Flora and Fauna

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Wow - what a day for seeing nature! We took a day tour with Daintree Discovery Tours, and it worked out great. Our guide, Adrian, has lived north of the Daintree River for about 12 years, so knows the area intimitely. We saw coastal areas, several rainforest locations, Cooper Creek for swimming, and a close up boat tour on the river. Oh, also the Daintree Ice Cream company, who produce ice cream only for local consumption - no "export" south of the river even to cafes or shops.

The weather cooperated, so we saw great examples of many of the plants and animals which make up the incredible diversity here. Many, many stats like: there are more species of trees in 1 hectare of rainforest here, than exists in all of Europe. We didn't see the sand worm which produced the poo thank goodnes - apparently between 1 and 2m in size. Who knew that worms could produce poo like cow patties? Leaving Port Douglas in the morning we also saw a roosting colony of local "Flying Foxes" - fruit bats which can have a wingspan up to 1.5m.

The adaptation of many of the species is mind blowing. Trees which grow nearly horizontal - they have their roots in the fresh water forest zone, but their foliage extends 10m or more out over the beach/ocean to capture the light. More than 30 species of mangrove, where the roots must be in salt water, but also extending up into the air so the tree can breathe. Trees which are the 40 m high canopy, and some 30m high or 20m high, all for specific reasons to balance capturing the light with the energy required to grow. Trees which grow (steadily) 1m of height in 100 years, so a 5m tree is 500 years old. Many, many trees 1,000 to 2,000 years old. What happens when a cyclone hits, flooding effects, on, and on, and on....

On the river tour we met Scarface - a "local" 4m long salt water crocodile who lives near the ferry crossing. It is breeding season for crocs now, but his neighbours Fat Albert (5m) and Leonard weren't around, so there were no brawls on the river while we were there. Also saw the local toads, green tree snakes, the Brahmian Kite, herons, storks, kingfishers

Way too much to cover here - the photos are just a small sample.
One of those places you just have to see it to believe it.....

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Photos

Worm Poo
About 2" x 3" wide, 3" high

Hello
One of several close lizard sightings

Scarface
He is 4m long - I asked for volunteers to jump in to give a sense of scale to the photo ...

Cassowary Track
Notice the scaly surface on the bottom, and the size