Gummy vs. Scarface

Day 5: Cape Tribulation Cont’d…
It’s funny. Under last night’s conditions, we both slept like babies. I think it was just our bodies’ defence mechanisms. I guess if you’re unconscious, you’re not registering how many bugs are crawling on you. When we woke up, it was a bright and sunny day. Maybe today would be better. We decided to spend to morning on the beach. Let me tell you, it was one of those moments that you never forget. The beach was deserted save for us. It was all ours for the entire morning. We set up shop underneath this giant tree and just sat there. It was stunning. I know I’ve been complaining about how God hates us and how our luck is nonexistent, but really? At that moment, we were both so grateful we were there. We are two pretty lucky clams.

When the afternoon crept around, we got back on the tour bus and headed to the Daintree River. We were going on a crocodile boat tour. Maybe this time we’d finally catch a glimpse of the resident creatures of Australia. We saw a lot of bats in the trees. There was also a little frog that snuck onto the boat. We named him Leroy Brown.

Finally, our guide turned the motor off. He told us to be quiet and just pointed in front of the boat. There he was. It was this massive 4.5 metre long crocodile. It was eerily quiet as he swam by our boat. There wasn’t even a ripple when he went by. I have never seen a croc this close up before and it was creepy. Ash grabbed my shirt to pull me back from the banister. Apparently, I was so caught up in the moment, that I was leaning a little too far over the edge. These crocs are notorious for jumping out of the water and biting their victims. Good on you Ashleigh. Then the creepiest thing happened: the croc submerged itself. Now we had no idea where it was. The guide told us that his name was Gummy because he had no teeth. That came as a slight comfort. But we were told that we should still practice caution because he could still crush us to death and swallow us whole. Back to being terrified.

We sailed on and saw Gummy’s arch enemy, Scarface. He got the name from a fight he had with Gummy. They’ve fought several times over territory. Man, what we would have given to see a croc fight right in front of us. The guide told us a really funny story. A couple of years ago, one guide had taken a boat full of senior citizens out on the croc cruise. They were enjoying a nice sail when they saw a boar on the edge of that water. And before you could say “Shuffleboard”, Gummy launched himself out of the water and chomped down on poor Piglet. As if that wasn’t bad enough, because Gummy doesn’t have any teeth, it had to fling the boar around until pieces of it flew off. These poor grandmas and grandpas had front row seats to this massacre. They were all horrified but told the guide to go in closer because they wanted a better picture. Hilarious.

After this croc cruise, we drove to a beautiful lookout point. See for yourself.

Apparently, this is the beach where they filmed the opening scene of the war film, A Thin Red Line.

After taking a couple of pics here, we went to the Mossman Gorge. It’s this breathtaking fresh water gorge where we all went for a cool dip. The water was so invigorating. It rivals the water in the purest Canadian springs. That was the best bath I have ever taken. Hands down.


Now that we were squeaky clean, we headed home. That night Ash and I went to this pub-like restaurant called “Rattle ‘n’ Hum”. We both ordered the Barramundi, which is a very popular local fish. The portion size was nothing short of monstrous. It was as if they caught a killer whale and served it up to us with a smidge of lemon. And you guys know us; we can handle our food. We left feeling painfully full and ashamed we couldn’t finish our food. And what did we do to sooth our pain? We headed straight to the nearest ice cream parlour and got ourselves a cone. Nothing like ice cream therapy. We had planned a night out on the town, but right when we got back to Gilligan’s, we passed out. Party animals.

Jess

Mosquito bites: 21
Crocodile sightings: 3 (yeah!)
Pounds of fish eaten: 2