Morning walk on 4 Mile Beach
All smiles early in the morning.
We had a relaxed and enjoyable breakfast at the local dinner. Eggs, bacon and toast was the preferred order for most. Gracie went with Nutella French Toast pancakes, which seemed to be a big hit with her.
We all hung out around the pool in the morning reading or relaxing. Before we knew it, it was 1:30 and time to depart for our afternoon and night tour of the Daintree rainforest.
Prior to departure, G-Money lost her sunglasses which turned out to be a very traumatic experience.
Far North Queensland Nature Tours even have branded drinks. 😮
First stop was the Daintree River for a 1 hour cruise in a solar boat to look for Salt Water Crocodiles. Our guide informed us this is not the best time of year to see them because they will typically remain submerged or semi-submerged in the warm summer water. June, July and August is when you will see themselves sunning on the banks and sandbars.
The crocodiles are here in the Daintree river, they are just hiding holding their breath for up to 7 hours hoping you will go for a swim and become a tasty bit.
Gracie and Katie, not in an actual crocodile mouth.
The whole family (-1) on a crocodile adventure
Side note: Tree kangaroos love this plant
Kari and Katie on the Daintree. Grace battling the sun on all fronts.
Bruce the female 🐊
4 meters long and chilling in the warm water
Bruce turning to look at Grace.
Mangroves and murky water. Swim at your own risk. Also, there may be a few bull sharks in this river as well.
On the ferry as we cross the Daintree River.
Views from Daintree Rainforest
On our daytime nature walk.
Right before we started this walk, we were getting out of the van and preparing for our walk Katie saw another traveler pointing and saying something. She walked out to the road and saw a Cassowary crossing the road in the wild. None of us got there in time to see it which is sad for us.
Wombat berries
Strangling figs.
These are ferns. The spores land in the trees, collect the leaves from the trees and make their own compost/dirt which gives them their nutrients. Some get so big they contain worms
Mangrove and their roots reaching into the air for oxygen
Ant Plant. The base is filled with little chambers that encourage ants to make a home in. The ants will use one of the chambers to store the dead ants which in turn provides the nutrients for the plant to grow.
I swear David said these were lichen spores and one of the oldest organisms in the rainforest. Mag up to see the little spores on the grass like strands
This mangrove was tipping over so it grew a root straight down to keep itself upright.
Look at this evening view from the beach over the Coral Sea.
On the beach, just before sunset.
The family (-1) and our guide David.
Grace and I smiling on the beach enjoying the sunset.
This is a rainforest spider. If you shine the light just right it will reflect red from their eyes revealing their location. If you shined your light out on the trees you could see a lot of them and I mean a lot. Grace was not impressed.
The glowing object is a little rainforest scorpion. They have a venous sting, not enough to kill you but enough to make you feel bad. Our guide, David says he sees people sitting on this all the time during the day. Gracie was not impressed.
This spiders weaves a web and then throws it at his prey. Grace was not impressed
This is a green tree snake. According to sources it is either not venomous or slightly venomous. It is primarily interested in hunting frogs. It was not happy that we interrupted his nocturnal activities.
This is the point where Grace decided she was done with the Daintree Rainforest. There may have been some tears at this point. Grace was like UV Index 12, fine, humidity fine, rain fine, night hike fine, spiders not very fine with this, snakes, ooh hell no we are done with this hike and this place.
The canopy at night with our torches.
Cane Toad
This spider weaves an entanglement web with little trip wires for its prey.
Night photos of the Rainforest from the beach
The moon at night through the forest to us on the beach
This was supposed to be the Southern Cross, maybe you can see it maybe you can’t
Here is a brief list of the dangerous or poisonous plants and animals we avoid during our time in and around the Daintree Rainforest.
1. Box Jellyfish: extremely venomous
2. Irukandji Jellyfish: extremely venomous.
3. Cassowary: large with sharp claws.
4. Green Tree Ants: spray formic acid which stings
5. Dwarf wood scorpion: bee sting level toxin
6. Green Tree Snake: nonvenomous
7. Cain Toads: poisonous to dogs if eaten
8. Funnel-web spider: venomous
9. Redbacked spiders: venomous
10. Gympie-Gympie: most painful plant in world
11. Milky Mangrove: temporary blindness
12. Black Bean trees: seeds poisonous if eaten raw
Everyone went back to the room, showered vigorously and then packed up to begin our return home. It will be a long trip home but it was sure a fun time in Australia 🇦🇺.
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