Richard Famous Tours

The Launch of Richard Famous

2006-11-20T05:21:00.001-08:00

The launch of the much anticipated website has now begun!

If you have ever wanted more from the standard beaten track package tour, then your prayers have been answered.

To see what others have experienced on a tour with us, please check out our Video and Image Gallery. There you shall find a visual impression of what you can expect from a tour with us.
We understand that urban street-scapes are not what our region is famous for. Click on the menu on the left to see what each sector of the tour has in store for you.

Our aim is to provide an insight into how people interact with some of the most beautiful, yet remote and rugged landscapes in Australia.

Along with our local, knowledgeable guides, embark on a timeless journey.

Feel more engaged in the experience. Swap yarns and become more like an explorer through the region, rather than merely a tourist in the area.

Like to know more? Get in touch with our Friendly team at the email address below.

lynehamc@yahoo.com.au

How do I book a Richard Famous Tour?

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Tours depart Palm Cove en Route to Cooktown during the season

from August 1st to December 13th.

Bookings fill very fast, so we take orders any time up to 12 months before the date of the tour.

Booking is very easy:

Just tell us, your preferred dates, and
how many people are coming with you and
We provide a prompt reply to your email address.

Click here to Email Us

When we have finalised your itinery we will provide you with an invoice and you can pay via pay pal. You pay us by hitting the donate button, and paying us the amount you were invoiced for in the email. When we receive payment we send you a confirmation via email.

Contact us at lynehamc@yahoo.com.au

Our expert staff will get back to you and will assist you to create a customised itinerary in any of the following languages;

German
French
English
Spanish
Italian.

Australia is a long way from just about everywhere. A lot of people get to Cairns and with so much else of Australia to see, omit traveling further North to this part of the world. For the sake of an extra day or two, we think it well worth the effort to explore this natural unspoiled wilderness.

What is a Richard Famous Tour?

2006-11-20T05:10:00.000-08:00

What is a Richard Famous Tour?

In a nutshell, Palm Cove to Cooktown and back. If you’re lucky.If you’re very lucky, you decide to live here and don’t come back at all!

There are a host of activities included that you can participate in, without having to reach for your wallet.

Meet and Greet the Locals, get a feel for how they live, and make acquaintances along the way.

Discover further points of interest and perhaps plan a return trip or extend your visit. We can drop you off and collect you later.

Palm Cove

2006-11-20T05:08:00.000-08:00

Day Zero

Palm Cove is all about meet and greet, Australian style.

We’ll teach you the finer points of a typical suburban backyard Bar B Que. These little beauties are North Queensland Red Claw. They are incredibly good eating.

This cultural experience is a must for any explorer of cuisine in a very authentic setting dubbed as the “Amphora Street Hilton”.

Here you shall rub shoulders with a select few local inhabitants, endemic to Palm Cove. Over a cold beverage, or perhaps two, you can engage in conversations that truly define what is means to be an Australian.

Topics include sport, sport, and the sporting aspects of sport. All sports excluding World Series Baseball, which is a game they play in Canada without an international reach, are likely to get a mention.

But don’t worry, improvisation is the native dialect during a backyard conversation and you shall no doubt emerge an expert as the sun sets and the food disappears.

Now that you are in at least one of the only two states to be in, namely Queensland, or inebriated, the time shall have come, for engaging with some more of the locals in a wider public context.

Palm Cove offers an enormous array of 3 alcoholic beverage serving establishments. Don’t be fooled. The staggering diversity inherent, is quite enough to take in, in a mere 24 hours.

For this reason, drinking sessions are normally confined to stints of 8 hours. First port of call, should be the Palm Cove Surf Club, so named for it’s hosting of the Surf Club of the same name.

Quite the misnomer, as there is no surf to speak of outside the Cyclone Season, on account of the Great Barrier Reef, protecting us from surfers and other popular cults that wreak havoc in suburban shopping malls.

Mutter the word "surf" to a local and no doubt, mention will be made of Rat Shit Bay. To some a mere urban legend, to others a means of restoring local pride when it comes to the non supply of waves. Make your own judgment or use this as an ice breaker when meeting some of the locals.

The meat tray raffle. This is the cornerstone of Australian Venture Capital. Money is raised through the sale of raffle tickets, a printed ticket with a number on it. A wheel with numbers on it is spun, once sufficient tickets are sold, and should your number be called, you are now the proud owner of some serious meat.

You may, in this euphoric state of heightened goodwill, invite the entire bar back to your place after the close of drinks for a Bar B Que. Thus nature repeats itself.

Other attractions to the Surf Club, are the locals who are as approachable as you are to them. The atmosphere therefore is highly conducive to meeting other people from all walks of life and everyone enjoys the evening.

There is a pool table, which you may know as a snooker table. Be warned, just as one should not confuse a crocodile with an alligator, so to0, one should avoid such comparisons with these two, related yet different tables.

A pool table is an entirely different animal altogether than its ancestral heritage may suggest. Of the Pool table Family, there are a multitude of species within.

The Pub Pool Table, employs the Pub Rules. These may have been developed by, and be custom to, the Pub ( Alcoholic Beverage Serving Establishment ) that houses the Pool Table.

Concerned? Alarmed? Fearful of committing Pool Table Taboo in Public.. Then don’t be. Richard Famous himself is our resident International Queensland Pub Pool Pundit. That’s right, and he is in on hand to ensure that such fatal errors are never contemplated much less done, when it comes to all things related to the Challenge Pub Pool Table.

Fear not, as the master of the known game takes you through, on location, in situ, the finer aspects of Table Etiquette, the Beverage Handicap, Third Year Engineering Trigonometry as you along side him, accept challenges in the format know as “The Challenge Pub Pool Table”. Simply put, when a game is in progress, 2 individuals or 2 pairs play in accordance with the local Pub rules. The winning person or team, as may be the case, retain the right to stay on the table and accept the challenge of the next opposition.

The would-be opponent places a coin on the table, in a queue normally monitored closely. Or by placing initials onto a chalk board, or a combination of the two.

When their name and/or coin is up, the balls are racked and play commences.

Casual conversation proceeds throughout this casual tournament, making it the perfect backdrop to a thoroughly entertaining evening. Punctuated by cigarette breaks out the back, you are in sure shape for a swell time at the surf club.

Having now mastered the goofie foot at the surfie, you are negotiating the swell on roote (that's right!) to that place that was pointed out to you on your way to the Surfie that you seem to have now forgotten.

Exaactly! The Après Beach Bar of Palm Cove boasts, well it just boasts really. Just a short walk, or long stagger from the Surfie is a beach bar of the highest repute. It has a resident pirate, is adorned with items of intrigue hanging from every orifice. If you are fortunate enough to be there of a Sunday Night, you shall catch the ambient sounds of Richies ’80s’ Retro Show.

Guaranteed to lubricate the elbows and get you out of your chair and rocking deep into the night. Cool off, have a smoke on the deck and be caressed by the gentle sounds of the waves riding the breeze. This is it folks, the relaxed atmosphere the groovey crew, with who, by now you….have become well acquainted.

Ah the few we happy few…

Yup, that will make more sense when you're actually on song, fully On Board, with Richard Famous. There is one last port of Call for the evening, bearing in mind, the tour really at this point is only kicking off… and this has to be the PALM COVE TAVERN. or the PCT, short for the Politically Correct Hotel.

A free pool table, hence "political correctness", large screens and late license, makes it the logical choice for the part of the evening usually reserved for port and cigars. However there is nothing reserved about this no holds barred late spot. The last item on the agneda for day Zero.

Your eyes will adjust to this well lit, little known about Gem of a spot dotting the Palm Cove Skyline. Be entertained by some of the live and local talent that sometimes makes it on to the main stage. Pull up a bar stool and engage in random conversation with a complete stranger about sport and the finer points of Pub Pool. Challenge them to a game in confidence now that you have emerged as a prodigy under the tuition of the local master.

Drink, be merry and otherwise reflect on the time of your life knowing that this is the mere launch of the rest of it. If you take this as any indication, Day One shapes to be every bit as exciting.

You could end the tour right there. And you can, should you wish only to take a short day trip out to Palm Cove for the cultural experience outlined above we encourage this as an absolute minimum.

Keep on scrolling and rolling your way through the web site for more adventure with Richard Famous.

Mossman Gorge

2006-11-20T05:02:00.002-08:00

Day One

What awaits along the way toward the end of day one, will surely allure you out of bed for the morning call and breakfast. Thick juicy sausages, of the type you saw riding on that meat tray, that you curiously did not win…. Eggs, the type you dream about, and the unquestionable aroma of the finest Black Italian Espresso Coffee.

For sure, as the debate raging as to whether or not you can face another day, is resolved in the affirmative…. You emerge, from your state, safe at least, in the knowledge that you indeed in Queensland. The wave of sounds and smells lift you to the semblance of a browned out power grid just firing up for the morning shift.

This subdued state of mind is quite intentional, albeit consequential to the night before. The concept behind it may not hit you until you emerge from underneath the waters of Mossman Gorge. The discussion about this milestone along your journey will undoubtedly feature prominently as you mumble your way through breakfast and painfully recall some of the antics from the night before.

A quick equipment check of the vehicles, last call and away you embark in the comfort of our very modern 4 x 4 fleet. Good thing you got chatting with your tour guide the night before. He will point out some of the places of interest along the way and have a better idea of the sorts of things you may find interesting given your discussion.

There will be time to stop periodically for a quick stretch and to enable photographs and sight seeing.

The flora and fauna of Australia are quite something to behold. There is an abundance to be seen on your journey, and also there are many wildlife parks where you can stop and spend a day. If this is of interest then you can make arrangements prior to departing. At least you will get to know where these places are in relation to Cairns and you can easily make your own arrangements with us or directly with the tour attraction themselves.

Now after a gator aide or two, down the track, there seems still, not to be the strength to go on!

Its all good. We’ve been there many times before and the promise of the instant hang over cure from an hour and a half ago has arrived. In order to avail of this local healing secret, one must fully immerse into the cool waters that run through Mossman Gorge.

The transcendence is something of a marvel and the refreshing buzz is felt well into the afternoon. To get to the waters edge, there is a short path. About 4oo meters through world heritage listed Rain Forest.

There are places in the gorge where swimming is prohibited and we shall be sure to avoid those.

The pristine surroundings make for the perfect location for a snack before we set off once more for the Daintree Ferry Crossing.

Cape Tribulation

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The Daintree rainforest its old. Very Very Old. It also is heritage listed and we are always respectful of the environment leaving it as tidy as we found it. Traveling further North of Mossman, just before the small township of Daintree, we turn off to the Daintree River Ferry Crossing.

If you have ever wanted to be in a Tarzan movie and trek the mighty Limpopo River, then this is the local equivalent.

The warning signs for estuarine crocodiles are however genuine. You shall be in no doubt now that you are getting off the beaten track when you reach this point.

There are some local tour operators who we can put you in touch with, should you wish to come back to this spot, or indeed, any spot along your journey with us. All you need do is express an interest.

The crossing for me, feels like I am leaving civilization behind. Stepping back in time. An emotion reinforced by some of the native species of cycad palms particular to the area. The cassowaries emanate a reptilian vibe even though they are in fact a flightless bird.

It is fantastic to be enveloped in the rainforest and to have all of the senses thoroughly switched on and in active use as we venture into the terrain.

As we make our way along the winding track we make summit and peer out over the Daintree River Valley below and the river Delta. Snapper Island, lays just of the coast and makes for a spectacular photo opportunity.

Day one conludes at Cape Tribulation, the perfect place to rest up. The next day takes in Cooktown via the Cooktown Track.

Cooktown Track

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Cooktown Track

The track is only suitable for 4x4 vehicles.

It takes in some of the most superb scenery the Nation has to offer.

It always pays to keep an eye out, you never now what wildlife you shall encounter along the way.

These images speak for themselves... Check out this video footage..... Next Stop Historic Cooktown

Cooktown

2006-11-20T05:01:00.001-08:00

Congratulations
You've landed in Historic Cooktown!!

Pehaps you though you were doing it tough but spare a thought for the first Europeans who claimed it for the crown.

This monument bears witness to the arrival of Captain James cook in 1770.

A festival is held each year to commemorate this event.

Cool off in a local watering hole..

Get to know some of the locals.

There is good fishing off the Jetty, or ask about how to book a local charter. Its a good position to do some serious thinking even if the fish are not on the bite.

The Lookout is also a good vantage point to see the surrounding islands and reflecton what the adventure that was.

As the sun slowly sets on our Journey, you are welcome to stay on explore and make your own way back. If you prefer we can return you to Cairns via the Inland Road which is faster if not as spectacular as the coastal track.

Thank you for your email

2006-08-09T04:19:00.000-07:00

Thank you for sending us an email of your booking enquiry.

Our staff shall be in contact with you shortly.

Regards

Richard Famous Tours