Friday 28th May 2021
WARNING: some images may offend or scare. Spiders, insects and dinosaurs.
We had a good night sleep, waking at around 7am. We got ourselves together and set off for Daintree Village.
We arrived at 9am to check in for our Daintree River Experience. We had a little time to wonder around the village.
Daintree Village
Daintree is a small settlement located near a bend on the Daintree River beneath the rainforest mountains of the McDowell Ranges.
The tiny township only has about five streets and comprises a general store, a fibreglass ‘Big Barramundi’, a couple of restaurants, a caravan park, a school, a number of river and rainforest tour operators, some bed and breakfast destinations, a post office and the timber museum.
Name
Daintree was named after Richard Daintree (1832-1878), an Englishman who, as the Queensland government geologist between 1868-1870, carried out a geological survey of North Queensland.
History
For thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans the Daintree Rainforest was home to the Eastern Kuku Yalanji Aborigines of which the Wujal Wujal were a subgroup.
In June, 1770 Captain James Cook passed the mouth of the Daintree River before crashing into the Great Barrier Reef near Cape Tribulation.
The Daintree River was discovered by Europeans a century later when the explorer, George Elphinstone Dalrymple, sailed up the river in 1873.
By the late 1870s and early 1880s timber cutters had moved into the area and were cutting down the cedar trees in the rainforest. There were large stands of cedar near the river and the loggers transported the timber by constructing rafts of logs and floating them down the river.
They were followed by dairy farmers and a butter factory was built in 1924.
Today the town is primarily a tourist centre with cafes, river cruises, souvenir shops, and accommodation venues near the river.
Bushman Lodge
We wondered to the area where the Bushman Lodge once stood.
This was originally the home of Eric Osbourne, the engineer at the Butter Factory.
Daintree River
The river rises on the slopes of the Great Dividing Range within the Daintree National Park below Black Mountain at an elevation of 1,270 metres.
We boarded our boat at the Daintree Village area around 945am.
River crossing
After finishing our River Tour, we crossed the Daintree River with our car, via the Cable Ferry.
We drove up north to Cow Bay where we visited the Daintree Discovery Centre.
The Daintree Discovery Center
We arrived just before lunch at the centre and bought tickets. The tickets included access to 5 walks, displays, a self guided audio tour, interpretive centre and reptile display.
Daintree Rainforest
It is one of the most fascinating and diverse ecosystems on earth. It covers an area of 1200 Square Kilometres. It is the oldest intact lowland tropical rainforest in the world. It is thought to be around 180 million years old.
The Daintree Rainforest is home to some of the oldest plants on earth and 12 of the 19 primitive flowering plant families are found there.
The Ribbonwood is the perfect example. It is commonly known as Idiot Fruit and is one of the rarest and most primitive of flowering plants worldwide. It was discovered in 1970 in cape Tribulation National park.
Aerial Walkway
We first did the Aerial Walk, which is a 11m high walkway, so we could experience the mid level rainforest.
While walking we spotted some of the Fauna described in our guidebook.
Canopy Tower
We then walked up a 23m tower to few the rainforest canopy from 5 different levels.
Cassowary Circuit
Walking the circuit allowed us to view the rainforest from the floor level.
The Interpretive Centre
We visited the Interpretive centre where we could see reptiles, insects and flora up close. There was an area to be able to handle items as well.
So proud of our daughter who now confidently can point out and name; a calf, sugar cane, waterfalls, rainforest…her vocabulary is growing substantially.
The Jurassic Forest
We walked into the Jurassic Forest. Madeline was quiet frightened so we flew through this section.
Daintree Icecream and Co
After finishing at the centre we drove over the the Icecream and fruit farm.
Madeline had vanilla, while we had the 4 Ice-cream taster. Coconut, Davidson plum, Black sapote and wattleseed.
We wandered through the orchid and saw some of the feral pig rootings around the trees.
Alexandra Lookout
Our last stop for the day was Alexandra Lookout.
The lookout overlooked the coral sea in the distance.
Tomorrow
After a huge day out and about we are resting and relaxing tomorrow.
Eva is dropping Babcia and Dziadzio off at the airport for their flight home.
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