And finally the Great Barrier Reef!!! 22 - 24 July

Two very happy, excited ninja, dancing, snorkellers ready for the reef!

We left the Daintree for our shortest move yet, all of 30km (although you do have to wait for the ferry across the river).  But saying that it seemed a much greater move in time and connections, as we felt like we were returning from the lost island of Daintree to the mainland and main life of Australia today.  There are two reasons we didn’t move far – first we had unfinished business in this area that we didn’t want to have to cross the Daintree every day and secondly all the van parks in Port Douglas were booked out.  It is PEAK season up here in far north Queensland.  The latter wasn’t a major issue we just stayed in a van park north of Port Douglas on a lovely tropical beach (with crocodile warnings).  We left the Daintree on a cool rainy morning (pretty much like every morning) we arrived at Wonga beach to full sun and about 28 degrees.  After a shop at nearby Mossman we were back to the van park and into the pool!

We had three things we wanted to do here: visit the Port Douglas Wildlife Habitat, finally get to the reef and visit the famous Mossman Gorge.

Port Douglas Wildlife Habitat

This is a pretty cool ‘zoo’ which does have many of its animals wandering amongst the humans in open area enclosures.  We have now seen a ‘zoo’ or two but still thoroughly enjoyed this one with its emphasis on FNQ environments and wildlife.  The tours which are included in the ticket price were great, the boys as usual could be found less than a step from the guide lapping up every word and asking a million questions.  For me the highlight of the visit was the chance to see black neck cranes incubating eggs – even more special we got to see the change over from female to male minding the eggs and the rather cool ‘dance’ they did as part of this ritual.

The Great Barrier Reef!

The largest reef in the world, visible from space, stretching approximately 2300km and we have been driving alongside it since 1770.  We have had this on our must see list, the kids have been anticipating this trip, as you may remember we started them practicing their snorkelling as far back in southern Queensland.  We decided to do more kids oriented trip so choose Quiksilver to the outer reef as they have a pontoon, underwater viewing area and glass bottomed boat.  This is not a trip I would have done by myself, but kids aren’t able to snorkel for hours nonstop and this was a really great way to experience the reef.  But key to a great reef trip is great weather.  We had actually swapped the Daintree and the Reef in our itinerary with the hope that we could get a good day and boy did we – “best weather in weeks” they said on the boat PHEW.

The day was FANTASTIC, it started with the weather and just got better.  Usually there are no stingers in the water this time of year, but with weather all topsy turvy up here they were still being sited so we did go for the figure flattering (well for the boys anyway) stinger suits.  The boys loved the trip out – this boat goes fast.  Fortunately we didn’t have a problem with seasickness (a touch from Mr L but only at the end, but David had taken preventative tablets).  Once we got to the reef, their excitement could barely be contained, they were literally dancing over the decks and couldn’t wait to get in the water.  Once in they were stupendous.  For those who have done it, snorkelling the reef can be a bit intimidating, the bottom is a long way down, the wind is blowing little waves in your face constantly and there is nothing to hold onto.  The boys both took some time adjusting, but by the end of our day they were snorkelling like junior pros, dashing off through the water to look at this fish and then that.  I had long anticipated taking my family to the reef (having been quite a bit myself over many years) and this trip fulfilled those expectations and then some!!!!!  What an amazing opportunity to share one of the most unreal experiences with your child at your side and them just beaming with happiness, excitement and pride.  

We used our new toy (the GoPro) with mixed success, but this was much more our lack of understanding how to best use it.  I think you will see more and more cool GoPro shots as we get better, but even so we managed a few cool images of this amazing day.

 

Mossman Gorge and then inland

Well we had finished with the coast, having travelled alongside it (on and off) since Merimbula we now started our journey west.  But on our way to the Atherton tablelands we had one final stop the last part of the Daintree we would see and possibly the most well known, the superb Mossman Gorge.

You can swim there and we had taken our bathers, but all the rain had meant that the river was running too fast so no swimming that day.  This didn’t matter - the walks, the rainforest, the scenery were just totally magnificent.  Even our 7 year old boys were awestruck with the beauty (well for parts of the walks anyway, then they discussed one of their electronic games).  After the walk we went back to the information centre (an aboriginal run enterprise) for a light lunch before we started driving up the hills and away from the sea.

I will leave you with our best photos that still do not show just how beautiful Mossman Gorge is.

 

 

 

Crocs, Cassowaries and the Rainforest - the Daintree 19 - 21 July

After Cairns we went further north and entirely away from urban population.  We were going to the heart of one of the most beautiful, amazing and oldest rainforests Australia actually the world has to offer – we were off to the Daintree.  The Daintree is divided into a number of sections but by far the largest and wildest is across the Daintree River north of Port Douglas, so we decided to head there.  

When you cross the Daintree River (which can only be done by ferry) it feels like you are leaving mainland Australia and entering a unique island far removed in time, back in prehistory.  We stayed in a caravan park about 16km from the ferry.  It is a unique property being surrounded by rainforest and run by people who are passionate about animals (and keep a number on the property), although I will say neither David nor I found them to be accommodating (in fact abrupt is the polite thought that really springs to mind). But the caravan park is lovely and has its own rainforest creeks and walks.  And in the end our kids ended up playing with theirs very happily.

Daintree discovery centre 

Some friends had recently visited up here and recommended the Daintree Discovery Centre so we started off there the next day.  This is a cool place with a complex network of boardwalks, educational centres and a 23metre high platform aimed at getting you into the canopy.  Part of the ticket price included an audio self-guided tour which the boys (and maybe the parents) loved.  There are two versions of the audio programme one for adults and a different shorter one for kids (I think theirs might have had more jokes because several times they burst out laughing).  We spent hours here and had not exhausted all the material when we left – but we had exhausted the kids.  Your ticket allows you to come back over the next few days but our itinerary didn’t enable us to do this.

For the rest of our time we did a number of walks, hung out on Cape Tribulation beach and took a drive up the 4WD Bloomfield track for a bit.  All of which was beautiful and (in true RAINforest fashion) damp, as we had overcast and rainy weather.

What no ball, no problem.  COCONUT SOCCER!

The best of our walks was the Marrdja botanical walk.  This was mostly boardwalk alongside Oliver Creek taking us from rainforest through mangrove back into rainforest.  The interpretative material was excellent with the signs actually in 3D – the boys were engaged in these and read every one.

 Mr L hung out on the back of a tour group and picked up a couple of really good tips.  The guide had pointed out a Boyds Water dragon and offered a unique aspect for a cool photograph.

This is the inside of a strangler fig tree, the guide had suggested you could put your camera in the tree and this is the result. 

Crocodile, Cassowaries, Musky Rats and Boyds Water dragons

Have you seen a cassowary there was one down the road a little while ago.  Did you see any cassowaries we have had quite a few near the centre recently. Did you see the cassowary that walked through the caravan park.  NO we did not see any of these cassowaries we missed them all! 

One of the things that brings people to the Daintree are the animals.  The big crocs, the reptiles, the birds, the mammals and of course the possibility of seeing one of the most amazing and rare birds – the cassowary – in the wild.  One morning we set out for a crocodile cruise on Coopers Creek.  The day was even more overcast than before with intermittent rain and for the tropics it was quite cool.  The boat driver did not add to this mood by telling us that the weather was not good for crocs and he wasn’t sure we would see any.  It turns out that when the water is warmer than the air and there is no sun to bake in, then the crocs, not surprisingly, stay in the warm water.  By the way this is also why you shouldn’t bother with croc cruises in the wet – the water heats up to a nice bath like temperature and the crocs just stay submerged.  It was our last day in the Daintree – I had this dread feeling maybe we would miss out on the Daintrees’ cool fauna (with the exception of the Boyd’s dragon of course).  But luck was on our side we saw 3 crocs, one little baby who literally fell off the bank into the water, a young adult and then at last a big male.  The boys were awestruck at the latter!

The boys with their CROC faces on. 

Yay at least we saw crocs.  We returned to the caravan park via the Daintree exotic fruit and icecream company where we tried some really different flavours, with mixed success.  David and I were getting dinner ready, packing to leave the next day, the kids had found other kids, it was business as usual in the van.  But then the boys ran up – cassowaries they called, and sure enough we were lucky enough to see not just one but 3 cassowaries that evening.  One individual adult and then later this amazing sighting, a father with his chick eating palm fruits near the cabins.  HOW COOL!

Then while eating our dinner a musky rat came out to join us (ok sort of ran across the back of our van which abutted the rainforest).

Where our caravan meets the a world heritage rainforest

The boys were over the moon.  They declared (in true BUSHWACKED fashion - an ABC 3 television program for those not in the know) this was Daintree mission success!!!!!!!!!!