss. One of the ‘attractions’ is a swim in a rock pool, but you’d have to be a iceberg to actually go in. On the way back down we took the alternate path and boardwalk which is the original one we remember.

Back in the centre, we decided on the Barra Burger option and it was a struggle to eat it all. One thing they did have, which we highly recommend, is a fresh pineapple fruit drink. Yummo!

Port Douglas’ main street needed to be examined, in case there were some dress shops that had been missed (there were), and then we checked out the 4 mile beach. Just as well it was low tide, because the beach is really not much more than a narrow strip of sand and extensive sandy mud flats. 

Mossman Gorge, Qld