A quiet weekend in the ancient Daintree Rainforest

Cow Bay, QLD, Australia

The drive down from Mareeba to N. Cairns was spectacular. The road winded through lush tropical rain forest, with bright green waxy folliages, palms, vines, etc. while providing us with a view of the ocean. I wish we had stopped to view some of the waterfalls, but at the same time was eager to be done driving again.

North of Port Douglas, we crossed a cable ferry with the car, and entered a rainforest joungle called Daintree National Park . The rains continued, adding to the rainforest affect, but also making us feel cold, damp, sleepy, and a little depressed.

We spent 2 nights camping out in a canvas cabin, at the Crocodylus YHA , near Cape Tribulation. Although quite musty (they’ve had above average rainfall for this time of year, over 5 meters so far!), the cabin was ideally located. We had a private deck outside our front door, facing the rainforest, at the furthest point from the road, kitchen, bathrooms, pool and reception.

The Daintree Rainforest is over one hundred and thirty-five million years old – the oldest in the world. Approximately 430 species of birds live among the trees (albeit hard to spot), including 13 species that are found nowhere else in the world. What an amazing forest to explore (especially since apparently the snakes are all quite harmless).

Since we only had one and a half days at the Daintree National Park, we had to make the most of it, and tired ourselves out in the process. On the day we arrived, we did a couple of boardwalk hikes, exploring the beauty of the rainforest, mangroves, and beaches. It was raining the whole time, and continued through the night, so we hit the sac early, hoping to have more clear skys the next day.

On day 2, we rose early to spend the morning at the most popular site in the park: the rainforest aerial walkway at the Daintree Discovery Center . They had 4 different audio guided circuits, at different levels of the rainforest, all the way up to the top of the canopy. It was a great way to learn about the rainforest, but a lot of information to absorb. After lunch, we met up with a river guide for a boat trip up a river to spot crocs. We spotted a couple of female crocs bathing on the side of the river, and one hanging out in the water waiting for dinner to come by. To everyone’s surprise, there was also a family fishing by the river’s edge, not to far away…

After the river tour, we drove to the Cape Trib Exotic Fruit Farm to sample, and learn about, some of the fruit here in Australia, as well as perhaps some fruit from Asia which we’ll be discovering soon. Mom, you would have loved this place. We actually learned quite a bit about fruit. For example, the Pomello is not actually a cross between a grapefruit and something else. It’s a more ancient fruit, which was introduced to China, and happened to cross polinate well with mandarines, resulting in a freak of nature now known as the orange! The Pomello was probably my favorite of the fruits we sampled, but I also really liked the black sapote. Although it looks like chocolate pudding, it doesn’t taste anything like chocolate, but I think would make for an amazing chocolate cake additive. The yellow sapote was very tasty too. Aparently it’s good in small quantities, blended with other stuff.

After a quick shower and dinner, we met up with a local guide who calls himself “Possom” for a spotlight night-walk through the rainforest to spot animals. I was expecting to see nocturnal life, but instead we were mostly spotting animals sleeping. We saw a forest dragon, some birds, and several frogs, just resting peacefully on their perches.

Boyd's Rainforest DragonJoanne spotted this Boyd's Rainforest Dragon catching some Z's during our evening jungle walk. Isn't he handsome?

Cane ToadOne of the 100 Million or so infamous cane toads hiding. ~100 cane toads were introduced to Australia from Hawaii in the 1930's in an attempt to combat the cane beetle pest that was attacking the sugar cane crops. What they didn't count on, was how much damage these little buggers would do to the ecology of Australia. Cane toads are poisonous and many of the indiginous birds, fish, snakes, crocs etc. that eat cane toads will die. As well, they have to compete for resources with the rest of the animals making food scarce for the other frogs for example. There are many efforts underway to combat this scurge, however they are currently spreading at a rate of 25% a year. Yikes!

Frogs of the forestWe saw a number of tree frogs on our night walk - also trying to stay safe from the hunting snakes.

Rainforest CricketThe bugs are big in the trees! We also came across stick bugs and some beetles that would make your heart palpitate.

Salty waiting patiently for dinner to walk on byWhat a ripper - we spotted this one on the Daintree River from the safety of our river boat. What a beauty smile

Sleeping BirdThe birds of the Daintree forest find an isolated skinny branch to fall asleep. This helps them get some rest without worrying to much about the tree snakes and pythons that are hunting for food at night.

Top of the rainforestHere's the birds eye view from the top of the rainforest canopy. At this park we learned that most of the action in a rainforest is actually around the top of the canopy where the warming sunlight brings much of the plant fruit, flowers and seeds, many of the bugs, butterflies, birds, snakes, reptiles etc.

Comments

Great Trip!
Really enjoying your travel log. It sounds like you are having a great time. We’re baking here in 116 degrees in Pleasanton. Yes, you read that right. Setting all kinds of records. Should be getting cooler now. Well, at least it’s a dry heat!! Yeah, right. Keep those logs coming.

Jane M. From Jane Moorhead, on Jul 25, 2006 at 03:21AM

 I recently had a fantastic holiday in beautiful far north Queensland. The highlight of my trip was the Cape Tribulation tour run by Tropical Horizons Tours. A great day with informative and entertaining guides. http://www.tropicalhorizonstours.com.au

From Ed Spalding, on Mar 1, 2010 at 03:34AM