Chapter Ten

 March 2003

Cape Tribulation, named by James Cook because it was where his troubles started. As I look out at the achingly blue sea I hope it will be where mine end.

   It's where the rainforest meets the reef, just a strip of clean sand separating them. I wish I could walk into the sea, but swimming here is not an option due to jellyfish and crocodiles.

   Wherever I go there is always danger.

   I take a guided tour through the forest. The air is close and thick with moisture, pressing into me. Rain drips through the leaves of giant palm trees. 

   I speak to two girls on the tour. Unthinkingly I push my wet hair out of my face. They frown at my neck, still bruised purple with teeth marks. They don't speak to me again.

   I walk on the boardwalks among the mangroves near the hostel. Their roots are like huge blades jutting from the water. Balls of rain tumble from the sky. I shelter under umbrella leaves. There is a small covered area with a map just outside the mangrove area. Spiders as big as my face lurk on webs.

   I join a horse riding trip through the forest and along the beach. I have never ridden a horse before. I find their hooves, their teeth, their bulk terrifying.

   Perhaps the horse senses my fear. As we ride along a path hung with vines they catch around my neck. The horse canters on. The vines drag me back. For a second I am hanging like a criminal from the gallows. The vines snap and I fall to the ground.

   The guides stop. They ask if I want to get back on again. I do. The horse seems to treat me more gently now. We trot along the beach. The sun glints on the sea. The forest hums with green.

   We are asked to write comments in the guest book. Another member of the group laughs and asks what sort of thing I'm going to write. I think about quoting that Chumbawamba song, the line about getting up again. Instead I write something generic about it being a great experience.

   In my dorm three girls are whispering. They look at me. 'I don't think she speaks English,' one of them says.

   'I do. I'm English,' I say.

   They look embarrassed, then become friendly. They are only in Australia for a month. They joke about how they have more luggage than I do.

   I go back to Cairns for one night. Tomorrow I'm going on the Oz Experience bus to Alice Springs.




Tubthumping by Chumbawamba

Chapter Eleven

   

   

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