We were rudely awakened well before our alarm by the not-so-melodious sounds of the local birdlife. After closing the sliding doors, we slept until the alarm went off. Jer got up to make tea, and we had Jess's leftover prawn and crab linguine and green salad, along with the last of the orange-poppyseed muffins, for breakfast. Then we got ready and went down to meet our guide from Daintree Discovery Tours, Adrian.
With Adrian, we picked up six other passengers (2 English, 2 French and 2 Aussies) and headed north. We stopped in the little town of Mossman for provisions before going into the Daintree Rainforest. Along the way, Adrian told us about the sugarcane farming in the area (and we saw the fields, the cane train cars and the sugar mill - the harvest had just finished and everything hadn't yet been cleaned and stored until next year). But soon, we left the farmlands behind and entered the Cape Tribulation section, whch makes up about an eighth of the Daintree National Park. We stopped briefly at the Alexandra Lookout for views of the sea, then continued on to the car ferry crossing the Daintree River.
Adrian mentioned that he's one of the 650 or so people who live north of the river, on homesteads that existed before the National Park and are grandfathered in - there are no power or sewer lines, so everyone who lives in the area must provide their own. As we drove along, we passed a rooster-sized brown bird, whuch Adrian told us was an orange-footed scrub fowl. A bit further on, he showed us huge mound of dirt with an indentation on top and explained that it was a scrub fowl nest; the hen lays the eggs a meter down and the heat of the earth incubates them!
Soon, we reached our destination, the Cape Trib campgrounds. We went for a short walk along the beach to the bathrooms, where everyone got changed into swimwear. Then we all headed back to the picnic table where Adrian had tea, fruit and Lamington cake (chocolate cake coated with coconut flakes) waiting for us. After our snack, our host, Des, took us out sea kayaking. In the shallows we saw loads of stingrays, but once we got out into the mangroves and beyond, we didn't see much in the way of sealife. We did get great views of the scenery, including Cape Tribulation and Mount Sorrow. (We later learned these were named by Captain Cook after he ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef and had to spend 6 weeks ashore doing repairs.) We also saw Snapper Island, which looks like a massive crocodile sleeping offshore. The seas were calm and we had a lovely time paddling; we did a much better job than the last time and only ran into one other kayak (there were no reported injuries from the collision)!
Once back on the beach, Adrian herded us into the car and drove to the Cooper Creek Wilderness, a private property where we were able to go swimming in a freshwater creek to wash off the salt from the kayaking. Then it was time for a tasty lunch - cold cuts, chicken, potatoes, salad and rolls, with interesting sauces like aioli, tomato chutney and lemon myrtle dressing (lemon myrtle is a type of gum tree whose leaves are used for cooking; we quite liked it, especially on the salad).
After lunch, Adrian took us on a walk through the rainforest, where he told us about the flora and fauna of the area. He showed us the brightly-colored fruits of a number of plants, the vast majority of which (like the huge blue cassowary plum) are toxic to humans. We learned a bit about the area's palm trees, including huge fan palms, whose leaves feel like corrugated plastic, and climbing palm trees from which rattan is made (also called wait-a-while palms, with spiky hooks that help them climb their hosts to reach sunlight). Adrian stopped in a riverbed and showed us the many colors of natural ochre found there and used in aboriginal art. He also mentioned that, due to the heaviness of the rains and the thinness of the soil, the trees and vines have large, exposed buttress root systems to help them get air and stay upright during floods. Several people, including Jer and Cardiff, took the opportunity to sit on a huge vine swing.
From Cooper Creek Wilderness, we drove to the Daintree Ice Cream Company, which serves a four-flavor sampler - today's were banana, raspberry, yellow sapote (a mild, vaguely guava-y tropical fruit) and wattleseed (which was reminiscent of nutty cappuchino). We enjoyed ours in the car on our way back to the Daintree River, where we boarded the Solar Whisper for a river cruise. Captain Dave told us about the mangroves that line the river and the flora and fauna that live among them. Along the way, he showed us four saltwater crocodiles: a little 8 month old hatchling, a one meter 2 year old, a 1.5 meter 8 year old, and a 2.5 meter 12 year old. We also saw a number of fish (including a mudskipper by the hatchling) and birds (like little egrets and a pretty azure kingfisher), plus orange and black fiddler crabs and purple mangrove crabs.
Adrian met us after the Daintree River cruise and drove us back to Port Douglas. On the way, there was a quiz to determine what we'd learned on the day. Jer learned that Red Skins chewy candies are delicious. We stopped at Palm Villas to complete the check-in formalities, then walked to the Tin Shed for dinner. It has reasonably priced food and water views over Dickson's Inlet, so it was understandably packed, but we managed to get a table and watch the sun set and the sailboats come in. Jess had great fish 'n chips (with beer-battered barramundi, a meaty white fish) and Jer had the house specialty, chicken Oscar (grilled chicken in a delicious garlic sauce with prawns and scallops).
After a stop at Cole's supermarket for breakfast supplies and chocolate bars, we headed back to Palm Villas. There, we did laundry, updated this journal and looked at our photos. We were rather tired after our big day, so we decided to head to bed as soon as our laundry was done.