Day Two in Queensland-Daintree National Rainforest

On Thursday morning (June 18, 2015) we had breakfast at our hotel, then headed north from Port Douglas towards Daintree.

We started our Daintree visit with a river cruise. The Daintree River is home to a dazzling area of tropical life. We saw many crocodiles (some as long as the boat we were on), amethyst pythons, and many birds.

Inside of seed pod from the "Lipstick Tree"

First croc spotted on river cruise

View of amethyst python from river cruise boat

River cruise view

Scar, the alpha male crocodile, in the region of river we were on (he was huge!)

We dropped almost all of the other passengers off on the other side of the river, so the tour guide let each of our kids drive the boat for a bit.

Hannah cruising the Daintree River

Miss Lydia, the boat driver

Kiernan driving the boat on the Daintree River

There was even a frog on the boat.

White-lipped green tree frog sitting on a seed pod

After the river cruise, we had lunch in Daintree Village at Rob's Place.

There is no bridge to cross the river, so we headed to the Daintree River Ferry, which is how you cross to get to the rainforest sights.

Daintree River Ferry

The Daintree Rainforest is a region located on the northeast coast of Queensland. It is around 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles). It is part of the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest on the Australian continent.  The Daintree Rainforest is a part of the Wet Tropics Rainforest (a World Heritage Site) that spans across the Cairns Region. The Wet Tropics Rainforest is the oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest in the world. Along the coastline north of the Daintree River, tropical forest grows right up to the edge of the sea.

While driving there were many signs to look out for cassowaries. We hoped to see one of these magnificent birds in the wild, but it never happened.

Cape Tribulation is one of the closest points to The Great Barrier Reef (it's only 12 miles to the east from the beach). We had to stop and dip our toes in the Coral Sea and look at the view.

Cape Tribulation, June 18, 2015

Bubble crab art

Cape Tribulation is named by a British navigator named James Cook. On June 10, 1770, his ship scraped a reef northeast of the cape while passing over it. Cook steered away from the coast into deeper water, but the ship ran aground on what is now named Endeavour Reef. The ship was badly damaged, but they were able to save it the next day. Cook recorded in his log book "...the north point was named Cape Tribulation because 'here begun all our troubles.'"

Another view of beach at Cape Tribulation

Cape Tribulation view

Coconuts galore!

Hannah will never tire of the ocean-EVER!

Cape Tribulation, Daintree Rainforest

Sand sculpture left by some sea creature - any guesses? 

After exploring Cape Tribulation, we decided to stop for ice cream at Daintree Ice Cream Company. There were tropical fruit tree orchards and ice cream with unique flavors.

Four flavors of homemade ice cream (?????, wattleseed)

View from the Daintree Ice Cream Company

We also saw a few tea plantations scattered along the rainforest drive.

Tea plantation

On the way back we stopped at the Waluwurrigga Alexandra Range lookout point, where we were able to see the island we would visit the next day on our snorkeling adventure.

A little hard to see - it's Low Isles (where we went snorkeling the next day)

Sarah