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
