Day 18: Cape Tribulation & The Daintree River

Thursday, Feb 23rd

"Happy Birthday to Chris"

Not too many can say that they celebrated their __th birthday in Queensland, Australia.

By 7:30 AM we were away from Palm Cove heading north on the Captain James Cook Highway. Today we were with a larger group, including the eight of us we had a total of 23 on the tour bus or truck as some would later call it.

We progressed north from Palm Cove toward Port Douglas and Mossman, Queesland. En-route we crossed the crocodile infested Daintree River by ferry arriving at the Daintree Environmental Centre for morning coffee and tea followed by a boardwalk "eco-tour" of the local rainforest. In addition to the boardwalk, the centre had a 75 foot tower that allowed for viewing the forest canopy from above, albeit after climbing a fair number of steps.

Here's the best we could do for the elusive Cassowary bird.

We later reached the beaches of Cape Tribulation where

Pat, Diane and Sheila had time for a walk on the beach.

Throughout our journey one is constantly reminded that though the beaches are beautiful, you really can't go in the water because of the crocodiles and stinging jelly fish.

As an aside, by late morning Denny had made several hundred attempts to photograph the Ulysses Butterfly, a brilliant blue flyer seen frequently on this trip. I'll provide an update on his progress/success later. As you can see below, he is ready with camera at hand just in case there is a flyover by one of the "big blues".

Have I mentioned that it was relatively hot and muggy?

Lunch was served alongside a tributary of the Daintree River. It was not clear as to why the crocs stayed away from this river, nevertheless, 23 went to the river and 23 returned.

Today's lunch included steak (should have been made into shoes or belts), sausage (very tasty), fish, salads and drinks.

Jack brought some bread down to the creek to stir up the fish; fortunately his action and that of the fish did not awaken any of the more dangerous creatures (aka crocs) lurking in the area.

As we headed back to the bus, someone pointed out the large Golden Orb Spider hanging over the trail. Apparently there were also spiders in the port-a-johns, so some decided that the urge to go was not so urgent.

To catch up on "people shots", here are a few from the day.

Denny finally succeeded in taking several photographs of the Ulysses Butterfly, this one was significantly slower than the many we had seen before. Well truth be told, this one was actually pinned to a collector's display board, nevertheless he did get the shot.

Moving on, the Daintree River Cruise provided our chance to see the estuarine saltwater crocodile. Sure enough they were there, a small one (3+ feet in length, estimated at 2 years old) and the mom (6-7 feet in length, estimated at 25 years old). Also saw two Azure Kingfishers.

The final stop of the tour was at Mossman Gorge, a recreational section of the Daintree National Park. Here we walked across a swinging bridge and, for a few intrepid travelers, including Sheila it was a chance to wade into the river (how quickly one forgets about the crocs)!