Cape Tribulation and The Daintree

Getting there

From Mossman Gorge we travelled north, crossed the Daintree River by ferry and entered the Daintree Rainforest (a.k.a. “The Daintree”). It’s like entering a completely different country, such an amazing and beautiful place.

Our one and only sighting of a cassowary was here. You can just make out his colourful head between the branches in the photo below.

Some significant road work along a narrow windy stretch above the ocean.

Cape Tribulation Camping

We stayed at Cape Trib Camping, same place we stayed in 2015. A lovely camping area, lots of new amenities. They now have a dump point and WiFi and Telstra has installed a mobile phone tower nearby. The restaurant deck is now much larger, a great place for a wood fired pizza. It rained the day we arrived and on our last day, the rest of our time was sunny.

Daintree Ice Cream Co. and Tropical Orchard.

After extensive field research we concluded that the best coffee and the best ice-cream were both at the Daintree Ice Cream Co. So good. We went back a few times, just to be sure.

Lions Den Hotel, Rossville

We did a day trip to the Lions Den Hotel. The 4WD-only Bloomfield Track goes from Cape Trib, through Bloomfield to the Lions Den Hotel in Rossville and then onto Cooktown. I’d forgotten just how hair raising some of the track is. So steep it felt like the car would flip backwards. But of course it didn’t, though it the steepest section did require 4WD low range up a grooved, concrete surface. The road winds its way through some incredible country.

The Lions Den was flooded by Cyclone Jasper in late 2023, with staff being airlifted from the roof by helicopter. It was restored and re-opened in June 2024. Eagle-eyed readers will note a different lion guarding the entrance since our last visit in 2021.

Sadly the Bana Yirriji Art Centre in Kuku Yalanji Country, in the Wujal Wujal shire was destroyed by flooding during Cyclone Jasper, and has not yet opened. We had bought a beautiful art work of the Great Barrier Reef there in 2021 and were hoping to again meet Florence Williams, the artist, to buy another of her works.

Masons Swimming Hole and Cafe

We had swum at Mason’s Swimming Hole last time we were here, but didn’t this time due to the rain. We did try one of their famous crocodile burgers, quite a unique flavour.

Floravilla Ice Cream Factory

Floravilla Ice Cream Factory makes organic ice cream. They have lots of flavours. Personally we found them more watery and less creamy than others. The garden is gorgeous and the art work amazing. The business was up for sale in 2021 when we visited, and either still is or is again.

Daintree Discovery Centre

We visited the Daintree Discovery Centre for the first time and found it to be excellent, with displays to suit all ages, an elevated walk through the rainforest levels, a tower overlooking the canopy and a ground level walk featuring animatronic dinosaurs.