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At 5am (or was it earlier?), we woke up. The birds made sure of
that. I have never ever heard so many birds singing at once. As
soon as they noticed any hint of the sun coming up, they broke
out in song. You could tell they were singing to each other, as
you'd hear one type of bird, and then the same type responding
a little further away. The cacophony of sound went on and on until
it finally died down after the sun came up.
Bird song can be quite pleasing, and we'd gone to sleep with the
sound of a few birds chirping through our open windows. This was
something else, however. It wasn't just chirping, either. At times
it sounded like laughing, or monkeys hollering -- all sorts of
sounds. In a way, it was comforting to know that there was so
much life in the forest.
Somehow we managed to go back to sleep and wake up later, having
breakfast in the Baaru House. We ate outside, and brush turkeys
walked right around us, leaping off the wooden fence behind me,
gliding across the pond. Afterwards we went up to the reception/spa
building to be picked up for the Billy Tea Bush Safari -- an all
day affair where we'd be driven from place to place. We were the
last pickup -- there were already about a dozen other people on
the packed bus, waiting for us.
Our guide and driver was John. He was a nice enough fellow, but
not as entertaining as Dan. Our first stop was only about 5 minutes
away, at the main river cruise terminal. He dropped us all off
and left us to have tea and biscuits. While we were there I noticed
spiders on the ceiling above us. I wondered if they were poisonous.
Fifteen minutes later we boarded a boat while John drove down
the road and would meet us later. There were more people joining
us on the boat, making for a total of about two dozen people.
This cruise would be very different than the one we'd taken just
the night before. Besides being in a bigger, covered boat, it
was daylight. Which obviously meant that we could see more. But
there also wasn't as much to see. Much of the life we'd seen on
the river the night before was now gone, hidden. Not a single
bat to be seen. And hardly as many birds singing.
Bird's nest on the Daintree
We had no luck finding any crocodiles. We did, however, see a
python sitting curled up in a tree above us. We saw other snakes
and more birds. We could also see more bird's nests, some dangling
precariously close to the water. Our guide said that one bird
kept building the nest in the wrong place over and over again,
only to see it washed away at the highest tide. He also noted
that birds like to be close to people. If you tie some string
down from a branch, they'll start building a nest around it. I
don't know if that's true, but I don't doubt it. We have a blue
rug outside on our patio, and we used to see birds come by and
steal material from it. Somewhere out there a bird has a blue
nest.
There's a python in the tree. Trust me.
The guide talked a bit more about mangroves. They have pneumataphors,
which are roots which grow up instead of down. These roots grow
above the water line, and the mangroves use them to breathe --
kind of like snorkeling. Some mangroves, dubbed the blind-your-eye
mangroves, have a certain substance in their leaves which is poisonous.
Supposedly if you break a leaf it can shoot into your eyes rendering
you sightless. Also, if the same substance is placed in the water
it can stupefy fish, making them an easy catch.
Mangrove forest
After a 1 hour cruise, we came to a ferry crossing. A ferry took
a few cars at a time across a short distance -- the river is only
perhaps 200 feet wide at this point. Our boat took us to the opposite
shore, where our car (having taken the ferry ride) was waiting.
This is the only ferry crossing and there are no bridges across
the river, so this is how we'd get back. It costs about $8 AUD
per car for the trip each way. Not a bad take for a 1 minute boat
ride.
Bright red flower on the grounds at the Daintree Ice Cream Company
We now drove further north, stopping at the Daintree Ice Cream
Company. On the way in Jean noticed jack fruit and pointed it
out. We stopped and had mango juice and, of course, ice cream.
The ice cream came in a bowl with four small scoops -- mango flavor,
coconut, black sapote, and one other flavor which I forget. Most
of us seemed to like coconut the best.
Cape Tribulation
Now it was on to Cape Tribulation. This is definitely a place
filled with tourists. However, there is also a sheltered beach
here, as pure as can be. No litter, not even sea shells to be
seen. Jean and I stopped here for a few minutes before taking
the 350 meter walk to the lookout, where we got a great view of
the beach and the water. Reminded us of the view of the falls
at Pfieffer-Big Sur. We didn't have much time to enjoy the view,
however. We had to race back to the bus to make sure it didn't
leave without us. It turned out several people were using the
bathrooms, so we got back and just waited.
Cape Tribulation from the lookout
We now drove a bit further north, made a left off the road next
to a creek, and parked right next to it. The beauty of four wheel
drive. We now had our own private lunch spot. Jean enjoyed a short
walk in the creek, fish swimming around at her feet. I walked
a bit further upstream, finding a nice place to skip rocks. Meanwhile,
John started grilling some steaks on a gas stove. Soon enough
they were ready, and we had them and macaroni salad, fruits, and
salad. Some people made vegemite sandwiches, but I passed on that.
Fish swimming near Jean's feet
Tadpoles
Our lunch spot
Downstream, I stopped to photograph some tadpoles scurrying about
a small water hole next to the creek. Then it was back onto the
bus and a drive back the way we came. We then stopped to do a
walk in the rain forest. There was a sign warning about tiny biting
insects. Unfortunately, I discovered that I'd left the insect
repellent back at the Eco-Lodge. So we just used our hands to
bat away the insects as best we could. It turned out that didn't
help much.
The start of our rain forest hike
Walkway through the rain forest
Big leaf trees
Jean next to the big leaves
Big leaf
Our tour group
The walk starts off on pavement and soon turns onto wooden planks
-- similar to Cape Alava in Washington, but of better construction.
Along the way the sun waged a battle of hide and seek with the
clouds. We walked in a world of green -- palms, giant ferns, green
on all sides. John showed us a plant referred to as wait-a-whiles.
It has these long vines with small sharp thorns all along its
length. It would make a great fish hook. It's called wait-a-whiles
because if you're walking along and get stuck on one, you've got
to wait a while as you release your skin and clothes from all
the thorns.
Basket fern
Ribbon roots and pneumataphors
We also passed trees with buttress roots -- tall narrow roots
which grow like vertical ribbons emanating from the main trunk.
We saw mangroves and their pneumataphors. We saw lots of basket
ferns -- their spores fly high up onto a tree and latch on, growing
in successive cycles to create huge baskets of life above the
rain forest floor.
Walkway from the river overlook
We walked to the end of a walkway to overlook a river, but didn't
see any crocodiles. We walked back along the planks, stopping
when John pointed out a tiny red crab walking amongst the pneumataphors.
Eventually the sun started to lose its battle with the clouds
and we also reached the end of our hike.
Leaves crawling up a tree
We filed into the bus and continued south, stopping at a snack
shop. We got some drinks and then went into a fenced-off area
to feed kangaroos and wallabies. They were very much used to being
fed by humans. They ate right out of Jean's hands. They definitely
appeared cute to us at this point in time. We'd start to change
our minds a bit when we were on Kangaroo Island.
Staring down a kangaroo
What are you looking at?
Hey, not so close!
Wallaby
I'm not hungry!
Okay, I'm hungry now!
Our final stop was a lookout, where we could see the mouth of
the Daintree River. We quickly took in the view, and then headed
back to the Eco-Lodge. We were the first drop-off, and we had
plenty of time to get ready for our spa treatments. I had an exfoliation
for the first time, and it felt great. They have this wood table
especially made for it, with a row of shower heads above it to
simulate rain. I came out of it ready to go to sleep.
Mouth of the Daintree River
But first, there was dinner at the Baaru House. I decided to try
the Kangaroo as an entree, and the Barramundi as the main course.
I will never ever try Kangaroo again. It does NOT taste like chicken.
I ate one or two pieces before I decided that it tasted like some
sort of household cleaner. It perhaps has the consistency of a
dry steak, and an antiseptic kind of taste. I'd say it was a bad
aftertaste, but it wasn't just after -- it was during. I let Jean
finish the rest, though after I made my comment about household
cleaner to her, she agreed with me. The barramundi was much better
by comparison, but definitely not my favorite fish. It falls far
behind salmon and sea bass on my list. It's somewhat like roc
cod or trout. There wasn't anything particularly bad about it,
but it didn't really have a strong taste. Not really much taste
at all. If you're ever in Australia, go ahead and try the Barramundi
-- should be harmless. Skip the Kangaroo.
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