Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia

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Sunday morning we were picked up at 7.45 for our trip to Daintree NP in a 4WD Toyota run by Billy Tea Tours. After collecting other punters we headed north to Daintree village where we had coffee/tea and biscuits before doing a boat ride down the river. This was very interesting and we saw a fair cross-section of wildlife, lucky we were told, given that it was wet and at the start of the wet season. Saw three crocs, including a basking baby on a sandbank and large tree python (too far away for the camera) a beautiful kingfisher and various assorted birds and other animals before arriving at the Daintree cable ferry where we were collected by the 4WD again. The ferry affords access to the Northern section of Daintree NP and Cape Tribulation. It can take a maximum of 40 vehicles. The crossing took about 5 minutes.

We continued north, past endless sugarcane fields and eventually arrived at one of the Daintree National Park boardwalks where we went looking for Cassowary Birds - to no avail. We did see many interesting plants and bids and a small beast like a gecko, the name of which we cannot remember. Still, it can be seen in the photo with M. The weather had turned by this time and we were being battered by the edge of cyclone Guba;- windy but especially wet.

We went for lunch at Lync-Haven Retreat and M took a turn for the worse (migraine caused by the storm) and even refused wine and a steak! She gave up the trip and was given a motel room to lie down in until our return. D pressed on further into the Daintree NP, passing tea plantations, and arrived at Cape Tribulation where the road turned to pressed grit. Cape Tribulation is a headland in the shire of Douglas in N Queensland (population around 300). It is in the Wet Tropics World Heritage area within the greater Daintree NP. The cape was named by James Cook after his ship scraped a reef just north east of the cape.

Last stop for D was Emmagen Creek where he took a swim as the heaven's opened, wiping out the Billy Tea session with tropical fruits and bush cake. On the return the tour called in to Cape Tribulation beach. Beautiful and rather wild in the storm but not available for swimming as the start of the wet season is also the start of the Box Jellyfish season.

On the way back to Cairns the minibus picked up M who was a little better and returned to Cairns for a quiet evening after a long day. Curry at Mother India for dinner this evening.

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