WHERE THE RAINFOREST MEETS THE SEA

After our Savannahlander Train Tour and the Paronella Park Tour we then joined a 12 day bus tour from Cairns to the tip of Australia at Cape York. To visit the tip of Australia is an adventure because you have to go through very remote, wild country with rough roads and creek crossings.

We had to change hotels from where we were staying to meet the tour group. The streets of Cairns are lined with beautiful tropical plants. The most unusual was the bright red stalks of the red bamboo plant. Our friend, Mary, flew from Brisbane and joined us for this tour.

The next morning the five of us joined 14 other people and boarded the small 4 wheel drive bus and  drove through magnificent rainforest and the Great Dividing Range. Every now and then peeping through the rainforest we could see the beach and the ocean. This is called the Daintree Rainforest. It is the oldest rainforest on the planet and it grows right down to the beach. It is able to do this due to the heavy rainfall which washes nutrients down to the beach.

Although Cairns is the most northern city in Queensland, there are smaller towns on the way to the tip. The first town we stopped in was Port Douglas, which has been developed into a high class tourist resort. The rich and famous from all over the world come to stay here in posh hotels or they park their million dollar boats in the marina. Its attractions are deep sea fishing, diving on the Great Barrier Reef and rainforest excursions.
St Mary's by the sea was originally built in Grant St in 1881, it was destroyed by a cyclone in 1911 and rebuilt in 1914. By 1986 it was the only remaining church after developers bulldozed the town to turn it into a resort. The townspeople fought to keep the church but they had to raise the money to move it to its new site and restore it themselves.

Unfortunately we had grey skies but it was an idillic tropical scene here at Port Douglas where we had morning tea before pushing on through the Daintree Forest.

We stopped at the Daintree River and we went on a cruise. We saw many different birds. (sorry I can't remember their names)

This is what we wanted to see. Big salt water crocodiles. I used the zoom from the boat. Don't think for a moment that I was standing near it.

Our bus went across the river on a ferry. No bridges up here. We climbed aboard and continued through this ancient forest until we came to our accommodation for the night. A beautiful cabin resort in the jungle. Before dinner we were taken on a walk through the forest. The lady in this photo who was on our tour is the mother of Aussie movie star, Shane Jacobson.

We passed many beautiful plants but then..........

we entered a mangrove swamp. It was quiet, dark and spooky.We returned to our accommodation which is set in the jungle. We ate dinner in an open gazebo with a loud chorus of frogs and other wildlife noises. It was quite exotic.