Where the Rainforest Meets the Reef

Back on my lappy here… sarvo is our last day at the beach. I know she’ll be apples but it’s devo we are leaving straya. I’ll spit the dummy and probably go walkabout.  It’s fair dinkum i love this place.  home feels like the woop woop. i may have a few loose kangaroos in the top paddock but it’s nothing a choccy biccy can’t solve.

we are now fully immersed.*

As we close the door on our Australian chapter we are definitely leaving a window open. Topping off our journey with the Great Barrier Reef was just the cherry that our Oz sundae needed.  We spent 4 days in Port Douglas near the top east corner of the country.  The town was very quiet so if you are looking to book a reef excursion I recommend early March. No one is there.

This area of Queensland is amazing. It’s home to both the Daintree Rainforest, the oldest rainforest in the world at 180 million years old, and to the GBR.  At Cape Tribulation the rainforest actually grows right up to the shoreline; the only place in the world where two World Heritage sites touch.  If that’s not something to be impressed by I don’t know what is.

The weather was a bit rainy all week but thankfully we missed the cyclones. It’s that kind of tropical rain with a  few heavy showers and then it’s all good.

Here’s a quick rundown of what we did:

1. Dreamtime Walk in Mossman Gorge
2. Snorkelling in GBR
3. Koala Kuddling (yes with a K)
4. Canopy Tour through Daintree

Mossman Gorge

We drove to Mossman Gorge for a Dreamtime Walk with our Kuku Yalanju guide, Mooks. His expertise, having been raised by shamans/healers, is the local botany.  We started off the trek through the rainforest with a traditional smoking ceremony to burn off bad vibes and spirits.  I think this is a great way to start off the day – a spiritual cleansing to rid oneself of negative thoughts.  We then learned about the extremely deadly surroundings.  I’m sure this is a fun way to mess with naive tourists but nonetheless it seemed like we were surrounded by things trying to kill us. It was hilarious and as well as a bit disconcerting as he explained that touching this leaf will cover your skin in boils, this one will leave you blind and this one will plain old kill you, but this one will cure cancer.  A bit unfortunate for the ones who discovered this.  I almost wished I dressed us all in head to toe chain mail. Between the cassowaries, wild pigs and deadly plants, I can’t believe we made it out of there alive.  But we did because as you can see I’m writing this in the past tense. Then our tour concluded with some daintree tea and delicious damper (scones) to celebrate surviving.

We returned home for lunch and a swim. It’s mighty hot up here so the plunge pool is getting a workout.  Our back gate is adjacent to a path that leads to 4 mile beach.  This time of year is stinger (jellyfish) season so only one part of the beach is “swimmable”. A giant mesh pool in the ocean keeps most of the jellyfish out.  As we left the beach a man approached me and asked, “any crocs today?” Like I said this area of Queensland is amazing not only for the beauty but also because it’s chock-a-block with deadly things.

 

 

 

 

Great Barrier Reef

The big show! We took a large boat to the GBR for the day. It docks up to a pontoon where we ate lunch and snorkeled at our leisure. When the kids needed a break they could walk through the underwater observatory or take a submarine ride.  The cloud cover prevented the full color spectacular but we got the idea. And we’ll be back. Next time to SCUBA.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

Koala Kuddling

We squeezed in one more koala cuddle. Little Tia works 30 min every 4 days which sounds like my kind of job. I tried to put her in my bag but the staff saw me. bummer.

 

 

 

Daintree Rainforest

Our last full day in Australia we drove up to Cape Tribulation. A little history: In 1770 James Cook and the Endeavour landed here and not very gracefully I might add. The ship was wrecked and it took 7 weeks to repair it. James was clearly feeling a little down in the dumps as he was tossing out names for spots in the area: Cape Tribulation, Mount Sorrow, Mount Misery & Weary Bay.

We decided to explore the rainforest Diego-style with a jungle surfing canopy tour. This is far more thrilling and the views are spectacular. As a side note – we did learn that the cassowary has only killed one person in recent history and it was a 16 year old boy that was taunting it.  Despite their bad rap, they are critical to the Daintree’s ecosystem. Cassowaries help spread the trees’ seeds by eating and digesting the fruit. There are only 2000 cassowary left so that’s pretty critical to the longevity of the rainforest.

On our way home we stopped at the Daintree ice cream shop, a beautiful tropical orchard that makes ice cream from whatever is ripe at the moment; for us, soursop, wattleseed, banana and plum. It was delicious.

   

  

 

 

 

      

 

 

  

 

Cairns & Bye Bye Australia

Our departure day on Sunday – we spent the morning prepping, swimming and playing with some friendly dog neighbors who escaped into our yard. They were adorable and the owners were fun to chat with – Australians are wonderful.

We considered doing a 1/2 day reef tour but the rain and the attempt to fit that in before our flight dissuaded us so instead we drove to Cairns and spent the afternoon swimming in the lagoon (public pool) before heading to the airport.

Now we’re heading out of Australia and I’m feeling about as glum as James Cook. Because in my mind as I was prepping for this adventure the Bali portion always felt so close to the end. Now we’re at that point. Of course everyone is excited to see Piper and friends but our little party of 5 is so precious that if I could bottle this time and hold onto it for a little longer I would.  At least when Harry and I are sitting on our rocking chairs on the front porch smacking our dentures we will have some awesome reminiscing.