AUS->NZ

A long post today. May have been the most fun and interesting day so far.

Daintree Rainforest - We had a tour of the oldest rainforest in the world. Our guide, Stu, was a very passionate and eccentric Kiwi, and his tour was basically the Australian version of the Fear Factor aboard the Knight Bus in Harry Potter. We grappled between renting a car and doing it on our own, but the choice for a guide may have been the best decision we’ve made.

Along the whole way, Stu would point out ‘stupid tourist’ things, including flagging people who were sitting at a vacant beach that was only 20ft away from a croc den as well as 3 rental cars that were at the bottom of a cliff.

Upon arriving at the Daintree, the Kuku Yalanii indigenous people asked us to participate in the Welcome to Country and smoke ceremony before going any further, which was very interesting. It’s a live-in educational centre, where the indigenous youth study their culture and pass it along to visitors.

Mossman Gorge - Our first stop was a small inlet in a river. Stu encouraged everyone to go for a swim and “body surf” down the rapids. Despite the danger signs, Stu swore it was relatively safe as crocs couldn’t climb the rocks - “rocks, no crocs!” But warned you have to be a strong swimmer. Only after did he admit it was full of eels as he laughed hysterically. That said, the swimming was incredible and the rapids were wild and borderline too crazy.

Wildlife riverboat tour along the Daintree river - saw several crocs, including 4 very large ones along the shore and swimming, and about 10 baby crocs. Our guide told us several stories of what he’s seen and showed us some videos he took. One, a croc pulling a cow off the shore. Another, the alpha male croc shored up to one of his “sunbathing ladies”. When his lady friend rejected him, he sulked away, opened up, and swallowed all of their juveniles (young crocs) in retaliation.

Cape tribulation - as far north as you can drive along the East coast. A remote area in the deep, upper rainforest with no power or phone service. We were supposed to stop at a more touristy site to see the forest but that wasn’t good enough for Stu so he took us to a more remote spot for a “bush walk” while telling everyone not to touch a single plant during the walk. Stu guided us through the bush and pointed out many poisonous plans and insects that were inches from where we were walking. He also pointed out the non-poisonous ones and goaded us to touch and sometimes eat the insects while cackling away. He also found a nest of ants on the boardwalk and, to our horror, licked the entire nest off the boardwalk and ate them.

On the way back, we stopped at the coast closest where Steve Irwin died as well as an ice cream place where an 83-year-old local woman makes ice cream from scratch with only ingredients from the rainforest. The speciality flavour tasted like a spicier lemon lime (thanks to the special type of ants that give the flavour!)

No snakes seen to date so far though! Stu did try his hardest to find us a python. Thankfully, he was unsuccessful.Read more