The Bouncing Stones
You’ll find bouncing stones at Thorntons Beach and as history would have it, this is a sacred place . I wanted to take one of those bouncing stones, I was so attracted to them and after all I’m always collecting stones, feathers, bits of wood and other interesting obscure objects from nature….. but my companions advised against it….’no good would come of it’ they said.
As the story goes, in more recent times after someone posted about the mythology of the area on facebook, bouncing stones were bouncing right back to their origins by people who had innocently been compelled to take a sample with them when they returned to distant lands, far, far away and who had by now become a little freaked out by the prospect of bad luck befalling them..
Whilst these stones are not likely to be bounced about, there are hundreds of small rounded stones laying about this beach
So I played with them, bounced them across the huge hulking black boulders with creatures stuck to them like barnacles on a ship and all the while continued to argue with myself about whether I should temp faith or listen to what my more learned companions were telling me and accept the old adage to ‘tread lightly’ and ‘take only photographs’…pft I guess the prospect of bringing the dark forces upon me was not all that appealing in the end!
I love the Daintree, it just oozes tranquility, serenity, solitude and peacefulness and you can’t help but feel that you are a million miles away from civilization. So strong and overwhelmingly empowering is that feeling of being at one with nature. It’s no wonder it’s a world heritage listed environment and one of the oldest rainforests in the world.
Whilst so many people that come to Cairns head further north to see for themselves the wonder that is the Daintree, it’s still such a place that you never feel like you’re jostling for space, unlike so many other scenic attractions that are so widely promoted throughout the world.
Of course if you’re after the high life, then you wouldn’t be heading to this region so it’s a certain type of person that heads here, whether that’s for 4 WDriving, jungle surfing, crocodile adventures, horse riding, kayaking, eco touring, participating in a retreat or assorted other types of adventures or doing nothing much at all other than lazing about, reading a book, swimming and generally relaxing. But one things for sure, it’s a nature lovers paradise and a pristine environment at that.
Mangrove’s twist and contort creating grotesque landscapes that look like they’re from a land that time forgot!
Not a person in sight, a typical scene at Cape Tribulation and it’s surrounds…it really is somewhere where you can just ‘be’, there’s plenty to do or nothing to do at all, it’s really up to you but one things for sure, it’s a most beautiful and serene place to experience.
Of course if it’s a backpackers holiday you’re looking for then you can have that too…you can do as much or as little as you like but if you’re smart you’ll choose the latter, getting blotto can be done anywhere and this place is to be savoured wholeheartedly, it’s a place like no other.
Early morning and the beach is deserted…my favourite kind of place
I wandered down onto the beach from my eco village digs as soon as I woke up and this is what I found, pure solitude, it was quiet, it was warm, it was sunny and it was so inviting that I just wanted to lay on the sand and breathe the air, bask in the morning glow of the sunrise and count my blessings for being in this piece of paradise.
This fan palm is endemic to the Daintree, stumbling across a forest of these unique palms is a wondrous sight
I was fortunate enough to be with someone who once lived here so we were taken to a secret palm forest, off some beaten track where the only sounds were our own voices and an assortment of birds along with some weird sounding creature that I had never heard before. But I was assured that it was only some local species of bird that I was hearing and that I could stop looking behind me expecting some yeti or guila monster to come rushing out of the bushes directly at me!!!…yes I know I have a vivid imagination but that is just another example of how isolated this region is..it’s all consuming and at the same time so very, very appealing.
The isolation you feel in the Daintree is something that is rarely experienced elsewhere
Who doesn’t love the white sands of a deserted beach?
White sandy beaches that seem to stretch into infinity and with those mountains that are such an integral part of the Cairns landscape, no matter where you might be…it’s magic is what it is, just pure magic and a large part of why I choose to live here, I am a mountain kind of girl after all! 🙂
It’s an idyllic day for a stroll along the beach as the tide is coming in
Beaches that have rocks to scramble and over and around, mountains that stretch all the way down to the sea and deserted beaches that remind me of what it might be like to be marooned on a desert isle send my mind into another dimension as I drift off and away with nothing to distract me from exploring the vast realms of my fertile imagination.
It’s an eerie experience walking through the mangrove swamps, I’ve never seen anything like it!
Meandering along a boardwalk through the mangrove swamps is a weird sensation..the ground is covered with what looks like some sort of brown velvety carpet that seems to creep over all these crooked and twisted hooks poking out of the ground. They are in fact mangrove roots and there is a smell like no other, at first unpleasant but soon becomming just another sensation along this journey of discovery.
This landscape is so foreign to anything I have ever seen before or smelled!!!
It’s so easy to feel like you’re the only one here
Oh yes, Cape Tribulation, I do so love you…I can’t wait to get back to you, too experience your serenity, your beauty, your awesome display of nature’s wonder that mesmerizes me like a narcotic………
shantiodyssey 