Rainforests and Crocodiles

Today's destination was Silky Oaks Lodge in the Daintree Rainforest but on the way we did site inspections at several properties in Palm Cove, a charming little beach community just north of Cairns.. Lunch was hosted by one of the hotels and my fish curry and the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc were delicious.

It was almost 4pm by the time we arrived at Silky Oaks where we were warmly greated by the owner Paul Bremer who apologized for the appearance of the grounds (I thought they looked lovely.) He explained that they had received a heavy rainfall earlier that day which resulted in the Mossman River rising 11 meters.. Fortunately, the waters had subsided by the time we arrived. The landscaping was beautiful and our individual units were designed to complement the surroudings with a big

hammock on each balcony.  Unfortunately, there was no time to enjoy it. Originally from The Netherlands, Paul had been a professional tennis player and had played against many of the great names in the sport. Two years ago he and his wife Barbara bought Silky Oaks and have great plans for the property.

The next morning our itinerary called for a full-day tour of the rainforest, but one agent had a possible Deep Vein Thrombosis and was taken to Cairns for an Ultrasound (fortunately, no DVT); another developed a severe nosebleed just as we were about to leave and was taken to the clinic in nearby Mossman where a physician was able to stop it; and a third had a very nasty rash on both legs which she had acquired after trekking through the farmer's field when our hot air balloon landed. We were dropping like flies, but thus far, “your's truly” has remained intact!

Norm, our guide for today, picked the remaining survivors up, and we headed north to spend the day in the Daintree. Although the Amazon also lays claim to being the oldest rainforest, we were told that researchers have found older trees here in the Daintree. It was certainly the most breathtaking rainforest I'd ever seen. Not only were there gigantic old trees but also beautiful plants. A really interesting tree was the Stranglehold Fig Tree. Apparently, birds deposit Stranglehold seeds onto existing trees. These sprout and send out roots down the defenseless host. Soon the Stranglehold Fig grows over the original one and kills it. This photo is of the base of a Stranglehold Fig Tree after it has completed its grizzly task.

Hiking out of the dense forest we reached one of the beautiful beaches in the Cape Tribulation region (named by Captain Cook after being shipwrecked on the reefs) and had a stroll along the sand. It was about noon and hunger pangs were setting in, but not for long as Norm took us to a lovely setting near the river where we had the option of swimming while a delicious lunch was being grilled.. The water was so pristine we could actually drink it. A swim would have been nice but more adventures awaited so we packed up and headed down the coastline -- the views of Cape Tribulation were breathtaking.

Our final activity for the day was a cruise on the Daintree. Captain Freddie, our guide for the cruise, was very knowledgeable and had that wonderful Aussie humor. He pointed out various birds such as the blue Heron and different species of mangroves, but the real attraction were the crocodiles. He explained that these creatures prefer a much higher percentage of females to males, about 4 males to 25 females, and mentioned one local mom along the river who killed her newborn male. That is definitely taking Tough Love to the extreme! We were again reminded of how dangerous these huge, vicious seawater crocodiles are when he told us about a local 5 yr-old boy who had ventured into these waters and  been devoured  by one nearby just a few years ago.

This evening Northern Queensland Tourism hosted a lovely dinner for us in nearby Port Douglas, one of the more popular beach communities. Tomorrow we return to Cairns and board Queensland Rail's Sunlander Train back to Brisbane.