Daintree N.P. - Cape Tribulation

It was time to move on - we were planning to explore Daintree National Park for the next couple of days and were undecided whether we should take the van into Cape Tribulation. After speaking with the ferry company they said it would be no problem. We left about 10am after saying farewell to the Ingliss family (Brendan, Lucy-Ann and Coopers friend Matthew). We drove into Mossman and filled up with diesel at the fuel depot which was on a steep driveway. As we pulled out of the driveway we heard a huge crash and got out to see that the tow hitch on the car had bottomed out and sheared off so the van was only stopped by the chains from running into the back of the car. We chocked up the van and Rick managed to get the trailer brake on, before unhitching the car. Rex and Tony came across from the neighbouring property and offered to store the van while we sorted ourselves out. I took the kids for a walk while Rick made a few phone calls to to try and track down the Land Rover part. He located the parts he needed which would be shipped to Cairns and probably take 3 days. Thankfully we had organized roadside assist and RACQ came and took the van to the local caravan park where we decided to store it whilst we continued on. We hurriedly packed everything we would need to stay in the tent for the next couple of nights - sleeping gear, BBQ and cooking utensils, clothes, tent etc. We bought a bite to eat at the Mossman bakery before continuing on to the Daintree River where we caught the cable ferry across at about 2.30pm. The road was narrow and winding but all sealed. We stopped at Mount Alexandra lookout for views over the mouth of the Daintree River. We continued on to the Floravilla Ice Cream factory offering 26 flavours - from chilli chocolate to sweet potato. We stuck with strawberry, chocolate and passionfruit! A little further north we did the Marrdja (jungle) boardwalk through the mangrove community which was about 1.2km. We decided we had better find somewhere to stay so drove on to Cape Tribulation camping and booked a site. Rick got up on the roof to get the tent down and it was at this point we realized we had left the tent poles in the caravan. We enquired about the cabins but they were all booked out. We went and found a phone box, as there was no mobile reception, to find accommodation. We ended up at Ferntree Rainforest Lodge for $168 but they were gorgeous loft cabins set amongst the rainforest with the bats flying overhead. We had dinner at the cafe and had an early night - it had been a long day!