The Adventures of John and Marian: Rainforest

The following morning we had to wake up early again (WAH) to get on a tour bus heading to the rainforest. After several people in the tour didn’t show up, and caused delays, we were out on the rode. Our guide, Malc, informed us of various things as we drove up the coast to the Daintree Rainforest. It is a World Heritage site, as is the Reef, so this is the only place in the world where two World Heritage sites meet. He told us about the nasty jellyfish they have in the waters in the area. One was the box jellyfish, the other being one the size of your thumbnail. Basically, they are both incredibly venomous, particularly the thumbnail one, and if you get stung you go straight to “hospital.” We are here during the “dry” season, so evidently they are not as big of a threat right now. We stopped off at a café for a break, and Marian thought this sign was funny.

We then were taken to the Daintree River, where we got on a tour boat to spot crocs. The males grow to be massive and finally at the end of the tour we saw “fat Albert,” but we was half hiding in the water and as the boat charged towards him, he slid back in. Here are the lovely crocodiles we saw.

We also were rushed through a boardwalk tour of part of the rainforest. We learned about some palms that were incredibly old (1000 years old), and about cassowaries. They are an ancient bird that stands up to 2 meters tall, and incredibly colorful. We learned that “cassowaries become very agitated with cameras with flash,” so if we saw one, “don’t take a picture with flash, because they become very agitated and may have a go at you.” Sadly, we didn’t see the creature. Here is a pic from the internet.

Here we are being rushed through the hike:

We were then dropped at our accommodation at Cape Tribulation. Marian had been sleeping off and on all day on the tour bus, partly to avoid motion sickness, partly because of the early wake up. At the lodge, Marian asked John, “Do you know what makes me tired?” John, “Rainforest?” Well, kind of true. Marian took a nap. After the nap, we went on a hike, but got the downpour. Pretty sad because we are supposed to be here during the dry season. Although, it was the warmest downpour we had ever been in.