After leaving Cairns, we first travelled north to Cape Tribulation in the Daintree Rain Forest, another World Heritage Site and the oldest rain forest on the planet. Based on the primitive plants, I totally believe it. Imagine a 30-foot high fern. Apparently, this is one place on earth the climate has been stable enough to sustain a wet tropical rain forest. Let's wish it many thousand more years. It is pretty remote, we had to take a little ferry to get there.
We walked about a mile each way on an amazing beach to a 2-mile boardwalk bush walk (hike). On the beach we crossed a creek full of fish that walked on their front fins. Bizarre creatures, typical for Australia. The beach we were on was fairly remote and refreshingly virtually free of plastic. It was loaded with pumice stone at the high tide line. I always thought pumice was volcanic, but perhaps it is a product of the reef. I'll have to check when I find reliable wifi.
Strange crab holes surrounded with spherical pellets of sand
Weird walking fish
The rain forest is something else. It is all about competition for sun. Everything is looking for a leg up. New growth on the forest floor sends out spindly tendrils 20 feet or more to find another plant, tree or structure to attach to. When it finds one, barbs on the tendril grab the host and it continues upward in search of sun. It is strange to see an 1/8th-inch diameter tendril defy gravity and extend more than 20 feet in the air. There is typically little leaf growth between 5 and 25 feet of elevation. In places where a tree had collapsed opening the canopy, there is frenzied growth making the most of the sunlight.
We are told the Daintree is a good place to see a Cassowary, a prehistoric looking bird, up to 200 pounds and 6 feet in height. Our camping neighbors had seen one the day before. We weren't so lucky. None the less, it was a fascinating place.
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