With no internet to speak of it has been a brilliant opportunity to just "get away from it all". And what better place than the world's oldest rainforest and one of the world's most complex ecosystems, - so perhaps not surprising it has poor wifi! It has taken me a few days to write anything and pictures will have to wait for us to return to Cairns in a few days time. I will create a gallery page for the Daintree as soon as I can.
But what a place to spend a few days. Good fortune has again smiled on us as I booked a random rainforest resort that has turned out to be a beautiful, welcoming paradise. It might be a 10 minute hike from the reception to our "bungalow" but what a place to stay. I will get pictures up eventually, but it is perched high in the tree canopy, with views through the foliage to the ocean, into which (as it is not stinger season) we can dive to cool off as and when we feel like it, (though I have to admit we have seen clouds for the first time in weeks and the temperature has dropped on occasions to the 20s!). There are even hammocks strung between palm trees on the beach and on some days we have been torn between exploring the rainforest and simply chilling out, listening to the sound of the waves. Tough call - actually we have managed both!
Mossman Gorge was first up on our explorations - a wonderful narrow gorge, managed (again a little like Nitmiluk & Kakadu, and with 90% of employees indigenous) by the local population, and with due respect for the ecosystem, culture and economic prosperity of those who look after the land.
Second a ranger guided (by flash drive plugged into our car!) drive into and all over the Daintree Rainforest National Park. We missed nothing but took it at our pace and spent as much time as we wanted on the various walks, river crossings and overlooks. Simply breathtaking. We ended up at Cape Tribulation before turning south again, stopping off at the Discovery Centre, where we were able to view the forest at all levels, and Nareesa was able to mug up on her tree horticulture.
In between rainforest expeditions we dropped in on Port Douglas (just up the road) any number of times for coffee, breakfast, t-shirt buying and dinner on the one evening we just couldn't take any more top class cuisine at our lodge! If anyone is traveling this way, check out Thala Beach Nature Reserve, and see if you can get a deal on something like Booking.com
It is going to be a wrench to leave this place tomorrow, but Cairns beckons, a train trip up the mountain to Kuranda on Thursday, preceded tomorrow by a trip to the launderette!