Stepping off the Daintree-river ferry, crossing from the wilderness back into civilisation, the first thing I noticed was the absence of sounds. So used had I gotten to the shrieking voices of birds, the deafening crashing of the rain and the disturbing rustling of leaves, that suddenly I felt the world quiet down. Obviously, a person just arriving from the desert would have told me the complete opposite, with crickets still chirping and the wind still blowing, but I just drew blank. And while my mind truly enjoyed this subjective silence and my eyes were amazed at the sudden open landscape, I also realized that those were the signs of life. And now they were gone. Suppressed by a society so focused on controlling nature in order to distinguish their 'humanity' from the 'primitiveness' of the wild that also all kinds of natural instincts in their members are ridiculed. Did you ever try to ride the subway in Berlin barefoot? There is no escape to the weird looks. So, guess how happy I was three months ago when upon leaving the train from Sydney airport I saw a pair of naked feet slurping down a busy street. And as further north I came the more of those I met. In the coastal towns of Sydney and Cairns this phenomenon could still be explained to the 'civilised westerner' as laziness of the habitual beachgoer. But as soon as I stepped foot into the landlocked Mossman all arguments failed under the number of shoe-free schoolchildren walking home barefooted and free of worry, very obviously with their parents' consent. Mossman, originally established as a settlement for the indigenous tribes of the surrounding Daintree rainforest, quickly found its purpose in the cane sugar production and as the last outpost for tourists before finding themselves in the jungle. And as a result, also the first town where I can find a proper supermarket should I feel the need to do groceries. For all these reasons this town wears a rather pretty mask, supported by government funds, to hide the apparent drug and alcohol problems that always seem find their ways into displaced indigenous populations. However, as save I felt in the familiar urban setting, I was happy to leave it behind again and return into my temporary jungle home without the masses of cars, houses and people. A place, where, finally, nobody gives you a weird look when walking barefoot, as almost everybody is doing it, because it's just natural.