A day out at Daintree Rainforest
it's 6pm in the evening and I've just returned from another fantastic day, spent exploring the Daintree rainforest. Located in the wet tropics world heritage area, it is the oldest surving rainforest in the world that has been home to a biodiversity that has remained unchanged for hundreds of millions of years from ancient ferns, to the more evolved flowering plants. It is also home to birds like the Cassowary that has also been relatively unchanged for many thousands of years.
The tour began this morning at 7.45am courtesy of Billytea tours in a 4WD. There must have been a total of 20-30 in our group, some locals, some international. After about an hours drive we arrived at our first stop of the day, the Daintree river, where we stopped for tea and then took an hour long river safari where we saw many varieties of Mangroves, flowering plants including the "Lang Lang" whose oils are used in the manufacturing of Chanel perfumes, several egrets and the world's smallest species of Kingfisher "Flashing Azures" that move extremely swiftly making them impossible to capture on camera, while moving.
The river was home to about 70 crocodiles, ten of which had been given a name but only two that I can remember,"Scarface" who the river safari guide mentioned was the Alpha male and the largest in the area and "Forest Gump" who we managed to catch a glimpse of. He had his entire body submerged in water with only a portion of his snout and eyes visible, they blend into the surroundings making them very difficult to spot, and we were also informed that they can leap pretty high, thus at all times were advised to have our hands inside the boat.
The cruise had come to an end and we headed to the next destination, the Alexandra range where we stopped to admire panoramic views of the surrounding rainforest and wet tropics and then set foot along an elevated guided National Park Boardwalks. Once more we saw many different types of fauna and flora, but we were mostly in search of the elusive Cassowary, a giant flightless bird native to north-eastern Australia and New Guinea. Unfortunately as it was an extremely hot day our guide informed us that the birds were probably snoozing and would have been out very early in the morning, still we did manage to see an Orange-footed Scrubfowl. The total walk must have lasted about 45 minutes to and hour, after which we stopped for lunch at Lynch Haven a tropical restaurant located in the Daintree area, and also enjoyed feeding a couple of Kangaroos.
Our bellies now full , we headed drove past along Bloomfield track before arriving at Emmagen Creek where some of the group enjoyed a swim in the crystal clear stream of the rainforest bundant with plenty fish, beautiful brightly blueish purple butterflies and thankfully no crocodiles. A small campfire was set-up (well a portable gas powered camp fire ) where the guides brewed a massive pot of local "Billy Tea" with water obtained from the Emerson Creek. Along with the local tea we also enjoyed serving of exotic fruits, Papaya, Jack, Starfruit, Black Sapote and Passionfruit.
We'd tasted Billy tea enjoyed exotic fruit and now it was time to head towards Cape Tribulation beach. The stunning panoramic views of the ocean surrouded by the Cape its truly breathtaking and made for some fabulous photo opportunities. Many of us would have loved to have swum in the ocean with its warm waters this time of the year, unfortunately it was also pristine season for "Marine Stingers" and "Box" jellyfish so we were advised to stay clear of the water. I guess it is one way of nature telling us that for a certain part of the year, 'you can look but you can't touch'
The tour had come to and end by this stage and we were heading back home, where we also crossed the river via cable ferry which was a first time experience for me. At the end of the day it was a fantastic trip, but I wish that I had seen some of the animal species shown in the brochures, or documentaries about Daintree. It makes me wonder, if the species of animals that we know of still remain elusive, then what else must be out there that we have no idea about, not just at Daintree but all over the world, yet here we are spending millions of dollars trying to find life on other planets.
For more information about the Daintree tours, take a look at the "Billy Tea Tour" website:
http://www.billytea.com.au
The tour began this morning at 7.45am courtesy of Billytea tours in a 4WD. There must have been a total of 20-30 in our group, some locals, some international. After about an hours drive we arrived at our first stop of the day, the Daintree river, where we stopped for tea and then took an hour long river safari where we saw many varieties of Mangroves, flowering plants including the "Lang Lang" whose oils are used in the manufacturing of Chanel perfumes, several egrets and the world's smallest species of Kingfisher "Flashing Azures" that move extremely swiftly making them impossible to capture on camera, while moving.
The river was home to about 70 crocodiles, ten of which had been given a name but only two that I can remember,"Scarface" who the river safari guide mentioned was the Alpha male and the largest in the area and "Forest Gump" who we managed to catch a glimpse of. He had his entire body submerged in water with only a portion of his snout and eyes visible, they blend into the surroundings making them very difficult to spot, and we were also informed that they can leap pretty high, thus at all times were advised to have our hands inside the boat.
The cruise had come to an end and we headed to the next destination, the Alexandra range where we stopped to admire panoramic views of the surrounding rainforest and wet tropics and then set foot along an elevated guided National Park Boardwalks. Once more we saw many different types of fauna and flora, but we were mostly in search of the elusive Cassowary, a giant flightless bird native to north-eastern Australia and New Guinea. Unfortunately as it was an extremely hot day our guide informed us that the birds were probably snoozing and would have been out very early in the morning, still we did manage to see an Orange-footed Scrubfowl. The total walk must have lasted about 45 minutes to and hour, after which we stopped for lunch at Lynch Haven a tropical restaurant located in the Daintree area, and also enjoyed feeding a couple of Kangaroos.
Our bellies now full , we headed drove past along Bloomfield track before arriving at Emmagen Creek where some of the group enjoyed a swim in the crystal clear stream of the rainforest bundant with plenty fish, beautiful brightly blueish purple butterflies and thankfully no crocodiles. A small campfire was set-up (well a portable gas powered camp fire ) where the guides brewed a massive pot of local "Billy Tea" with water obtained from the Emerson Creek. Along with the local tea we also enjoyed serving of exotic fruits, Papaya, Jack, Starfruit, Black Sapote and Passionfruit.
We'd tasted Billy tea enjoyed exotic fruit and now it was time to head towards Cape Tribulation beach. The stunning panoramic views of the ocean surrouded by the Cape its truly breathtaking and made for some fabulous photo opportunities. Many of us would have loved to have swum in the ocean with its warm waters this time of the year, unfortunately it was also pristine season for "Marine Stingers" and "Box" jellyfish so we were advised to stay clear of the water. I guess it is one way of nature telling us that for a certain part of the year, 'you can look but you can't touch'
The tour had come to and end by this stage and we were heading back home, where we also crossed the river via cable ferry which was a first time experience for me. At the end of the day it was a fantastic trip, but I wish that I had seen some of the animal species shown in the brochures, or documentaries about Daintree. It makes me wonder, if the species of animals that we know of still remain elusive, then what else must be out there that we have no idea about, not just at Daintree but all over the world, yet here we are spending millions of dollars trying to find life on other planets.
For more information about the Daintree tours, take a look at the "Billy Tea Tour" website:
http://www.billytea.com.au
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Daintree Tours