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Published: March 23rd 2007
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Big leaf
Standard sight in the rainforest here Bry speaking: Plane trip from Perth was the worst so far... despite being the shortest at 4 hours. It left at 11.30pm and got in at 5ish (local time) and neither of us got a wink. Unlike SE Asia the hostels here don't open until at least 7am so we had a not so amusing dawn wait at Cairns bus depot. We still haven't adjusted to the book-ahead thing, so it took a few shots to find somewhere with a room. It's rubbish... a kitchen stocked with one mug, two flimsy plastic bowls and three tin openers - none of which work. But, it's in a great location on the Esplanade (Sea front) and reasonably priced, relitively speaking. So, after a couple of hours R&R we booked up a trip to Cape Tribulation and a day's snorkeling.
Cape Tribulation Bry speaking: The bus trip up was a couple of hours stretched out with whistle stop visits to boardwalks, zoos and lookout points. The Daintree National Park has the world's oldest rain forest, estimated at 200 million years. There are plants here that are only found in fossil form elsewhere in the world. I was particularly taken by
the huge tree ferns, which look like something from Jurassic Park... which is probably because they are! We saw Crocs, snakes and Cassowary birds at the zoo. The Cassowary looks like a cross between and Emu and an Ostrich and swallows its food whole... you can see it travelling down their gullets. We also saw a baby Croc, only about a foot long.
The real highlight for me was simply the flora, amazing to see things that we see in Garden centres in their natural habitats - umbrella plants, yukkas, large ferns and many more I don't know the names of. Here they are much bigger. The word that comes to mind in describing the forest is
majestic. Tom and I definitely differ in what we find truly awe-inspiring. For me natural wonders are tops, whilst Tom seems to get more from visiting sites of amazing human achievement.
We were dropped at our accomodation in the forest at 2ish, before heading out to see it all from a different perspective... from above. We'd booked in for 'Canopy surfing' which is zip-wiring between the trees at 40-60ft. Got soaked and filthy, but it was great. Closest I'll ever get
to understanding our former incarnation as monkeys I suppose. So, having seen the jungle on foot and from above in daylight we joined a nightwalk for yet another perspective. This was a bit of a let down, mainly because of the people we were with. A bit noisy, not great for stealthllike animal viewing, and they were sweating pure alcohol... I think they'd had a bit of a heavy one the night before. That said we saw three or four different types of spider, two 'tree dragons', a large Aussie mouse, fireflies, luminous lichen and when the torches were off the absolute dark of the forest at night.
Next morning we took ourselves off for a walk to see where the forest meets the Sea... it really does go right down the the beach. This is where we were reminded exactly why the rain forest is so named... it tipped it down. I have only seen rain like it once in the UK, it was like the raindrops were each mug-sized... but whereas in the UK a rainstorm like this would rain itself out fairly quickly this kept it up for a good half an hour. We were both
Lots of water
Many of the creek crossings on the journey to Cape Trib were flooding a bit (a few inches). soaked to the skin. Not as bad as it sounds because it was still warm. We chucked our wets in a bag and jumped on the return bus. The tour guide on the way back was a real laugh... a chap called Finlay who relayed tales of being kicked out of the Sheriton Mirage and trying to grow weed in the treetops. On the way back we stopped for some Wattle seed icecream (delicious, sort of like coffee cake) and a river cruise. The guide on the boat was obviously great at his job... be pulled right into the bank to point out the tiniest of things... like a white-lipped tree frog and a yellow-bellied tree snake. God knows how he spotted them in the first place. He explained how the Daintree River is half salt water half fresh so the trees have developed a unique way of breathing with roots that stick up out of the water to breathe, because the saturated earth has no gasses. Then we saw a wild croc, a 3m female. Quite amazing to see, although she wasn't exactly what you'd call active. We were dropped in Port Douglas that evening for an overnight stop
Cassowary
Emu-like thing that they get up here before a day's snorkeling.
The Great Barrier Reef Bry speaking: Didn't see anything of Port Douglas, just a stop over to reduce travelling time and increase available sleeping hours before our trip out to the Reef. It certainly didn't disappoint... colourful fishes and coral galore. And, our new waterproof camera passed with flying colours too. There were three sites; I only did the first and the last. It was a bit choppy and I swallowed a bit too much sea water, making me a little queasy. There were also people on the boat doing introductory scuba dives, which having watched I might try some time. I reckon sitting quietly on the bottom is probably the closest you'll get to seeing it all properly. That said, I loved it. I saw Nemo, but he was too shy for a photo I'm afraid. There were Angel fish and Parrotfish of many colours and giant clams that closed when you waved at them. Another thing where Tom and I differ is that he's a real water baby. I don't dislike water at all, but Tom could spend all day out there.
Things I didn't know before I came here:
Barbie and Bond
Ready to hit the ropes... * A male snail can impregnate the female by shooting a spike into any part of her body.
* Queensland has the oldest Rainforest in the world with over 3000 species of flora & fauna.
* Only 10% of baby crocs make it to adulthood.
* The Daintree River and National Park are named after a guy who never came here.
* Fruit bats make great pets.
* Box jellyfish, the really poisonous ones, are about the size of a human fist.
* Aussies say Aboriginals not Aboriginies.
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