Daintree Rainforest

Today we drove north, along the scenic Captain Cook Highway, into the rainforest. But since it was about a three hour trip, we made several stops along the way.

Along the highway were sugar cane fields, and a narrow gage railway followed the highway bringing the "cane trains" that transport the cane to market. Or, at this time of year, carry away the old stalks so that the new crop can be planted.

The first stop was in Mossman, a village of a couple thousand people. We pulled over at a park and public restroom, across the street from an historic stone church. Standing guard over all was a very large raintree, identified by its stringy, downturned leaves.

Also across the highway from the park was a self-service banana stand. Australia has its own species of bananas and does not allow imports. The fruit is both larger and more firm than the bananas we get in the U.S. In a small town like this, farmers simply bring a trailer full of bananas to town and put it out on the honor system $2 AUS per kilo (about 60 cents per pound, U.S.), put your money in the box.

There is no bridge across the Daintree River. We had to go by ferry.

The next stop was in the middle of nowhere, at a place called Daintree Ice Cream Company. Although owned by local Australians, who make the ice cream in some exotic fruit flavors, they had hired two young college-aged girls from Barcelona, Spain to run the shop.

Our tour leader purchased the daily special for each of us (but of course, we were ultimately paying for it as part of the cost of the trip). The special is one scoop each of four flavors. Today it was coconut, strawberry, black sapote, and wattleseed. Those last two, one isn't likely to find outside of Australia, but they were the best two in the cup.

Two katydids, well camouflaged

We finally arrived at the Daintree Rainforest Foundation. This is a privately owned farm of about 165 acres that, in 1988, was incorporated by law into the Wet Tropics World Heritage area.

Can you find the spider?

Although it had been a commercial farm producing tropical fruits introduced from other parts of the world, the controversial law made it illegal to cultivate, harvest, or sell the fruit.

Old fruit trees can no longer be harvested

Thus, the previous owner sold out, and the current owners moved in, hoping to operate as an educational non-profit, which they have done for more than 29 years.

Some trees grow very slowly -- 1 meter every 10 years

We took a two hour walk through the rainforest, which DNA analysis of the many unique plants and trees confirms as the oldest continuous rainforest on the planet.

Almost everything in this forest will either stab you or poison you!

Two interesting facts: The removal of the indigenous residents upset the environment, because after being here for 40 or 50 thousand years, humans and their behaviors became part of the ecosystem. Also, the most damage to the rainforest today is the presence of feral pigs, introduced by Europeans, and now number almost as many as the total human population of Australia.

After our educational walk, we drove a short distance to a "tea room" for lunch. Our meal was served with a variety of fruits, and the proprietor gave a talk, as we were eating, about each of the fruits, where it had come from, and why it is currently in season.

On the way back to Palm Cove we made two stops at scenic overlooks. One farther north, and another very near to Palm Cove.

In the evening, we had our third (!) included meal of the day, then walked along the seashore promenade for a bit before calling it a day.