Sea Kayaking: Cape Tribulation

MY TRIP TO FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND
Follow Kate as she dives, climbs, eats and sunbakes her way through lush Far North Queensland.

Massive Attack poetically sums up what went through my mind when I paddled beyond the sand of Cape Tribulation Beach "I was lookin' back to see if you were lookin' back at me, To see me lookin' back at you" - their song Blue Lines.

I may have had the most nauseas time in my life on this kayak, but what I saw was worth it. The silent view from out in the water stopped time. It was clean and clear - pure beauty. When I looked back to shore to see how far I had gone, the idea of being where the rainforest and barrier reef hit me suddenly. The lush mountainous landscape contrasted the stark white sand on the beach, and it took the focus of our photographs. Writing about how spectacular does not serve the view justice - have a look at the pictures in the travel brochures because it looks exactly like it (but better). The sand is white, the beach is usually deserted and the rainforest is right in front of you.

The day started early with a pick up from our hotel at around 8.30am by a very friendly local tour guide. As we weaved our way to other hotels picking up other paddlers, he told us of his story about why he came to Cape Tribulation and like many other residents, he stayed because he loved the tempo of life and the stark beauty of the land. Like others, he came to Cape Tribulation on a holiday, backpacking through the region and stopped in Cape Tribulation to do some diving and relaxing. He scraped together some money and took out a loan to buy the kayaking business and is one of the few permanent residents of the area.

Starting the tour
The tour started on Cape Tribulation beach where we picked up our kayaks and put on our stinger suits, as it was stinger season (January). Our guide was monkey-man-leather-hands Kane, who was not a local but another case of "I like it here and I will stay". After some brief instructions on how to paddle, we were out on the water quickly. Even if you have never paddled in a kayak before, it doesn't take a genius to work out how to do it - everyone can do this activity.

I grabbed a one person kayak, which I realise later - was a blessing in disguise. After paddling out a little way, we would all stop and have a look back at the surrounding mountains, Mt Sorrow and Mt Disappointment etc. The tour was to go around the tip of Cape Tribulation beach, despite the smallish 0.5-1 metre waves, I was exhausted - and even worse, sea sick. I didn't think that I could get sea sick in a kayak - I should have considered that the waves and being right out there (I think boats have some sort of wave insulation - or you don't feel the waves as much but there's no protection on the kayak). I was catatonically nauseous. I wanted to vomit with every wave and by this time, I was weakly paddling away and thinking back now, I was probably just bobbing up and down in the same spot as the waves took me back as far as I had paddled forward.

The tour guide was far away and I had to decide to retire. Luckily my friend who was in the other one man kayak was also buggered and decided to return to shore as well. Since we had ventured almost to the point on Cape Tribulation and we had no idea where to return our kayaks, we just headed straight for shore. All I wanted to do was to get out of my stinger suit, which was hot and smelly (because it was black and sea stained) and get to dry land for some water!

When I got to shore, I literally collapsed into a heap, it didn't bother me that my kayak was drifting down the beach and the flies were buzzing around me. Laying there in the searing sun, I couldn't see where the track back to the shed was. That's one thing about all the beaches in Cape Tribulation - if you don't have any idea where your path back to the car-park or the hotel or tour base is, you just have to walk along the entire beach and try to find something that looks familiar. If it's dark and you have no torch, you have almost no chance of finding the track back.

In a way, I was glad that I was in a one man kayak as I would have ruined the tour for my partner, but in another respect, I thought Kane should have told us that we'd never make it beyond 500 metres. After I had clawed my way back from the nauseous sea sickness, my friend and I explored the jungle to try and find food. We knew there were mango, jackfruit and macadamia trees all around us, but we did not have any idea what these trees looked like (we could only identify it from the fruit hanging). We didn't find anything, but the trees on the beach were perfect for climbing and that's what we did in our special black ninja stinger suits. We looked like we were out of the movie The Life Aquatic, invading the secret island.

Something to think about
Despite seeing very little on the tour, we did get some nuggets of wisdom from Kane - he told us during spring, when there are red flowers in bloom, it means the turtles are hatching and the sharks are out in the water because they eat the baby turtles. He also said that the property where the kayaks were kept was previously a hippy commune which was used to defeat Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen's National Party Government bulldozing the Daintree Rainforest for timber. Luckily this has stopped and there are continued plans for the Queensland government to buy back private land and return it to state as national park land.

When the rest of the group returned, we were treated to Jackfruit and some fresh coconut with lime. The pulpy coconut was refreshing especially since we had been back on the beach climbing trees - we were gnawing on it like matted-hair dirty castaways.

Travel Notes

DEPARTS
Bus pick up from all hotels, departing between 7:30am and 8:15am (confirm prior to departure).

DURATION
3.5hrs for the adventure trek, 2.5hrs for the sunset trek

COST
Adventure Trek
Departs at 8.30 AM for a 3.5 hour adventure.
Take to the magical waters of Cape Tribulation Bay in our sturdy one or two person kayaks and explore the unique environment of where the rainforest meets the reef.

Your experienced local guide will introduce you to the Cape's amazing variety of land and marine wildlife and lead you around the magnificent Cape Tribulation headland and onto Myall Beach. After morning tea we paddle back around the Cape and fringing coral reefs, taking in the stunning views. Coconut husking awaits our return. Cost for the Adventure Trek is $69 per person.

Sunset Trek
A 2.5 hour paddle in Cape Tribulation Bay.
Enjoy the solitude because at this time of the day we get the whole place to ourselves. Watch the sky light up as the sun sets behind Mt. Sorrow. There is only one place where the sunset is visible in Cape Trib and that is from the ocean, all the landlubbers miss out. And some days you can even see a cassowary walk along the beach! Cost for the Sunset Trek is $59 per person.

Bring

Sunscreen and don't forget to put some on your foot. There was a patch of skin showing through my full body suit, which included a hood. The 2 square centimetres that was not covered was as red as a rash and I could tell that the burnt triangle on my foot would remind me of kayaking for the rest of summer.
Sunglasses - on the water, the glare is blinding and you'll be a lot more comfortable with sun glasses.
Hat
Swimming gear, obviously wear it under your stinger suit.
Towel (not that necessary because it's so hot, maybe suited during winter)
Water, exercising for 3.5hrs makes you very thirsty.
Camera

Tips
If you have back pain, this might be a good one to sit out as I had a very sore back once I returned from an hour of paddling, but I wasn't offered a backrest.
If you get sea sick, take motion sickness tablets before you take-off.