Wednesday - Thursday, 11- 12 June 2014
After our tour of Kakadu we had a layover day in Darwin to see the sites previously described and do some laundry. We took a late flight Tuesday night into Cairns and stayed near the airport. The next morning we picked up our rental car and drove Port Douglas, about an hour north in Queensland.
Here we settled into our new home for four days Thala Beach Resort.
The day after arriving we met up with our Seattle friends as originally scheduled to tour Daintree National Park with Pete, owner of Heritage Tours. Daintree is our seventh World Heritage Site in Australia. Kate and I discovered Pete separately - a good omen. When I was researching how to explore this WHS I emailed Pete and inquisitively asked "why you over other guides". He was good humoredly dismissive replying that if I wanted the tourist viewpoint I should not go with him. It was our bond throughout the trip. He specilizes in experiencing the rainforest the way the aboriginals did - eating bugs, licking spiders, getting leaches, and learning medicine by exploring the untoured forest. Robin was NOT enthused. The forest has venomous snakes, stinging spiders, deadly plants, poisonious frogs, and of course, crocodiles.
Poisonious Cane Toad on Thala Beach path to room
Pete is an interesting guy. Whip lean at 77 years old and doing this for over 20 years with his recently deceased wife. He was born in Kenya, grew up with the local black boys eating ants out of the anthill and other ritual stuff. He learned the survival craft out of necessity. He and his buddies split when "they became the bad guys, and I was a good guy" in their civil war. He then became a mercenary and then moved about managing plantations in Paupa New Guinea with his wife. A gentle soul, but I wouldn't want to be a contestant on Survivor or other Reality TV with him.
Port Douglas is decidedly tropical but we seemed to hit an off year. Everyone said how cool the temperature is and the rain should have stopped by now. But if it had to rain, what better place to have it than in a rainforest. I personally think it only added to the experience.
Pete leading group through leach filled stream. Terry was the lucky recipient.
Daintree is unique for many reasons, but the one that sticks in my mind is that it is the oldest surviving ecosystem in the world. For eons (this is hard to really think of in human terms) in which the continental plates have moved around, joining and seperating, this portion has always remained a rainforest. Remarkable considering that diverse continents of Antarctica and South America were once connected to Australia and shared similar climates.
Next Post: Port Douglas - The Great Barrier Reef
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