Day 23: Fri 15 Jun – Port Douglas (Daintree & Cape Tribulation)

19-26 deg C 

After an early start (Greg went for a walk and Wendy tried again to set up her new phone) we said goodbye to M&S and headed for the Daintree. We had been advised by Chris to try and get to the ferry crossing as early as possible to beat the hordes of tourists coming from Cairns for the day. So, we left just after 8am and only had to wait a few minutes before we drove onto the ferry. M&S had kindly given us their book of tickets so we didn't have to pay the $27 for a return trip. We took G&Y in our truck as there was no need to take two vehicles.  

Our first stop was at Alexandra Range Lookout which is a World Heritage Area with some really good views. Next stop was at Daintree Discovery Centre. We thought about doing another tree-top type of walk, but baulked at paying what seemed to be an exorbitant fee for doing the same thing we did at Mamu. Instead, we had a coffee and muffin which G&Y paid for as a thank you for transporting them. 

We didn't stop again until we reached Cape Tribulation where we had a relaxing stroll along the beach. We then did the Kulki boardwalk which was not too far and had lovely tropical scenery. Back in the truck to find a lunch spot which we did not very far down the road - Cape Tribulation Turtle Rock Cafe; Gunther had a burger and the rest of us had chicken Caesar salad wraps. All meals were really good and fed the worms nicely.

On the way home, we decided to stop off and do the Marrja botanical walk which was longer than we thought but different to the Kulki walk, so just as enjoyable. We had all had enough of the walking by this stage so headed straight for the Daintree Ice Cream Company as we had it on good authority it was definitely a place to visit. We certainly were not disappointed. We each had a tub with four different ice creams in - coconut, back wattle, passion fruit and Davidson's plum. Wendy's pick was the black wattle followed closely by the coconut whilst Greg's was the black wattle followed by the Davidson's plum.  

We all, with the exception of Greg (the driver) probably had a few episodes of watching the inside of our eyelids on the way home; not surprising after all that sugar! As we had come this far, we took a drive into the village of Daintree before returning to our homes.  

Dinner was pizza in Chris' home-built pizza oven. 

A tinny Casowary

Being loaded onto the ferry

Daintree River

View from Alexandra Range lookout

Table tops at Daintree Discovery Centre

Minmi paravertebra - an ankylosaur

Creek crossing

Nice road

Cape Tribulation beach

Interesting cloud formation at Cape trib beach

Dead! Almost perfect, but he had no insides

Crab sandballs - made by the crab when digging his hole

Crab sandball patterns

A leaf that looked like a rusty bit of tin

A lovely floweing wattle, was fragrant as well

Tide marks on the beach

Twisted jungle vines

Bright coloured fungus

Crocodile food

View from ens of Kulki boardwalk

More twisted vines

Lunch venue - Turtle Rock Cafe

Interwoven and intertwined vines

Fan palm fronds

Cannonball mangrove - named for the size of their fruit

Having a rest at the end of the Botanical walk

Mangrove roots

A tree being slowly strangled

A very nasty, but prottected, plant

Haha!

Ornamental ginger flower

Mornos at the Daintree Discovery Centre

Selfie on Cape Trib Beach