Billy Tea Bush Safaris Daintree Rainforest - Cape Tribulation

Our second trip we did was an organized tour with (as you can see) Billy Tea Bush Safaris.  They picked us up nice and early at our hotel and dropped us off at the end of the day as well.  1st ones on , last ones off...

We did the 1 day Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation tour.  After we got to claim the back row of seats on the bus (there are advantages of being on 1st) we settled in for a drive up the coast.

On the way up we saw this mountain which (apparently) is usually shrouded in clouds.  According to legend two sisters were married against their will to the local king.  When they ran away to the top of the mountain to see their homeland he turned them into the mountain and covered the mountain with clouds so they could not see their home.   But it was sunny that day so we (and they) had a good look.

A few of the folks on the bus were a bit anxious about the twisty roads up the mountain but after New Zealand roads, it was nothin'.  And... they have guardrails in Oz, just sayin'.


Our first stop was to have a cuppa and a bikky and we met Bruce our river cruise boatman who had an uncanny resemblance to Bill Murray.

The boat cruise up the Daintree River from point E which is the cruise centre to the Cable Ferry on the Cape Tribulation Road.  It took 60-90 minutes I think (we were on vacation...)

Important thing to know: do not fall (or jump) out of the boat.  There be crocs in these waters.

These two little dudes are no big worry but their momma might think you would be a nice snack...

I'm not sure how many we saw but enough that I was content to stay dry.

Wild Orchid, cool!

Look up!

Now this looks like a picture of something we "missed" but it is actually a snap of the Mangrove roots.  The Daintree river is part of a large estuary system and the mangroves are an important part of this as they are one of the few plants that can grow in salt water and actually store and excrete salt into their leaves.

At the end of our cruise we met up with our driver, Rae, she took the truck around to the ferry.

we took the ferry on our way back, reminded me of the cable ferry to Picton (Prince Edward County in Lake Ontario)

But for now it was back on the bus to the Rainforest.

The Rainforest was amazing.  Pictures just cannot do it justice.  With our little cameras there is just no way to take pix that could convey how little we were and how big the trees were.  There is a wooden boardwalk through the forest to keep people on track and to avoid damage to the area.  One of the things that everyone was trying to find was the elusive Cassowary.  They are integral to the rainforest as there are certain seeds that will only germinate after having passed through the cassowary's intestinal tract.  Nice.  They are huge (and in my opinion ugly) and apparently quite shy but can be really aggressive if cornered.  Zoos do not like to keep them as it can shorten the lifespan of the zookeeper.
The only person who actually saw one was... me!  But we were driving down the road after leaving the rainforest at 70kph and I caught a glimpse of one in the trees as we barrelled past.   But they do exist, I saw one, really!

After the rainforest we headed out for lunch and to feed some kangeroos!

Lunch was great, at this time we were all famished and appreciated our giant steaks and salad.  YUM!

The kangaroos are rescue animals that have been injured etc.  The males are all neutered as they tend to be aggressive if this is not done.  One of them gave Luke a giant kangaroo hug, he thought this was great and I did not get a picture as I was too busy with our guide "unwrapping" him because this is usually a prelude to getting kicked (we did not tell Luke this part, we just let him think the kangaroo think he was really cool).

I liked the sign on the tank.

Matt had fun with this cockatoo teaching it to flip off his (Adrian's actually) hat. 

Then we were off to a different part of the rainforest to go for a swim and have a Billy Tea and some tropical fruit.

slow down...

Malachai along for the swim...

swimming in the rainforest

More food!  Does it get better than this?

Luke found a snakeskin, fortunately no snake. 

Then we went to Cape Tribulation and found a hermit crab!

and played in the tidal pools for a while, it was so warm. 

By this time everyone was pretty tired, had been a long day,

we travelled south and crossed the ferry (kids liked that) and had one last stop at a lookoff on the way home.  Some fellow tried to get me to go hang gliding - wrong person to ask!

Heading back to the hotel, tired out... well I was anyway. Very full and fun day.