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Published: January 12th 2007
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With Sydney behind us we made the short flight up to Cairns in Queensland and back to the tropics. Everything ran according to plan and we were able to find a cheap shuttle bus that took us directly to the door of the backpackers (Parrotfish Lodge) we were staying in, in Port Douglas.
The main reason for coming to Port Douglas was to take a trip to see the Great Barrier Reef, which we duly did the next day. Again we were picked up at the door to the backpackers and transported to the quay to make the one and half hour journey out to the reef on a large catamaran. Lor got a bit seasick on the way out as the sea was quite rough and had to stand at the side clutching a paper bag. Her biggest worry? Being sick in front of all these people . Snorkelling was the order of the day for us, making three "site" visits in the day at the Agincourt Reef, each with slightly different fish and coral but all spectacular for the variety and number of creatures and coral. This involved donning a figure hugging, all-in-one 'stinger jumpsuit', for protection against
jellyfish, that made us look like we trying out for a bobsleigh team, mmmmm nice! Unfortunately no dolphin or turtle sightings while snorkelling (although Lor saw a turtle from the the boat) but still some fantastic fish like the Double Ended Pipe fish, Maori Wrasse, Large Cuttlefish, Clown fish and a huge 1 and 1/2 metre long Flowery Cod that came right up to within touching distance just as we were about to get back onboard. Fortunately the sea was calmer on the way back and Lor was able to spend the journey seated.
We only had one full day in Port Douglas before moving onto Cape Tribulation where the reef meets the Rainforest. Our original plan had been to simply catch a shuttle directly to the next hostel, however our extremely helpful host at Parrotfish lodge managed to get us on a sight seeing trip that went to Cape Trib and then would pick us up and take us to our Cairns hostel a few days later, result! The outward journey again picked us up at the lodge (we could get used to this) and headed north where we stopped to cross the Daintree river. Here we took
a short Croc spotting trip. Our guide explained at this time of year with the weather so variable is not good for spotting crocs, but our luck was in and we got to see a couple of what he described as juveniles, 5-10 year old crocodiles about 2 and 1/2, metres in length. The largest recorded croc was 8.6 metres and somewhere in the region of 600Kgs!!! The trip ended with a quick cricket jibe, surpisingly one of the few we've had over here since getting battered. Next we stopped at the Marrdja boardwalk, where there was information on some of the important plant and animal life symbiosis and how the mangroves slowly expand seaward allowing the rainforest to encroach into the better drained areas. Finally we were dropped off at Ferntree Rainforest Lodge in Cape Tribulation, which was set in amongst the trees.
The resort in Cape Trib is pretty remote, a few lodges and a couple shops to get food and essentials from means it's never too busy at one time, but there is plenty to see and do. Our first day involved going to the Bat House where they rescued any bats that were injured and
could no longer fly. It is only a small building but was awash with some really interesting reading on the rainforest and unusual creatues that lived in it. There was also a fruit bat or "flying fox" hanging from a net in the corner munching away on some fruit not the least bit concerned that we were only yards away. The flying fox didn't look anything like we'd imagined, more like a cross between a lemur and giant bat and we were given our new fact of the day learning that they are Australia's only primate. We then took the short walk around the bat house that shows forest regeneration following man made clearance in the seventies. In the evening we took a two hour night safari into the world's most ancient rainforest. One of the first animals we saw was a Bandicoot (a bit like a rabbit) which promptly ran under the wheels of our truck as we travelling down the road. Lor was most distressed at this point, all our guide could do was cry "dopey bastard!" I hadn't seen the Bandicoot and was asking him as question at this point, so thought for a moment he was
talking to me! Other animals that we saw (that we didn't kill accidentally) included a Wallaby and her joey, more Bandicoots, sleeping juvenile Paradise Kingfishers, a White Tailed Rat, a Boyd's Forest Dragon and young but still very long Amethystine Python. Plant-wise we saw Idiosperms, pre-historic trees still alive and kicking in the Daintree, thought to be extinct until very recently.
Our next day wasn't any less packed either. In the morning we took the Dubuji boardwalk into the rainforest and mangroves which links to the beach, spotting mud crabs, peppermint stick insects and another kingfisher. Swimming is not advised at the beach without jellyfish nets and having read the information on what the box jellyfish can do in Sydney aquarium neither of us were going to risk it. In the afternoon we hired some bikes and cycled out to Cabe Trib lookout before heading along the beach. This involved crossing one of the smaller creeks that feed into the sea. Crossing at this point is only recommended when the water is ankle deep at low tide as a croc is known to reside here (another reason not to go swimming!) Making a slight adjustment to the green cross
code we looked both ways for any suspicious "logs with eyes" before hotfooting it across. Nobody wants to be a crocs afternoon snack. We cycled along the deserted beach and then headed inland to a SAFE swimming spot called Mason's Hole, here we had a swim with nothing scarier than the odd catfish or two.
The following day we were collected by the same tour group and taken back to Cairns via Alexndra lookout where you can see the reef where Steve Irwin was killed and Mossman Gorge a series of rapids and pools winding their was through the rainforest. Once in Cairns we found a local pub The Woolshed that did a huge feed and beer for $10 in preparation for our flight to Alice Springs and subsequent Outback tour the following morning. Stay tuned...
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