Daintree-mendous!

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The drive from Airlie Beach to Port Douglas was another long one. These long drives are very boring as the scenery is just tree after tree, interdespersed occasionally by sugar cane plots. The only interesting thing about this drive though was that we moved into very tropical areas as we headed north with landscape changing accordingly. We started seeing palm trees, crocodile warnings and even large squashed snakes by the road side.

When we arrived in Port Douglas this was accentuated as we stepped out of the air conditioned car and were instantly too hot and sweaty and had attracted tonnes of local mossies! We stayed in a hostel called Parrotfish Lodge which had great facilities including a gorgeous pool, fast internet and a bar with mega cheap food and drinks. This meant we could just chill out that evening and most of the next day.

Despite the killer heat we did manage to explore Port Douglas a bit. Our explore was slightly hampered by stopping in for lunch at the very tasty Soul n' Pepper right on the sea front. The owner was very persuasive with beer re-ordering and we ended up staying longer than expected.

Port Douglas is a cute little resort town and we rounded off a lovely day there by going for a very tasty dinner at On The Inlet. This restaurant has great views of the sunset over the rainforest and was recommended by friends from home, Claire and Darren, so we went for it despite it's budget busting qualities. Luckily, it was well worth it - thanks C&D!

Our main reason for coming to Port Douglas was to do a visit to Cape Tribulation, famous for a crash when Captain Cook first visited Oz and also its great views "Rainforest to Reef". We decided to tie this in with a visit to the Daintree Rainforest by doing a tour with a company called Daintree Discovery Tours. This was just up our street as it is run by a husband and wife and our group was four people big including us. Grant, our guide for the day, picked us up bright and early and drove us to our first stop Coopers Creek - right in the rainforest. Grant turned out to a right comedian but also very knowledgeable and told us lots about the area on our way there. Once in the forest we went on a very informative bush walk checking out flora and fauna. This was followed by a refreshing swim in the creek (which embarrasingly both Paul and Vicki had to do in underwear as they forgot 'swimmers').

After a tasty lunch right in the rainforest we went to Cape Tribulation for a beach walk. This walk took in amazing views of the rainforest meeting the ocean and once again Grant piled on the info.

We ended the day with a boat trip down the Daintree River on which we saw some crocs as well as loads of different birds, frogs and bats.

It was such an excellent day with so many different aspects. We've probably already forgotten all the great stuff we learnt about rainforests but hopefully we remember a few random facts such as "did you know a banana plant is actually a herb"?

After Grant dropped us back we headed straight off to Cairns for some close up viewing of the Great Barrier Reef.

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Photos

Vicki Taking a Munch of the Big Mango
Yet another Big Thing spotted on the way to Port Douglas

Dinner with a View at On The Inlet, Port Douglas
Errrm about that backpacker budget!

Paul's best Tarzan impression
Ahhhh ah ah ah!

A Glimpse at Scooter the Croc
Apparently only a wee one 3 metres! The biggest one in the river is 5 1/2 metres!

Comments

[Rosie]

hello
hello guys it was good to catch up on your latest adventures, you look so disgustingly tanned and healthy!!!!