General News
30 January, 2024
Tours boost shire businesses
ELEVEN tour operators have started taking tourists north of Cairns to the Mossman Gorge and the southern part of the Daintree National Park following the reopening of the Captain Cook Highway or Great Barrier Reef Drive last Saturday.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive officer Mark Olsen said the reopening was a significant milestone in the recovery for tourism operators north of Palm Cove and would help to increase the number of visitors in the region.
“Many tourism staff travel north for work, so the opening of the Great Barrier Reef Drive on the Captain Cook Highway also reconnects businesses in Port Douglas with their staff,” he said.
“Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre has reopened giving visitors access to the southern section of Daintree National Park to see one of the world’s oldest rainforests on a Ngadiku Dreamtime Walk with a Kuku Yalanji guide.
“Daintree village is a popular touring option with lunch available at the Daintree Village Hotel while wildlife cruises on the Daintree River are operated by Solar Whisper and Croc Express.”
Kuku Yalanji elder Uncle Roy Gibson, 67, whose dream led to the creation of the Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre, said the recent flooding had covered the Mossman River’s rocky bed in sand reminding him of his childhood days growing up in the gorge.
“The story we were told was about the serpent that comes along the river," he said.
"Up in the mountain when it gets darker, that is the time the serpent comes out and that’s when the old people said don’t got to the river now, he is going to come along and take you.
"That story tells us not to go down there because there is going to be a flash flood.”
