Incorporating the Mossman Gorge to the south and Cape Tribulation further north (see below for more details), what’s considered to be one of the oldest Rainforests on the planet, the Daintree began its existence over 135 million years ago! 😳 Today, Thursday, December 12th, I shall be another in a long line of rainforest adventurers as I go exploring with Billy Tea Safaris 😎
Crocodile (Dundee)
Having been collected from Thala, once again, the first stage of our journey was to board another boat – not this time to the Great Barrier Reef, but rather down the Daintree River in search of saltwater Crocodiles 🐊
🤔 The Daintree does actually flow into the sea, so technically is also “connected” with the reef. However, our journey today was commencing further inland.
I did find it rather amusing that we were on a Crocodile hunt and that the name of our skipper was Mick…hence the title of this particular section 😂
Though we did get to see plenty of interesting features along the riverbank – including the many facets of the Mangroves and some enormous fruit bats the size of small dogs – we did not witness any of the fearsome snappers! At this time of year, the water is “just right” so venturing out onto the riverbank is not something they’re apt to do – at least not just to please passing tourists 😂
Though Crocodiles were sadly not on the agenda today, there was a good deal of nesting evidence we found along the route, so there will likely be a few more Crocs around the area next year, that’s for sure!
Trials and Tribulations
Having successfully located absolutely no Crocodiles – but having survived the experience – it was time to re-board the packed, though thankfully air-conditioned, “Cockatoo” (our Billy Tea transport for the day) and head up to Cape Tribulation. The name Cape Tribulation can be traced back to Lieutenant James Cook who was trying to find a way through, what he described as ‘the insane labyrinth’ when his ship ran aground into Endeavour Reef, north-northeast of Cape Tribulation. It was this that prompted him to famously write: “I name this point Cape Tribulation, because here began all my troubles!”
Fortunately for us, things were nowhere near as dire as for the late lieutenant. However, I guess the Cape did live up to its name to a degree; it was here, over lunch, where I discovered that my faithful daysack had begun its descent into the realms of being retired once and for all. Having been my faithful companion on many adventures, it would certainly earn its well-deserved rest.
For those of you who may be concerned, my daysack kept going ’till the last and I brought it back to the UK to give it a proper burial 🪦
A delicious lunch certainly helped to cushion the blow, as did the stop we made beforehand to the cool and welcomely refreshing pool – located in just the right spot to be protected from anything that was going to consider us as being lunch (rather than anything else)!
I may have mentioned how humid Queensland is at this time of year. Especially around Cairns and heading north. If not, let me do it now. Particularly as it is insanely humid around the Daintree! 🥵
Rainforest
The remote headland of Cape Tribulation is where two UNESCO World Heritage Sites meet – the Wet Tropics Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. Earning it the well-deserved moniker “Where the Rainforest Meets the Reef!” Here the forest tumbles right down to the coast with just a thin strip of sand separating it from the clear blue water 😎
Naturally, getting to one, meant we had to go through the other, and taking the botanical boardwalk turned out to be somewhat easier than taking a machete to our surroundings! In part, I have no doubt, thanks to Lieutenant Cook whose men all those years ago would have done the latter as opposed to the former (though probably would have swapped if they could)!
Boardwalk
The (Kulki) boardwalk winds itself in and out of the rainforest, and at points crosses the various waterways that snake through the undergrowth – offering travellers some protection from the big lizards with sharp pointy teeth, that call some of these “home.”
Along the way, you can discover more about the various survival mechanisms employed by one of the rainforest’s most prolific inhabitants – namely, the Mangrove.
Mangroves are trees and shrubs that have adapted to live in the intertidal zones of coasts, which are flooded with seawater at high tide. Unlike most plants, they’re tough enough to survive even in salty conditions and, in some cases, with their roots regularly submerged in water.
Additional information is also to be found regarding the other botanical species that cohabitate, all of which Cook and his men would have probably found very useful back in the day – especially when it came to fixing their run-aground ship, as well as trying to survive! 😳
However, not everything is “labelled” as we discovered when Sharad (who I’ll introduce formally below 😎) almost came face-to-face, quite literally, with this charming fellow! I have no idea if he/she/it is poisonous, and neither Sharad nor I stuck around to find out! 😂
Beach
Our penultimate stop was Cape Tribulation Beach – literally the spot where the “rainforest meets the reef”. Of course, it’s jellyfish season so there was no swimming in the sea, but the cooling breeze and the light drizzle were both a welcome relief to the heat and humidity.
In the paragraph above, I mentioned Sharad, who almost got “eaten” by some long-legged arachnid of indeterminate nature. Well, you’ll be glad to see here that he survived! 🎉 Sharad and his lovely wife spent most of the trip sitting next to me on the Billy Tea Bus, so, depending on how you look at it, survival is, I guess, a subjective term! 😉 I’m going to say the gods of the Cape were smiling favourably that day! 😁
Homeward Bound
Before finally dropping me back at Thala Beach, the folks at Bill Tea had one more surprise up their sleeves and our final stop was at the Daintree Ice Cream Company for a delicious Coconut, Dragonfruit and Wattleseed combo. And as the heavens opened, I got to thinking that this was the perfect end to a perfect day 😎
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