QLD - Day 2: Cape Tribulation
A fairly early start was had again, with the complication of checking out of the hostel too! Fortunately we had moved all of our stuff, apart from a night bag to the YHA the evening before!
Anyway, we were met by John at 7am for our Billy Tea Bush Safari! This trip would take us to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest. It was a good couple of hours drive along some pretty impressive coastline, a northern version of the Great Ocean Road.
Our first stop was for a cruise down the Daintree River, looking for wildlife that inhabit the Mangroves forest. With an assortment of birds and with the sighting of a snake or two, we finally saw what we'd been looking for, an estuarine crocodile! Actually we were very lucky to see a baby croc sunning itself on the riverbank. We even had a Green Tree Frog accompanying us on our boat too!
After a walk through the National Park Boardwalk, we headed to our lunch destination, which is also a Kangaroo Sanctuary. We had a delicious barbeque lunch - its okay it didn't include any kangaroo (disappointingly, have you tried it?!). After our fill we headed further north and up the Bloomfield track to Emmagen Creek. Fortunately the Bloomfield track was in a reasonable condition, after it have been recently 'graded' (means that they levelled & compacted it). Sections of the track are now sealed due to the dust caused by vehicles landing on the leaves of the delicate rainforest. This is the main road north to Cape York - this is a 'must' drive for the future!
Emmagen Creek is a fresh water creek, where you can see fishes and even the occasional turtle - no turtles this time, but a few people decided that they'd have a swim. Too cold, or 'fresh' for us! Then it was time for a nice cup of tea, made with the fresh water from the creek boiled in a billy tin & Daintree grown tea leaves. There was an interesting way of forcing the tea leaves to the bottom using centrifugal force, which worked a treat!
The journey back included a stop-off at Cape Tribulation Beach, where the Rainforest meets the Corel Sea, and the Daintree Ice Cream Company to sample their wares. 'No we don't do vanilla!'. Then it was straight back to Cairns for some well earned rest...
Map of the journey we took. It's quite a distance, but well worth it!
On the Daintree River, on the lookout for local inhabitants!
Estuarine Crocodiles. We were very fortunate to see the baby one - the guide had some amazing eyes!
A fellow traveller on the cruise!
On a guided walk through the rainforest.
Joanna petting a 'red', he got a little bored with her after she ran out of food!
One of the many creeks we passed over on our way to the Bloomsfield track.
Emmagen Creek was a lovely spot to have a cup of tea, some fruit and even a swim if you were brave enough! The tea was just enough for me! From this point onwards you need a 4x4 to travel further up the Bloomsfield track, although we did see some backpackers cross the creek in a Toyota Camry!
No camp fires in the rainforest, but you can have a burner! The tea was delicious!
So many warnings, if its not one thing that'll get you its something else!
Where the rainforest meets the beach!
You've been warned, but you have to be very lucky/unlucky for this ever to happen!
This was our mode of transport for the day and our excellent guide, John.
Views from the Daintree Ice Cream Company.
Looking out towards the Daintree River inlet.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trip Review: Billy Tea Bush Safaris, Cairns, Australia
We would recommend this trip for people who have limited time and would like to see what the tropical rainforests of the north have to offer. We did the day tour from Cairns, and our guide, John, was very knowledgeable and an excellent guide. We had a fantastic barbeque lunch and saw some amazing scenery and views along the way. The cruise down the Daintree River was also very good, with another excellent guide! This wasn't quite the 4x4 experience that was anticipated (I think you have to do the longer trips for that), but the trip was a great day out! If you want to experience the tropical north properly, a stay up there would be highly recommended - we're going to do this next time!!
Anyway, we were met by John at 7am for our Billy Tea Bush Safari! This trip would take us to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest. It was a good couple of hours drive along some pretty impressive coastline, a northern version of the Great Ocean Road.
Our first stop was for a cruise down the Daintree River, looking for wildlife that inhabit the Mangroves forest. With an assortment of birds and with the sighting of a snake or two, we finally saw what we'd been looking for, an estuarine crocodile! Actually we were very lucky to see a baby croc sunning itself on the riverbank. We even had a Green Tree Frog accompanying us on our boat too!
After a walk through the National Park Boardwalk, we headed to our lunch destination, which is also a Kangaroo Sanctuary. We had a delicious barbeque lunch - its okay it didn't include any kangaroo (disappointingly, have you tried it?!). After our fill we headed further north and up the Bloomfield track to Emmagen Creek. Fortunately the Bloomfield track was in a reasonable condition, after it have been recently 'graded' (means that they levelled & compacted it). Sections of the track are now sealed due to the dust caused by vehicles landing on the leaves of the delicate rainforest. This is the main road north to Cape York - this is a 'must' drive for the future!
Emmagen Creek is a fresh water creek, where you can see fishes and even the occasional turtle - no turtles this time, but a few people decided that they'd have a swim. Too cold, or 'fresh' for us! Then it was time for a nice cup of tea, made with the fresh water from the creek boiled in a billy tin & Daintree grown tea leaves. There was an interesting way of forcing the tea leaves to the bottom using centrifugal force, which worked a treat!
The journey back included a stop-off at Cape Tribulation Beach, where the Rainforest meets the Corel Sea, and the Daintree Ice Cream Company to sample their wares. 'No we don't do vanilla!'. Then it was straight back to Cairns for some well earned rest...
Map of the journey we took. It's quite a distance, but well worth it!
On the Daintree River, on the lookout for local inhabitants!
Estuarine Crocodiles. We were very fortunate to see the baby one - the guide had some amazing eyes!
A fellow traveller on the cruise!
On a guided walk through the rainforest.
Joanna petting a 'red', he got a little bored with her after she ran out of food!
One of the many creeks we passed over on our way to the Bloomsfield track.
Emmagen Creek was a lovely spot to have a cup of tea, some fruit and even a swim if you were brave enough! The tea was just enough for me! From this point onwards you need a 4x4 to travel further up the Bloomsfield track, although we did see some backpackers cross the creek in a Toyota Camry!
No camp fires in the rainforest, but you can have a burner! The tea was delicious!
So many warnings, if its not one thing that'll get you its something else!
Where the rainforest meets the beach!
You've been warned, but you have to be very lucky/unlucky for this ever to happen!
This was our mode of transport for the day and our excellent guide, John.
Views from the Daintree Ice Cream Company.
Looking out towards the Daintree River inlet.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trip Review: Billy Tea Bush Safaris, Cairns, Australia
We would recommend this trip for people who have limited time and would like to see what the tropical rainforests of the north have to offer. We did the day tour from Cairns, and our guide, John, was very knowledgeable and an excellent guide. We had a fantastic barbeque lunch and saw some amazing scenery and views along the way. The cruise down the Daintree River was also very good, with another excellent guide! This wasn't quite the 4x4 experience that was anticipated (I think you have to do the longer trips for that), but the trip was a great day out! If you want to experience the tropical north properly, a stay up there would be highly recommended - we're going to do this next time!!
Labels: cape_tribulation, photos, queensland
posted by Nathan at
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