Cape Tribulation - inaptly named

We had a great time taking a fourwheel drive tour with 10 others up to Cape Tribulation from Cairns, taking a cruise along the Daintree River, and having a picnic in the rainforest. The lush plant and animal life at Cape Tribulation was much more impressive than I had imagined.

We saw a few crocodiles and some casuaries and many multicolored plants and birds. The basket ferns, lawyer cane, and Hairy Mary plants were my favourite. It was interesting to see how some plants were actually parasites while others had symbiotic relationships.

Quick Tips:

Definitely join a tour company that takes you on a fourwheel drive excursion. You will miss much of the beauty of the area if you don't have an experienced guide there to point it out. Also make sure you dress in layers as it can vary in temperature quite drastically during the day.

Best Way To Get Around:

4 wheel drive vehicle and walking.

Beautiful room with balcony overlooking the bay. Unfortunately, there were many ants in the room. We notified the front desk, but they said don''t worry about it. We didn''t like that. The location itself was excellent. The Reef Casino was directly across the street, and the hotel was right on the esplanade. We could walk to any bar or restaurant quickly from the hotel. We enjoyed our view and saw the Pacific Sky cruiseship leaving the harbour which was fun. The room had a king bed, a desk and chair, large closet, and extensive minibar. We were impressed that the bathroom had bleached and unbleached toilet tissue. We had never seen that before. The room was quiet at night, so we did get a great night's rest.

The resort itself was huge and had a ton of guest rooms. There was a very nice pool and there were several towers of rooms. We weren''t thrilled with our room. The room was small and right near the elevator, so it was extremely loud. We really had trouble sleeping on Friday and Saturday nights, and there was no view outside of our window because the hotel is downtown. It is only about a four block walk to the shops and bars on the Esplanade or the restaurants in downtown, so the hotel location was convenient.

We had never stayed somewhere that required you to insert your room key into a slot in the room in order for the electricity to work. We found that energy-efficient, but we were not pleased that no one at the desk advised us of this fact when we checked in. We didn''t eat in the restaurants, so I can''t recommend them. We only got about 4 tv channels in the room, so there was nothing to watch. I''d say the hotel was about average, and I''d stay at the Hilton Cairns (see my write-up) before I''d come back here.

We loved the large portions of typical greasy, American food at this American-themed restaurant. The decor consisted of US and Canadian license plates and photos and advertisements from Hollywood. Service was friendly and efficient. We got great burgers and large dinner salads and mozarella sticks - all were excellent! There were plenty of televisions broadcasting the State of Origin rugby match, and the patrons were very into it.

It's really cool to see all of the vegetation. The river is flanked on both sides by hundreds of mangrove trees whose exposed roots belie the fact that the river was at low levels. The trees had very impressive roots. Some trees housed basket ferns. Crocodiles were hiding amongst the trees in search of unsuspecting fish. We saw a few different types of fish, but the crocodiles and trees were the main attractions.

Our boat's navigator was quite a character, and he made the cruise very enjoyable. His name was Bob, and he was a very enthusiastic narrator. He had been giving cruises for years. The entire trip lasted about an hour, and it was definitely worth it.