The Elusive Cassowary

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Our last big excursion out of Cairns takes us to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation.
This nature-inspired outing promises to be good!

The day starts with a hiccup, however. Andra has left her camera on the shuttle that took us from Cairns to Port Douglas where we catch the tour. Not to worry....Chris has his...so we still get lots of pictures.

We are a small tour lead by a Swiss-transplanted tour guide.

As we enter the Daintree we are instructed to keep our eyes peeled for Cassowaries .

Our first stop was a crocodile excursion. We pile in to a low-riding tin boat and head up the muddy Daintree River looking for Crocs. The guide goes on at length about the mangrove trees that line either side of the river as we keep our eyes peeled for crocodiles. We learned more about mangroves that day than most people - we'd been motoring for a long time but no crocs in sight and the guide had to keep us occupied. Finally....there she is. Almost completely submerged near the rivers edge under some mangrove roots. All we can see is her eyes and snout. Exciting! Is she real?? She lowers herself under the water for a moment and then comes back up. Yup...she's real!
We move on from this lovely 'lady' and head back to the landing where we boarded our vessel. But wait....there's more! A male! Bigger than the female a few hundred meters back down the river. This guy is big! The crocodile outing does not disappoint.

After all this excitement it's time for lunch. We stop at a little clearing next to a billabong for a BBQ. Meat, salads and cookies...delicious! The river that is running past our lunch site is full of fish and turtles. A quick swim amongst them refreshes us for the rest of our afternoon. Still no cassowaries in sight.

Next stop is Cape Tribulation. This is where the Rainforest meets the ocean and it is spectacular. Cape Tribulation is worth a visit if you have the time.

Finally we take a walk through the rainforest where our guide points our the many types of vegetation and examine the many spiders who have built their webs in the lush green forest. Chris sampled one of the local ants…apparently it tasted like lime. Andra didn’t brave the insect snack. And guess what....no cassowaries. Is this bird for real?

A quiet ride back on the scenic highway is a welcome rest after a busy day. We meet our shuttle back to Cairns in Port Douglas...along with Andra's camera (phew!). On our way back to Cairns a field full of Wallabies is a perfect sighting to end a perfect day.

We kept our eyes peeled all day for the Cassowary. We saw lots of evidence that they had been close...but no luck sighting one in the flesh.

Next post - Christmas, Aussie Style.

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