After breakfast we were met by Aron, our guide for the day for our “Walkabout” tour. He first drove back to the town of Mossman to pick up our lunch. Then showed us the Sugar mill that had closed. The area is rife with sugar cane, a main staple to the economy here. The mill, a historic building from the late 19th century, was not maintained and would take $22 million AUS to update and open again. There is a lot of concern for the locals and the economy.
We stopped at a local farm stand to get some fruit for later.
We continued to a ferry to cross the Daintree River to get to the Daintree rain forest. As we stopped to wait, Aaron was a gregarious chatter box, his definition, it seemed he knew all the various workers and people in the other cars.
We drove along, till we got to an overlook for a view to the valley below.
We continued to another stop to walk through the rain forest to the mangrove trees. Along the way we spotted a crocodile on a small mud pile in the middle of the river. Very well camouflaged.
We next stopped at Cape Tribulation. The reef here is where Captain Cooks ran aground. He recorded “the north point was named Cape Tribulation because “here begun all our troubles”. There were all sorts of warnings on the path to the beach.
We drove on, until Aaron spotted what he was looking for. A plant, Silver Wattle, that he said with stop Cathy’s itching ankle, where she had been stung by something a couple of days before. Aaron took the plant and mixed in some water and rubbed until it created foam in his hands. Cathy put the foam on her ankle and immediately started to feel relief.
We continued our exploration of the rain forest with a find of what Aaron called a “peppermint stick” bug. It lives in this one kind of plant and is the only insect that eats this plant. If touched it emits a mist that smells like peppermint, though for whatever reason it did not do so when we touched it.
We stopped at a picnic spot along the road. While Aaron prepared the food, we took a walk to the beach.
The lunch consisted of sandwiches and exotic fruits, Dragon Fruit, Passions Fruit and some other fruit that had a sour and minty sort of taste. He also had some “Sugar Bananas”.
After lunch we stopped at a local ice cream shop.
We continued to one last stop before heading back to the lodge, a special monument to the only casualty of WWII on Australian soil.
We stopped just outside the gate to our lodge where Aaron spotted a Golden Orb Spider. These are huge spiders, but do not bite or sting. They weave a web with fibers that are as strong as string.
Oh my goodness what beautiful pictures thank you for sharing