Day 6 - Daintree Rainforest Tour
We were picked up from our hotel for a full day tour of the rainforest area of Northern Queensland.
Our guide told us a lot about a Cyclone Jasper in December 2023 which devastated the area. They are still repairing the main coastal road and we had to go through a lot of roadworks some of which took ages. This had a major knock on effect on our tour as most stops were curtailed.
Along the Queensland cost there are mountains to the west and lovely sandy beaches to the east. The beaches are all void of people and buildings because of the large crocodile population. They often are found on the beach and can easily be mistaken for a log.
Our first stop should have been Port Douglas but we were already 1 hour behind schedule so we went straight to the second which was Mossman Gorge where we had morning coffee and a Damper which is very much like a scone and was served with jam and cream.
We then went for a short walk into the Gorge where we walked over a suspension bridge that moved a lot. I dont normally like this sort of thing, but it wasnt too high. We had a refreshing swim in the river on the way back. The water felt very cold at first but was lovely once we were in.
We had an unusual lunch in a small restaurant at Daintree. I ordered pasta and Paul had chicken. Others had kangaroo. The meals were accompanied by 14 different exotic fruits, not all grown in Australia. While eating we had a talk from the owner about each of the fruits which included passion fruit, jackfruit, stardust, mango, orange, pineapple, lychee etc.
We had to leave as soon as we had finished eating for a crocodile cruise on the Daintree River. We saw some young crocodiles on the bank but the adults would have been underwater out of the extreme heat. We also saw some bright red crabs.
We then went over the cable ferry crossing to a region north of the Daintree river which is inhabited by people who want to get away from modern civilisation. There is no electricity or mains water and they dont want it. There were many very small swallows flying over the water. One stopped on the ferry as we were crossing.
We next stopped at the Alexandra Lookout which is a viewpoint with amazing views over the coast and to where the Great Barrier Reef meets the Queensland Rainforest, both World Heritage listed sites.
We next stopped at the Daintree Rainforest walk but again we only had 20 minutes. We did see a lot of stick insect on palm leaves.
Before leaving I went to the toilet and outside was an enormous Yellow Orb Spider. It must have been at least 8" long.
Our last scheduled stop was at Cape Tribulation, a stunning beach where we could walk but there are signs warning that crocodiles have been spotted on the beach recently. We saw a lot of groups of sand balls and little crabs going in and out of holes in the sand in the middle of these balls. These were Sand Bubbler Crabs who eat nutrients in the sand and leave balls of cleansed sand around the entrance.
We stopped for an ice cream on the way back and then had a bus tour of Port Douglas, which we had missed out on earlier. It is a proper tourist town but smaller than Cairns. We stopped for a few minutes at a view point called Flagstaff Hill
It got dark soon after leaving Port Douglas and as we followed the coast road south the full moon was rising in a cloudless sky. We were told that we were really lucky to have a full day without any rain in the rainforest.
It was late before we were ready to go and eat. We just went into the night market where there is a hawker centre so we ate street food which was very nice. Coming out we saw a couple of Bush Stone Curlews in a small garden. They looked like models.
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