In the initial planning of our GAA, once we knew we would probably come to Northern Queensland, we had identified the Daintree Forest as one of the places we wanted to visit. Although it is not a long way from Cairns, the roads in places are narrow and twist and turn, making journey times longer than one might expect. With the prospect of up to a 3.5 hour drive each way, we had an early breakfast and after booking our Barrier Reef experience at reception, we left intending to start our adventure with a trip on the Daintree River.
Those who have visited the area or are familiar with the Daintree River will know it is a well known place for crocodile spotting from a boat. We opted to travel with one of the longer established companies, Bruce Belcher, and were fortunate in having him skipper our hour long exploration of the river. He and it, did not disappoint and within the first 10 minutes of the journey downstream we were observing a young adult male stretched out on the bank of the river. He seemed unperturbed by the presence of the boat and people all busily and excitedly observing him through binoculars and taking photos.
As we progressed further downstream, Bruce slowed the boat next to an overhanging branch where a tree snake was curled, apparently sleeping, and where it and a companion had been for a couple of days. Not far from this spot, Bruce spotted another, rather younger crocodile that was barely visible in the bushes growing at the side of the bank.
Across the other side of the river, Bruce used the powerful outboard motors to hold the boat against the tide whilst we watched another quite large male crocodile who it appears is 'visiting, the area. Bruce noted he had been in the river a short while and was regularly hanging about near to a moored catamaran owned by people with dogs who lived in a house on adjacent land. He made no direct connection bwteen the dogs and the croc but did note the latter were opportunists and that the dogs often entered the river to swim and play!
Traversing to the other side of the river once more and where a creek entered was a sandbank. Half buried in the sand was a large grey crocodile Bruce believed could be a nearly fully grown female. A close up lens revealed the croc was not sleeping but watching everything that was going on and whilst it did not seem too disturbed by our presence the approach of a second boat did cause it to stir and shift its position in the sand.
So, having seen crocodiles in the wild and a tree snake, we returned to the quayside and our car and went to find some lunch. At the side of the road we spotted a sign for the Daintree Tea House with lunch being served and an offer of Barramundi with a tropical salad and chips at a very reasonable price. The restaurant was open sided and hidden within a tropical garden. The views were lovely, the food was both prettily presented and very tasty and the staff were lovely. At the end of our meal we listened to one of the owners provide information to an adjacent table about many of the tropical fruits that grow in the area that had just been served to them, it was fascinating.
Refreshed, we made our way to the chain ferry, one of only 6 left in Australia, and were quickly transported across the river, well downstream of the crocodiles, to the Northern side to enable us to visit the Daintree Forest Discovery Centre. En route we stopped at the Alexandra Range Lookout and were lucky enough, due to the sun shining, to have an amazing view of the sea, the mouth of the Daintree River, Port Douglas and a couple of the islands.
The Discovery Centre includes high and low level boardwalks, a tower at canopy height, an audio and printed guide and interpretve centre. I had not appreciated that what makes this forest so special is that it is one of the few places in the world where a rainforest meets a reef and it is also reputed to be the oldest intact lowland tropical rainforest in the world at between 110 - 200 million years old!
Having already visited the Kuranda Range, some 60 - 70,000 years old near to Cairns, we were not really sure what to expect. Was it just more of the same, but older? Not being experts, it is hard to quantify the differences but the density, the constant noises of dripping water, insects and birds, the smells, the vast range of trees, bushes and plants all trying to get to the light through the dense canopy of foliage was indeed amazing! We spent a very interesting, but sticky, couple of hours exploring the forest and making use of the informative audio guides and enjoyed refreshing, iced tropical fruit drinks before the centre closed.
We had considered driving to Cape Tribulation which did not sound very far, but the staff at the river cruise centre had reported two coaches getting stuck on the other side of a creek for a couple of hours earlier in the week because of heavy rains, the road looked to be narrow and winding, it was already 1700 and we had more than a 3 hours drive back to the apartment. To experience the forest touching the sea we drove a few kilometres to Cow Bay where signs warned potential swimmers of both stingers and crocodiles. We walked the beach, photographed the mangroves and a creek that disappeared into the dense forest, where crocodiles could well have been lurking then began our return journey.
The sun was setting as we recrossed the Daintree River on the chain ferry. Few cars were returning South so we had the roads to ourselves for much of the journey. As dusk fell we kept our speed relatively low and watched carefully for animals crossing the road, keen to see a Cassowary, but all that emerged was a frog or toad, I am not sure which but it was able to jump very high!
We stopped at Port Douglas for a tasty Chinese meal. Lesley had a mixed chow mein with crispy noodles and I enjoyed a seafood basket made with crispy potato straws. We enjoyed a refreshing drink of lemon, lime and bitters with plenty of ice as Lesley was still on tablets and I was driving. We continued our journey arriving back in the rain 13 hours after we had left the apartment. It had been a long but rewarding day, experiencing things unique to this part of Australia; a shame we did not get to see a Cassowary!
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