Thursday 28th February 2019

We were back to early starts again today as we were spending a day in and around the Daintree rain forest. We were picked up along with 6 others who were to be our companions for the day, and driven straight to Mossman Gorge, a gateway to the forest. On the way we passed acres of sugar cane which is the main crop of the area.

We took a short walk through the rainforest, all on boarded walkways, to the gorge, and as we walked were given lots of information about the history of the rainforest. It is thought to be between 200 and 300 million years old, the oldest intact rainforest in the world. The Amazon is just 7 million years old! It is both a National Park, since 1967, and a World Heritage site, since 1988. It’s correct name is Cape Tribulation National Park. It covers just 1% of Australia but if we remember correctly it has more species of life forms than are found in the whole of North America! Sir David Attenborough has called it a living museum! It is dense rainforest and with the terrain - steep and rocky - few people have been able to venture to the heart of it which is probably why it still survives. It is only relatively recently that scientists realised how important and significant this forest was, and bit by bit were able to stop it being lost to loggers etc.

Following on from this we were driven to where we were to board a small boat that was to take us on the Daintree River. It is only 120km long yet has a huge catchment area. When they had heavy and persistent rain here just 4 weeks ago, the river rose by 5 metres doing a lot of damage to the banks and vegetation. Crocodile eggs, buried in the sand were also lost - they would have hatched just a week or so later - so no babies this year.

The main purpose of the river trip, other than to see the forest from the river, was to see wildlife, crocodiles in particular, and we did! They are not easy to spot as they are so well camouflaged, but the guides don't have a problem in picking them out. The crocodiles here are estuarine and can survive in both the salt and fresh water of estuary life as they have a gland that excretes salt from their bodies. An adult male can grow up to 4 metres - we only saw younger ones! These crocs will also venture out of the estuary and along the coast. Things to remember are, they like warm, calm water, preferably murky so they are hidden, and much of their hunting they do at night as in the daytime they need to use the suns heat to warm them up, being cold blooded creatures. Geoff and I will not be taking any romantic, moonlit strolls along the beach whilst we are here!

Not only did we see the crocs but also huge fruit bats - the crocs eat them when they fall out of the trees! - a python curled up in a tree - the photos are rubbish! - and a green tree frog.

The bus was waiting for us at the end of the river trip, on the other side of the river, having crossed it by a cable ferry - there are no bridges over the Daintree river - and we were driven north, first to Alexandra lookout where you can see the river estuary and then onto our lunch stop. This was on private property within the forest itself, and is being kept for low level ecotourism, maintaining the forest both for people like us to see and understand it but in a way that does no harm to all that lives there. Just before we arrived the minibus suddenly stops as a cassowary had been spotted. A rare and endangered bird found only in this part of Australia. We caught a glimpse and that is all!

On arrival at the lunch spot we were first of all treated to a proper walk in the rainforest. This was preceeded by the safety briefing. Basically, don’t touch anything and if you see wildlife stay still, make no noise and don’t threaten it in any way!! He had plenty of scary stories of plants that won’t let you go, plants that are so painful if they get their needles into you that not even morphine will kill the pain, not to mention the snakes. We hadn’t really recovered from all the croc stories either, so we were all very obedient. He did have a stick with him and he said he wore a hat so that the hat got the cobwebs and not his face!

So what was this like! Mercifully not too long!! Actually, walking along the narrow path that was kept cleared, with just the sound of birds and our feet on the leaf litter, was wonderful. Of course you are constantly on the lookout, but the density of the trees, the sunlight coming through, the different greens, is all very beautiful. Our guide was a mine of information about the plants, pointing out some that to put it simply have been around since the dawn of time. I wish I could remember all that he told us.

Suddenly he stopped! A snake. On the path in front of him, sunning itself! A red bellied black snake. Poisonous! Here he is!

Those who really know me, I hope you are seriously impressed! Obviously not quite as close as the photo suggests, but only a few feet back, and yes, I took the photo!! It looks flat because that’s how it maximises the amount of its body that it can expose to the sun to get warm.

On we went, after the snake had slithered off the track (I was a bit jumpy walking past that bit!), and a few minutes later another one! A tree snake, non venomous, and moved away before I could get a photo.

It was quite nice to get to lunch unscathed! And a delicious lunch too. Barbecued meat and fish with salads and a fresh fruit platter afterwards!

Then on further north to Cape Tribulation. At this point the forest comes right down to the waters edge and at high tide you have the meeting of 2 world heritage sites, the Daintree forest and the Great Barrier reef. The only place in the world this happens.

The only other interesting wildlife we saw were some rather large spiders and their webs. Both Helen and Anna will be delighted to know that the photos we took do not show them clearly so are not worth adding in! What they will like is the next photo, which was our final stop on the long drive back to Port Douglas. An ice cream shop selling their own rather interesting ice creams, made from the fruits they grow.

Davidson plum, jackfruit at the back, wattlefruit at the front and coconut underneath! 😋