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Hi all, a super speedy update from me here in Port Douglas before I fly across the whole of Australia later today to reach Perth. I know I am going in the wrong direction but let's just say it is a big side trip en route home - promise!
I have some exciting news - finally I have seen a cassowary! I was hoping to get out onto the Great Barrier Reef yesterday but the weather hasn't been on my side and it is insanely windy so no luck there. I decided to do a day trip up to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape of Tribulation instead and have since had one of the best days of my travels! We drove north from Port Douglas at the crack of dawn past thousands of hectares of sugar cane, banana plantations, starfruit, mangoes and tea trees and then through the spectacular scenery of the Alexandra Ranges to reach the Daintree River. We went on a trip up some estuaries and along the main channel, croc spotting. The River was awesome - it was banked by the finest mangroves I have ever seen with towering rainforest above, and incredibly peaceful. We succeeded in spotting 3 crocs - so exciting! Two were sunning themselves on the muddy banks and one was semi-submerged with a friendly grin, waiting me to go for a dip - no thanks! I saw a huge viper up a tree, lots of green snakes and a whopper of a spider! We drove onto the Daintree itself next and took a tree-top walk which wound up into the canopy of the forest. The trees were fascinating, all sorts of weird and wonderful species alongside some fancy butterflies and tropical fruits. The view from the top was awe-inspiring - miles and miles of pristine forest.
We continued further north on a road through the rainforest to Noah Valley and then to the Cape of Tribulation - where the rainforest meets the reef, the only place on Earth where two World Heritage listed National Parks meet. I walked out along rainforest beach and explored the mangroves - they are just fascinating and as it was low tide they were virtually all exposed revealing a dense network of roots and sucker leaves. Then, not far from our final stop, on the road ahead appeared an adult cassowary alongside a 3 foot chick! I couldn't believe it! The road was empty so we pulled over and watched as the male darted about. It was about 5 foot tall with a blue, bone-crested head. Two cars sped by, between which another chicked emerged and legged it over the road. It was rather hairy and showed so vividly why the cassowary is critically exdangered in Australia. The cassowary is the main distributor of the seeds of the trees that make up the rainforest so the future of the Daintree really does hinge on the cassowaries' survival. Its a precarious situation so I feel chuffed to bits to have finally seen a cassowary - I think I deserved it too after my slog in Mission Beach!
We took a tiny car ferry back over the Daintree River and stopped for a walk along Mossman Gorge before heading back to Port Douglas. It was equally stunning - a boulder-strewn river with mini waterfalls and forest on either side. What a super day! The Daintree is the world oldest surviving rainforest so I feel incredibly lucky to have seen it.
Right that's enough of that, I will jump on a bus now back to Cairns and then onto the aiport before it's off to Perth - I have my winter woolies at the ready!
Catch you all in Western Australia!
Grace xx
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