September 11 - spring break trip

When I got up this morning I decided to go for another walk on the Dubuji boardwalk down the road. At the beginning of my walk I spotted a loose “group” of birds, including several new species, like an emerald dove, a male shining flycatcher, some metallic starlings, and a rufous fantail. I saw another noisy pitta on the boardwalk too, which was really cool. It’s too bad I couldn’t get a picture to show you all how beautiful pittas are.

After I got done with my walk I packed up my stuff and enjoyed the tropical weather as I waited for the tour bus to pick me up around 1:30. On the bus ride to Port Douglas our sharp-eyed driver stopped and backed up a bit when he spotted walking a beautiful wild cassowary walking through the forest! It was hard to tell through the thick vegetation (even though it was close to the road), but some of us thought we may have seen a second cassowary. It was definitely a treat to see this large, endangered bird in the wild. I tried to get a picture through the window but the forest was too thick that the shutter speed wasn’t fast enough to get a photo that’s focused enough to tell that there’s a cassowary in the vegetation.
We stopped near Port Douglas at Mossman Gorge state park for a 45 minute break. There were a few Australian brush turkeys along the path, looking for handouts from tourists. In the creek there were a lot of large, rounded boulders scattered around, and a swimming hole where some people swam. I hiked farther up the trail, across a swinging suspension bridge, into some more rainforest. There were large boulders scattered in the forest and a lot of moss on the rocks, ground, and trees, no doubt the reason the park is called Mossman.

In Port Douglas I was dropped off at my hostel where I checked in, dropped my bags in the room, and went out to explore the town. Port Douglas is an nice little town with lots of shops and plenty of things to do. After spending several days up in the remote, rural rainforest of Cape Tribulation, it felt good just to walk around town and feel like I was in civilization once again.
After I oriented myself with the town, including the location of the grocery store, I went back to my room and made my bed. This hostel (Parrotfish Lodge) quickly became the favorite out of all of the hostels I’ve stayed at here in Australia. The rooms were very clean, the common areas were decorated with bright paintings from a modern Aboriginal artist, the kitchen was the cleanest and most organized I’ve ever seen in a hostel, and there was a nice lounge area just out my door with a huge coffee table (made out of a slice of a big log), two big couches, and a TV. It’s been forever since I watched TV, so I sat around and watched it, catching an episode each of Futurama, Australian Idol, and Law and Order. I met a guy and girl that were from Canberra in the lounge, but already graduated from university. They shared some fresh chopped pineapple with me.

Tonight my room had one German girl that I talked to for a bit, two other girls, and three guys. It’s interesting being put in a room at a hostel and never knowing who your roommates are going to be.