The Land Down Under - The Wet Tropics

how cute is this church on the waterfront in Port Douglas? 

Touching down in Cairns, I was especially excited for this part of Australia.  The Great Barrier Reef, rainforests, Atherton Tablelands, koalas and kangaroos.  Upon our arrival in Port Douglas (a very cute village), the first order of business was to book our reef tour and Daintree Rainforest visits.  The trip to the Barrier Reef was a big deal- small boat with personalized attention, Outer Reef location preferred.....Booked!
  

raining in a rainforest!

First morning we headed out on our own to Mossman Gorge- a tropical rainforest, gorge, and aboriginal settlement.  It was raining unfortunately, but hey- we are in a tropical rainforest, so kind of apropos........ Hiked about three km through dense rainforest keeping a sharp eye out for bugs, snakes, and other non-urban creatures.

amazing tree with buttress roots in Mossman Gorge

ready to board.....

Next morning we awoke early for our reef adventure.  It was overcast and a bit windy but was hoping it would pass once out in open waters.  We were heading to the Outer Reef so a rather long ride out, but on a stunning catamaran with only 17 people on board.  It was really nice and they fed us constantly.  Well, "the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, if not for the courage of the fearless crew".........yes, you know that song and it played over and over in my head as the water got rougher and the rain came down.  We learned when we arrived in Port Douglas that it was the rainy season as well as jellyfish season- did not know that when we planned the trip but we couldn’t have changed the schedule even if we knew in advance.  So, we finally arrived out on the reef, donned our “wet suits” (to protect us from deadly jellyfish stings) and jumped in.  Given the rough water, we held onto long ropes so as not to fight the large sea swells.  Below there were beautiful coral gardens, an enormous sea clam, and tropical fish- even saw Nemo among the sea anemones!  They did not appear concerned with the stormy weather above. Not going to lie- we were queasy in the water as the swells were quite strong.  It isn't the trip we had hoped and were extremely disheartened, but you can't control the weather.  It will take a long time to get over this disappointment.

Cape Tribulation

Next day we had booked a trip up into the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation.  Raining again but hey- it's a rainforest.  Daintree contains the oldest surviving rainforest in the world.  Cape Tribulation is only one of the few places (or possibly the only place) where two World Heritage listed sites meet- a tropical rainforest and coral reef.  Everywhere you go along the coastline/beach are signs to be aware of crocodiles in the area....a little unsettling.

a wild Cassowary!  What luck to see one...

We did several hikes into the forest and the foliage was amazing. I loved the large trees with buttress roots, which help steady the tree with the soil so damp.  Think architects got flying buttresses used in cathedral construction from nature?  The ferns were humongous, but the very best part was when we saw a wild Cassowary!!!!   It is a huge bird, perhaps just slightly smaller than an ostrich, but so colorful! Not too common to see one in the wild.  Almost made up for the Barrier Reef the day prior, but not quite.........

Lunch was at a tropical oasis resort which was surrounded by the most amazing tropical flowers.  We also cruised the Daintree River to see the crocodiles up close.


A sad farewell to Port Douglas and we were on our way back to Cairns, but first 

stopping along the way to visit Kuranda.  Kuranda is a small village, set within a national park, on top of the mountain overlooking the coastline.  We traveled the Kuranda Scenic Railway to get up there.  Commenced in 1887, it consists of a 37 km rail line with two 1720 class locomotive, each with silky oak timber interior carriages dating back to the early 1900s.  They run on a narrow gauge track with 15 hand carved tunnels, 55 bridges, and 98 curves (I read the brochure).  We passed through spectacular scenery including the Barron Gorge, waterfalls, Hydro Electric Station, and passed over an iron lattice bridge on a curve high over the gorge.

Koala...heavy, sharp nails, smelly, but loved it!

Upon arrival in Kuranda we wandered the many shops and went into the Koala World, where I had the opportunity to hold and cuddle a koala and pet wallabies.  FYI- they are all pretty smelly animals........


The ride down from Kuranda was on the scenic Skyrail, a series of cable cars that flew high over the rainforest canopy.  Speechless!

In Cairns, we visited the Botanical Gardens (so many amazing tropical flowers), and did a day trip to the Atherton Tablelands.  There we visited The Boulders (natural pool amongst boulders), Josephine Falls, and Milla Milla Falls.  We also visited Mungalli Dairy, a boutique dairy farm.  Oh, did I mention, it rained the entire time?  Made for beautiful waterfalls, but muddy hiking.

Cape Tribulation	Ferry on way to Cape Tribulation	Mossman Gorge
look close on leaf-yucky insect	Cassowary warning	Alligators on Daintree River
Cairns Botanical Garden	Cairns Botanical Garden	The Kuranda Scenic Railway
on Railway heading up to Kuranda	heading down from Kuranda	Koala!
up close and personal	Wallaby in Cairns field	Atherton Tablelands

Atherton Tablelands	Atherton Tablelands	Josephine Falls
Milla Milla Falls	more in Cairns Botanical Garden	Cairns Botanical Garden

Our travels in the Wet Tropics...