Well we arrived in cairns, albeit a day late and dollar short (dont ask!!) and we were greeted byt a warm humid slap in the face and a very heavy rainfall. We took a taxi to our hotel, which we still had (dont ask!!) and then proceeded to walk into the downtown to check things out. It is a small city with notm uch to do in the city itself, everything is geared around the rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. So we walked and talked and enjoyed the night, getting ready for the day in the Daintree rainforest the next day.
We woke early and headed via coach to the daintree. It was about an hour away from the city and we ejnoyed the views of the ocean on one side and the luch greenery on the other. We started out at the daintree river (which empties into the ocean) and took a boat cruise in search of the ever elusive "Eustuarian Crocs" in the magroves, as we were getting ready to go the skies opened up - as they tend to do in the tropics during the rainy season - and completey downpoured, getting us wet through the ponchos. We spent about an hour on the river and were lucky enough to see a little tiny baby croc about 16" long. When the water is as warm as 30 C the crocs never come out of the water. But the scenery was spectacular with all the lush greenery around us, a stark change to adelaide.
We then headed into the rainforest for a walking tour and learned many facts about one of the oldest and fragile ecosystems on the planet, slowly being desstroyed due to the mindlessness of man. If one endagered bird (casowary) goes extinc, a whole family of trees will die and thus create a ripple effect all the way down. Soimply because the bird is the only animal that can digest the fruit of the tree while "passing" the pit for the new tree. It was very interesting how everything in the forest relies on each other and uses each other to get what it needs, truly a creation of God!
Lunch was served to us by our tour guides and was an aussie BBQ, complete with vegemite (which both of us have become quite fond of) before lunch we had a chance to feed the roos and just sit back. It was a very nice meal and by this point the sun was blazing and we were dying of heat and humidity, so it was good thing that we were on our way to a swim in the croc infested water and some billy tea. Katie and i both went for a swim amid the signs 100 down stream that we were in croc territory (our guide assured us that we were above the area where crocs go, so we trusted blindly and in we went. It was very refreshing and surprisingly deep (over 6-6). We then had a traditional billy tea and headed out to cape tribulation, but not before helping some poor dumb bloke get through the river after getting stuck really bad.
Cape tribulation is the only place in the world where two world heritage places meet. This is where the Great Barrier Reef meets the Daintree Rainforest. It is just a little beach and if we were there in the winter/dry season we would have been able to go swimming, but since we like life and dont want to die a horrible death (box jellyfish) we decided to stay dry, or that was until the sky again opened up on us and soaked us yet again. On thw way home we stopped at a local creamry for come ice cream made with the fruit right on her land. It was delicious and i again was reminded why i hate spiders so much as another giant appeared and left me screaming for "my momma". Katie snapped a photo, as everyone on the tour chuckled at me. A the life of a phobist!!
After this we headed home and katie spotted the rarely seen Casowary bird on the side of the road. We couldnt get a go photo, but i wil putone in here of the bird from a wild park we went to so that you can see what they look like. They have razor claws on their feet and if they feel threatened will jump at you - a la jackie chan - and slice open your stomach - a la hannibla lecter... once again everything here kills you. We finally got home and tried to go into the city but the downpour didnt allow it, so we watched some TV and got ready for the big day of Diving ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment