Monday 14 March. Yesterday a flight to Cairns. This morning a trip to Cape Tribulation. 2 days rainforest. A dip in Mossman river to cool down. With 30C plus and high humidity it’s hot. We get an introduction to Aboriginal medicine and hunting. Then to the boat to see some crocodiles. A typical Aussie tells about the big crocs here. We see a very small one on the river bank. Then mother pops up. A decent size. At Cape Tribulations a nice resort in the rainforest of Daintree National Park at the beach. The nice looking beach is a no-go area. There deadly jellyfish and crocodiles. Hmmm.
The next day a walk with Swiss Deborah and German Frederike into the rainforest. The rest stays at the pool. The boardwalk trail through to rainforest is beautiful. See some crabs, mangrove, palms and no people. Then a big Cassowary on the boardwalk, just 10 m in front of us. Stand still and wait. After 10 minutes it walks into the forest again. Wow. A Cassowary in the wild. Another beautiful beach. And also here no swimming. Too bad. Frederike leads us to a river spot, without crocs, where we’re having a swim. So refreshing and nobody. Paradise. Later today driver Chris brings us to a new boardwalk through the Daintree National Park. He tells a lot about plants and how old the forest is. Apparently 160 miljoen years old. Some plant hardly changed. A lookout on the ocean and a road full of corners. At 18:30 h we’re back in Cairns.
Wednesday 7:30 h at the terminal in the harbor. The catamaran takes us to the Great Barrier Reef. First spot is 1770, where the ship of Captain Cook sunk. We do some scuba diving and see quite some colorful fish. A hugh Gaint Clam, 1 m big is really impressive. We see a Crown-of-thrones starfish and heaps of colorful fish and corals. Snorkling is good aswell. Have lunch and to the next spot on Hastings Reef. See a White Tip Shark and again lots of colorful corals and fish. In Cairns a group of hugh bats loudly hang in the trees.
