Stayed for the week at an apartment on Clifton Beach ( a few kilometres North of Cairns...just steps away from the ocean
Spent Monday snorkeling diving the Great Barrier Reef ending with an incredible helicopter tour....see the previous blog entry for that.
After recovering from our snorkel trip on Monday we spent time on Tuesday enjoying the coffee shops and beaches. On Wednesday we took a bus tour (12 people) with The Adventure Company. They picked us up at 7:40am and returned us next day at 5pm. A jam packed trip filled with lots of information from the driver, Shane.
1st stop: Wildlife Habitat
"Be WARY of the CASSOWARY!!!" Really, no kidding...can be up to 6 feet tall (females are the big ones!) & can run as fast as 50km through dense forest...found only in New Guinea & North Eastern Australia (Queensland) in the Daintree Rainforest. Very territorial and so will attack humans:
Check out this YouTube video!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA58sS3x2Oo
The bird below wanted to take it's Keratin horn and slice Don open!!!!
Gentler creatures at the habitat!!
This "Lesser Sooty Owl" was sound asleep and actually snoring....sounded like a cat purring!!
Read below about the crocodiles and yes they can be found in the Brisbane River...however more likely to be on rivers in the wild
Black Swan
Tree Kangaroo
We never did see one in the wild but knew they were there!
Status "Threatened" - unique to New Guinea & Queensland Australia (rainforests)
Mommy Kangaroo with a Joey - both looking for food!
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| Mary is reaching for the baby Joey who is peaking out!! |
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Stop #2 : Mossman Gorge
Epiphytes growing in trees everywhere in the Rainforest
The Mossman Gorge itself - quiet waters in the Winter months of July & August
Vines growing up & down tress & in every direction!
Stop #3: Cape Tribulation Beach House for Lunch & free time in the late afternoon
(dorms or private cabins available)
Reception
Our cabin
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| Female Golden Orb Web Spiders were hanging all over our compound - giant but harmless to humans!! |
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The female spiders are the size of a spread hand, but fortunately are a very passive and harmless (to people) species. If you move in for a close look, you will usually see some of the males sharing her web. They are only a millimeter or two in body size, so small that she doesn't even recognize them as worth eating, a good survival strategy for the males.
The golden colour of the leg joints and the bright gold of the circular web account for the name. You should also be able to see how the female holds onto the radii of the web, avoiding the circular strands which are coated with sticky drops. The radii are dry silk without the glue, so she doesn't get stuck on her own web. Very embarrassing when that happens…
Dining Hall
Small pool for guests
Access to the beach from our cabin!!
Also "beware of Crocs" signs!!
Hiking along the beach
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| Fungi |
Rainforest Cedar
(totally different leaves from what we have on Cedars in Canada)
Second day of tour: Crocodile Hunting on the Daintree River!
Waiting for the car ferry so that our bus can cross the Daintree River & make our way to the River Cruise
Looking back from the cruise at the car ferry
Mangrove shoreline
Croc #1
Croc #2
Croc #3 (a yearling - how cute!)
Croc #4 slipped onto shore from the water in a blink of an eye! Very cool to see in the wild
The drive home to Clifton Beach through the Cane Sugar crops (sorry not the best picture as clouds came in & I was in the tour bus). Crop were first started in the 1940's - now shipped by rail to port - majority of product is used domestically
Saturday July 6th we set out in our rental car for a tour around the Atherton Tablelands - multiple self-drive trails that took us through more Rainforest with the tallest/largest Fig trees in the world, magnificent waterfalls and crater lakes.
Set above Cairns & Port Douglas the Tablelands is also a Savannah area offering cooler temperatures and robust land for farming: dairy / peanuts / bananas / pineapples / tea & coffee in the forest
The magnificent Cathedral Fig was found 15 years ago in the Rainforest...there is no way to show the size although they think it is 100 feet tall.....this tree started from a seed that germinated high in the tops of the Rainforest on another "host" tree....it's roots grew downward rooting it into the land...eventually killing the "host" and growing to an immense size with a giant curtain up top (read more below)
A single fern that looks like it belongs in Jurassic Park it is so BIG !!!
My mother would love this!!
A fern that reminds me of a cedar but it is not!!
Don & Alex
Sulphur Crested Cockatoos with their LOUD SCREEEEEECH!!!!!!
I can't remember the name of this Falls which is a waterhole for Aboriginals
Glorious ferns so large it is shocking to see
Deep inside the rainforest
Barron Falls near near town of Kuranda
(inbetween Cairns & Port Douglas)
Daintree Rainforest Train - we drove ourselves instead of taking this train as it only runs a short distance from Cairns to Kuranda
A week long adventure comes to an end - it was a whirlwind and left us wanting more. We will miss the beautiful temperatures in the mid 20'sC with the cool forest floor temperatures and the ocean breeze.
Flying past the Whitsunday Islands (south end of the G.Barrier Reef) on the way South to Brisbane
When we return........plan to take a small tour boat (max 20 people) that will moor off of Green Island (perhaps) for 2-3 nights so that we can get some great snorkelling / diving done (a view from our Helicopter tour):
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