Mossman and Cooya Beach

Today we went up to the town of Mossman for breakfast and then up into the hills to visit Mossman Gorge.

Mossman Gorge is really beautiful. Lots of water rushing over big granite boulders. We have been so lucky with the weather, given we are in the ‘wet tropics’ it hasn’t been that wet. This meant Mossman Gorge wasn’t as dangerous as it can be. People have died swimming in the gorge as the currents are very strong and it is prone to flash flooding.

We caught the shuttle bus up to the walking track and headed into the rainforest. There are a number of lookouts and while you can go swimming in the lower part of the gorge it is not recommended for the reasons above.

Our guide took us on a walk higher up in the rainforest to another swimming hole that is a lot safer and just as scenic.

This rainforest was a lot denser than the section of the Daintree Rainforest we visited but just as humid. After a couple of hours walking and a paddle in the river we went back down to the office for lunch and then over to Cooya Beach where local indigenous man Linc took us for a walk and showed us how the aborigines used a number of the plants and creatures that inhabit their area.

Linc was really interesting and passionate about his people and his culture. He tried to teach us how to throw a spear, lucky we weren’t relying on that for our dinner!

Next stop was an art gallery in Mossman where we had an art lesson with local painter Binna. We painted aboriginal style on a couple of Burnie Beans - so called because if you rub them and put them on your skin they burn.

After a big Italian dinner our tour effectively came to an end. We now have a couple of days in Port Douglas to ourselves before heading back to Cairns and then home.Read more