Bushwalking in the Daintree Rainforest - On Saturday morning we went to a local piece of land where a family lives and gives walking tours of the rainforest they own. Pru, our guide, has lived in the Daintree for 14 years. What she knows about the plants and animals there is amazing! It was well worth our 2 hours - we learned a lot!Here we are beside the roots of a huge tree. I tried to sit on it, but it was too high and my bag got caught (hence the reason it looks like I'm falling off!)
The huge tree leaves - this plant was my favourite. We also got some cool photos of looking up into the canopy and seeing these same leaves from below. Cool!
And check out the bottom of this palm - it looks like a hula skirt! These trees were everywhere and I liked that you could see this part of the plant. It's like they're wearing pants that are just a little too short!
The Croc Tour - Saturday afternoon we went on a 1 hour croc tour down the estuary/river that leads out into the ocean from the rainforest. The mangroves that line the river were very cool, with crazy root systems that are very easily viewed when the tide is out!
We thought we were going to miss out on any crocs, until we saw THIS big guy on the bank! He's HUGE! Probably 6-8 feet long, and check out the teeth! ewwww
Cassowary Adventures - If you 'google' cassowary, you can find the grown up bird that we missed photographing because it ducked out of view faster than the babies.The first shot here is the younger of the two because it still has defined stripes.
The second one is more of a teenager, not black like the parent and still lacking the colourful head/neck - trademark of the cassowary. These birds are known for being the second largest bird in the world (6.5 ft tall) and is endangered due to loss of habitat (swamps, rainforest). EnchantedLearning.com reports "Cassowaries have powerful legs and a helmet-like crest on the head. They protect themselves by kicking. Their three-toed feet have sharp claws; the dagger-like middle claw is 5 inches (12 cm) long. Cassowaries can run up to 32 mph (50 km/hr) and jump up to 5 feet (1.5 m)."
Needless to say these are no ordinary birds. Generally feared, but not agressive unless provoked, we had no doubts when Joe jumped from the car to get as close as possible for photos. There are only 1500 birds left in the Daintree Rainforest, and in the span of 12 hours we saw 8 - 3 adults and 5 offspring! What are the odds! All 3 times we saw the sets they were crossing the road. We no longer have any doubts about the need for so many signs around every turn about slowing down and not speeding. :)
Cooper Creek- in the late afternoon, once the croc tour was over, Liz and Aaron went sea kayaking, and the rest of us went back to Pru's rainforest property for a dip at the swimming hole in Coopers Creek out the back of their place -- in their backyard, if you like (we had to drag Joe home!) ha ha ha we all would have stayed!
The waters apparently have healing powers according to Aboriginal tradition, so Kate and I went in head first :) It was so clear you could very easily see the fish (and turtles!) at the bottom, but we didn't go diving for any this time. We hung out here for an hour hoping to see a cassowary, but with no luck. After being so discouraged, we couldn't believe it when our first of 8 cassowaries crossed the road in front of us on the drive home! What luck!!
What an amazing trip - our last day (Sunday) in Cairns, we basically hit the city lagoon (aka the pool) which acts as a great alternative to diving in the croc and stinger infested waters of the city harbour! It's a huge pool and these are the cool origami fish at the boardwalk side. The whole city turned up for tanning and cooling off in the early summer heat! We had such an amazing week, but it was a nice treat to spend a day lying in the sun and relaxing!Hope you enjoyed the photos and stories!
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