We had an early start and were collected by Andy of Jungle Tours at 07:25. After the routine collections or people from their respective accommodation we set off for Cape Tribulation.
Our first stop was at the Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary. This is home to many birds, the rare cassowary, and some marsupials. The birds were wonderful, a huge variety of them, and many posed for photographs for me. A python was placed on a wooden gate and I managed to manouevre into a position close enough, perhaps too close, to get a picture of his head. I must have been less than a foot from its head and squatted down but I was told his bite would be harmless if not painful so bizarrely felt comfortable with being so close. I let the group go on ahead of me so I could get some pictures and spent an hour in my own company. As I walked outside to where the kangaroos were I was greeted by a flock of whispering ducks. They were so endearing! Then I began to walk along the path and two kangaroos walked towards me, both were very attractive and one was very pale. As I knelt down to get a photograph the lighter one came up to me and sniffed my boots as a dozen other kangaroos skipped over the path and hid in the trees on a raised mound. I walked on round the area to find more kangaroos, of differing species, each getting recessively smaller in size. Then I arrived at the crocodile area. I had to laugh at what I found! I looked around to see if I could spot any crocodiles and then looked directly in front of me to see the snout and a few scales of a crocodile protruding from a rich pea soup! The water hole he had submerged himself in made a fantastic picture as it was full of rich small green leaves. As I walked about on the boardwalk he began to move through the thick pea soup that rippled as he did so. Beside a tree, resting in some shade, was another crocodile, that I later discovered had some eggs buried under the pile of leaves beside her. A couple of pelicans made some good pictures also then I moved on to the koalas. On the way to the koala area I walked through the canteen where I saw a statue of a bird with it's wings outstretched. Having paused, done a double take, I then realised it was a real bird and immediately photographed it before it lowered it's wings. There were only half a dozen perched on some artifical trees and leaves that had been placed there for them. It was ridiculously hot and to top it off people were allowed to touch the koalas, which I can only imagine makes their daytime, as unbearable as it is with a thick coat of fur, totally uncomfortable.
Our next stop was a river cruise on the Daintree River during which we were looking our for estuarine crocodiles and sea snakes. We didn't see any but we did see lots of mangroves.
Cape Tribulation welcomed us for lunch and we got to see some pretty big golden orb spiders and some fringe coral reef on the edge of the beach. Cape Tribulation is where the rainforest meets the ocean.
At Mossman Gorge we had a look at the Rex River, some of our group took to the water for a swim, and enjoyed a walk through the rainforest, during which a dragon lizard leaped onto a tree and patiently clung onto the trunk while everyone in the group photographed it. Our mad guide, Andy, informed us that for every booking made with Jungle Tours a young tree is donated and planted to promote forest regrowth.
Driving back through Port Douglas we reached Cairns by 18:30 and once everyone had been dropped off the bus Ian and I made our way to Red Ochre restaurant for an expensive yet well prepared and presented dinner before packing our gear for our first dive trip tomorrow.
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.