Daintree Rainforest QLD

Today we made it to the furthest north any of us have ever travelled in Australia – Cape Tribulation, where two World Heritage icons meet: the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.

Our pre-booked early morning Daintree River crocodile cruise was cancelled after the boat apparently still hadn’t been repaired following it being washed out to sea earlier this year in the floods. In hindsight, it was probably a blessing in disguise. We'd already had a great crocodile experience at Hartley’s, so we happily accepted the refund and moved on.

We crossed the mighty Daintree River on the cable ferry before stopping at the Daintree Discovery Centre for a peaceful wander through one of the world’s oldest surviving rainforests. At around 180 million years old, the Daintree predates both the Amazon and the dinosaurs.

Next came the obligatory stop at the famous Daintree Ice Cream Company, where every flavour is made from exotic tropical fruit grown on the property. Our tasting platter was educational:
* Durian – smells terrible, tastes terrible (never again)
* Coconut & Lemon Myrtle – tastes good but smells like expensive hand soap
* Yellow Sapote – delicious, like creamy vanilla custard
* Black Sapote – remarkably similar to chocolate pudding
* Soursop – creamy lemonade and easily our favourite
* Plus the more conventional mango, coconut and wattleseed, the latter tasting like a bush tucker latte. 😋

From there we followed the spectacular coastal road winding through dense rainforest, with signs every few kilometres reminding us to be "Casso-wary".

At Cape Tribulation we dipped our toes into the Coral Sea. Although beautiful the beach wasn't quite what I’d imagined with its dark sand and surprisingly murky water, not to mention the crocodile and jellyfish warning signs everywhere.

After soaking up the view, we officially began the long journey south, when suddenly we spotted a real life cassowary casually wandering beside the road. Very cool.

And as if that wasn't enough wildlife for one day, a missed turn on our way home had the fortunate benefit of spotting a real wild crocodile lounging on the banks of the Mowbray River - which we subsequently learned runs alongside our caravan park 😳Read more