After breakfast in our apartment we were off to explore the Daintree National Park, which is north of Port Douglas. This national park is huge, 55, 000 hectares (each hectare equals 2.5 acres).
Our first stop was in the Mossman Gorge section of the park. Here we took the shuttle bus up to the hiking area where we hiked along the Mossman River for a bit before heading off on a 2.5km circuit through the deep, dark rainforest. We enjoyed the diverse plant life in the rain forest and kept our eyes out for a cassowary. We stopped to swim in a pool on one of the creeks that flows in to Mossman River, enjoying the refreshing water temperature. It was warm (26 degrees) and humid in the forest, so the cooler water felt great.
Checking out the info at Mossman Gorge.
Walking on the rainforest boardwalk at Mossman Gorge.
Mossman River
Mother Nature’s artwork.
Tucker and Jim creek swimming.
Alison and Marji creek swimming.
After returning to our car, we continued on to the town of Mossman where we stopped at a cafe for lunch, which was a treat since some how we missed that meal yesterday!
We then went on a road trip through the park to Cape Tribulation, where the road ended! The road took us along the coast and high up into the rain forest. We stopped to hike at a couple of beaches and overlooks. It was all beautiful. Also, this is where cassowaries live but as hard as we tried, we never saw one, in spite of there being lots of signs indicating that cassowaries had crossed parts of this road. There are only about 1,500 cassowaries known to exist and to see one would have been incredibly lucky!
We hoped to see one of these, rare, elusive birds.
Overlook of the Daintree River emptying into the ocean.
Art work made by tiny Bubbler Crabs on the beaches.
We took the Captain Cook Highway to Daintree National Park and for most of the 35km there were sugar cane fields on both sides of the road. It was an impressive crop!
We returned to Port Douglas and checked out the wharf area to see if we could find the boat that we are booked on for tomorrow’s snorkeling adventure. We found the boat and now are hoping that the weather cooperates. We were supposed to go on this snorkel trip to the Great Barrier Reef today, but the wind was too great, causing the sea to be too rough and the trip was canceled by the charter company. The forecast is for a bit less wind tomorrow, so we are still planning on going, but the charter people encouraged us to take some sea-sickness pills before we leave! Wish us luck!
Tonight we ate dinner at the Iron Bar and for an appetizer we all shared an Aussie Tasting Platter which included kangaroo, crocodile and emu. We decided that the kangaroo was the best tasting and the emu was our least favorite. Tucker enjoyed his kangaroo appetizer so much that he selected the kangaroo burger for dinner and said it was very good.
The Iron Bar is famous for holding Cane Toad Races so we stayed around for that. Our $5.00 ticket got us into the event and gave us a chance to participate in the races. Jim ended up having one of the winning tickets so he got to go up on stage and try to get his toad to win. But first he had to kiss his toad when he pulled it out of the bucket of toads! He and his toad didn’t win, but we all had fun watching him try!
Jim kissing his toad at the Iron Bar Cane Toad Races!
Jim using his “party favor” to try to get his toad moving!
So I think that about sums up another great day in Queensland and we are looking forward to tomorrow!
Jim was very excited about the possibility of seeing a cassowary!
A bush turkey, Mossman Gorge, Daintree NP.
Along the Mossman River.
Amazing sights in the rain forest.
Beach warnings and the antidote!
Walking through the mangroves, Daintree NP.
Port Douglas Marina
Sunset at Port Douglas.
