The Daintree Rainforest - A.K.A: Very close encounters with the dangerous and/or deadly!
On Wednesday, Kaitlyn, Sam, and I woke up early for our trip to Cape Tribulation. Our tour bus was supposed to pick us up at 7:20am - which Kaitlyn was told two days earlier when she called to confirm our booking. Twenty-five minutes after the expected pick-up time, we were still waiting so we called the tour company and found out that apparently we hadn't called beforehand. However, we were told not to worry and that our bus was on its way to pick us up.
After boarding the bus, we started off on our day tour to Cape Trib through the Daintree Rainforest. Cape Tribulation got its name from Captain Cook and it means "trouble" - which we later decided may suit it. When exploring the coast, Captain Cook's ship hit the reef and took a long while to repair. It was told that his bad mood is to blame for the name.
Our first stop was a wildlife park where we got to see yet more koalas, pythons, crocodiles, kangaroos, wallabies, tropical birds, emus, and cassowaries. During the visit, I was able to touch a python (whose method of killing is strangulation by constriction and can digest a three foot wallaby within a matter of hours) and get my picture taken with a koala.
A picture to get framed, for sure.
Next, we passed through the town of Mossman, which is a sugar can town - however, it does provide some tourism. A small town of three-thousand people it is the wettest town in Australia, having about 300 days with cloudy/rainy weather. Another fun fact is that apparently 60% of the sugar cane is used to produce raw sugar.
Soon after, we arrived at the bank of the Daintree River for a river cruise - scheduled to take about an hour. Kaitlyn, Sam and I boarded a small boat and were told to keep all our arms within the handrail. The tour guide explained how the river started off salty near the ocean, but gradually turned to freshwater upstream, and how the mangrove trees adapted to be able to survive along the riverbanks. We even saw some wildlife! Three guesses as to what animal we saw...if you weren't able to guess - I am proud to say that I survived crocodile-infested waters! Yep, that's correct, the river was filled with saltwater crocodiles. Apparently they can grow up to eight meters long and can jump. I'll spare you the horror stories we were told and just say that it was a little nerve-raking but super cool. The boat dropped us off on the opposite bank of the river where our bus was waiting for us. Surprisingly, it had to drive onto a barge to get across the river since there is no bridge. I thought that was pretty cool too (we got to ride on it on the trip back to Cairns the next day).
One of the tour boats.
A small channel along the river.
Mama crocodile.
Beautiful scenery along the river.
Kaitlyn and I on the river cruise.
We stopped off at a small lookout called Alexandria lookout to get a beautiful view of the rainforest with the river and ocean far off in the distance. Shortly after, we stopped at a small picnic area for a very yummy lunch. It was quite obvious that we had entered the rainforest since it started raining rather periodically, but only for short periods. We timed it later the next day and decided that it was safe to say it rains at least once an hour every day for 5-20 minutes each.
Alexandria lookout.
Kaitlyn as a cassowary.
Beautiful flowers at the picnic site.
Eventually we reached the boardwalk through the rainforest. I was a little bit nervous because the tour guide told us it was always exciting because you'd never know what you'd see - sometimes snakes, and more often some beautiful spiders. I hate spiders so I wasn't thrilled at the idea of actually seeing lethal ones. We started our walk and it was quite interesting as the guide pointed out the different kinds of plants and I learned that not only do you have to avoid lethal animals, but the plants can also be quite harmful too. One kind of plant could cut to the bone if you were running and it grazed your arm and another had sharp barbs that ripped the guide's shirt.
The rainforest walk.
To my horror, it wasn't long before the second guide raised his voice: "Hey! Did you all see the spider back here?" Curiosity got the better of my fear and I walked back to see where he pointed. It was a golden orb spider that was a bit bigger than my palm. Best part? We had all walked under its web. I later found out that their venom is not lethal, actually its generally harmless to humans and the spiders themselves are reluctant to bite. They move quite fast and apparently can jump. I was quite relieved that they didn't pose much of a threat at all, but I still don't like them. I'll admit they are kind of beautiful in there own way, but I think I'll try to keep avoiding them in the future. The rest of the tour went pretty smoothly. We saw a small snake that was rather far away and 2 more golden orb spiders. Here's my photo of the day - I give myself props for getting close enough to take this picture!
We were then driven to our hostel, which was literally in the middle of nowhere. It was quite nice though, we got our own little cabin with a fridge and our own bathroom! Alright...not that exciting, but since we've been choosing the economical way of travelling and staying in hostels, an ensuite bathroom is a rare thing. We walked to a nearby grocery store (down the highway - 20 minutes walk) to stock up on some snacks since the restaurant was only open at certain times. Later we went for supper and got to walk down a VERY dark path to the restaurant since it wasn't lit properly. To make it even more fun; giant frogs were everywhere! Admittedly, we were a little bit freaked out since we could hardly see where we were going and were pretty sure there were worse things out and about than frogs. We had a pretty good laugh about it later.
On Thursday we had the day to relax until 4pm when the bus would take us back to Cairns. We walked to the beach down a rather sketchy trail through the rainforest. We were told not to go near the rivers since that's where crocodiles like to be and not to swim since the stingers (otherwise known as jellyfish) venom can kill you in as little as 3 minutes. On our way back to the hostel as we were walking down the trail, I looked to the side and saw a black snake with a yellow belly slithering towards us. I freaked both Kaitlyn and Sam out by calling out snake and telling them to continue walking. We later tried to figure out what type of snake it was to see if it was venomous or not, but weren't too successful. The two options that fitted my description were exact opposites - one was quite deadly, the other not at all. After our close call with the snake, we decided to relax within the hostel grounds and spent the rest of the day swimming in the pool (which Kaitlyn made me check for water snakes first) and reading.
Beware stingers!
Cape Tribulation.
Kaitlyn, Sam, and I on the beach.
On the trail (before we encountered the snake).
The pool.
It was an interesting and enjoyable experience, that's for sure, and as beautiful as it was, I'm not sure I'm cut out for the rainforest - too many close encounters with the dangerous and/or deadly.
