Daintree Forest

Thursday, 14 August 2014

 

Daintree River

Yum, orange and poppy seed

View from behind

Jungle floor

Baby barra

Waiting for a barra

Yes, he was dresssed like this - and had a man bag!

At the top of the tower

At the bottom of the tower

Best avoided

McLean's Creek Lookout

Might need to reroute the walkway soon

Just checking that it is only a model

Man standing underneath a tree fern

McLean's Creek

Thank goodness it is only a 5.5 metre python skin

Spot the spider in the orchid?

Relaxing

Daintree River

Yesterday, with the sun shining for the third day in a row, we decided on a trip to the Daintree World Heritage Area.  Along with many other tourists, we travelled north along the beautiful tropical coastline towards Port Douglas and then onwards to Mossman and the surrounding cane fields.  We gave the Daintree Village a miss this year and instead headed to the Daintree River and the ferry crossing.  After paying our return fare, we were given some information on the region as far north as Cape Tribulation, as well as a very forceful crocodile warning.  Having both seen a crocodile (not just one of us being accused of seeing “crocodile logs”) in one of the waterways near the Cairns Airport only the day before, we weren’t about to go swimming in the Daintree River!

Our first stop was at the Daintree Discovery Centre, somewhere we haven’t visited before.  We enjoyed a muffin and coffee in the coffee shop before paying our entrance fee and heading into the rainforest.  We spent a couple of very enjoyable hours here, climbing to the top of the tower, walking through the tree tops and along the forest floor.  Cat even conned a cuddle out of a visiting English two year old!

Our next stop was at the Daintree Ice Cream Factory (or some name like that!), where we had a choice of 26 flavours, the majority of which were non-traditional.  The ice cream was very nice (but definitely not in Movenpick’s league) and we enjoyed time sitting in the peaceful garden surroundings.

With the afternoon disappearing fast and a nearly two hour drive back to Cairns, we opted to give Cape Tribulation beach a miss and return to the ferry, with a stop at Alexandra Lookout for the view over the mouth of the Daintree River and the Low Isles in the distance.

Thursday: the sun didn’t shine.  Thursday: it RAINED!!!