My photo's probably don't do it justice - but this is an incredible landscape, where the tropical rain forest (and I keep typing it with two "rr's" out of habit!) really does go right down to the sea's edge. We were in the Daintree and at Cape Tribulation, at low tide, so the sea was a little way out, however, the high water mark was right up near the trunks of large trees and vines.
Our first stop was in the town of Daintree (I hadn't previously known there was one!), where we got a good family deal, for two river cruises on the Daintree river on the Crocodile Express. One was along the edge ancient rainforest and the other departed from the mangrove end of the river, closer to the outlet to the sea. This was near to where the ferry crosses the Daintree River to go further up the coast to Cape Tribulation.
It was interesting to get a bit of commentary on the different environments. Much of the area close to Daintree had been logged for beautiful red cedar trees, when the land was opened up in the 1870's. Many of them, were logged without any though as to how they were going to get it to the coast for shipping!! So a lot was wasted, left to rot, and the land decimated (although the forest soon takes over again, in the tropics. Luckily some areas remain untouched, and 'those in the know' say these bits are the oldest virgin rainforest in the world. Much older then the Amazon Jungle!
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| Daintree River, and Daintree Rainforest |
And of course we did some crocodile 'spotting'! You can probably imagine the flat bottom boat tilting to one side as soon as the guide pointed out a croc! We didn't see heaps but saw a 3 - 3.5 metre female sunning herself on the sunny bank, trying to warm up the blood. And there was a couple of younger ones about as well. We did get told the 'tricky' formula for how they estimate a croc's age, but I can't remember. I think it's something like - the salt water crocs grow a foot a year until they get to about 10 years of age, then it slows down. In the afternoon we saw a 4 metre male croc. If they are not out of the water, or with their noses up a bit, you have no hope of seeing them. The water is a really muddy brown, and they could be a foot under the surface and you would never know. Their breathing system is such that they can hold their breath for a huge amount of time, and even reabsorb their outward breath, so their prey isn't even able to see any air bubbles. Clever, but a bit scary, if you happen to do something stupid, like enter their territory!!
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| A crocodile, in front of a "logodile" |
The drive to Cape 'Trib' (as the kids have taken to calling it - like the locals!), was really pretty as you wind your way through the rainforest, alongside great drop offs, with huge trees and vines going down into valleys that end up at the seas's edge. In other spots you are down lower, crossing bridges over pretty creeks and volcanic rocks, with ferns, palms, vines and trees. Amazingly tho', in amongst this, there will be a "concealed driveway", with someone living up a track in amongst all the vegetation! It is actually quite 'civilised'.
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| Cape Tribulation |
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| Cape Tribulation Beach |
Typical rainforest
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| Where the Rainforest Meets the Sea! Thornton Beach |
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| We've seen plenty of these signs in Far North Queensland. Achtung! Watch out for Crocs |
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| Don't we South Aussies usually say "No Smoking in this Eating area!? |
Funny Signs
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| Does this mean "the jellyfish will; help you float"?? |
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| Love this! "Before and After" - Poor Cassowary |
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