I woke up this morning at 6.30am feeling quite terrible. I am not sure whether it was the couple of beers I had had the night before with some of the divers or going to bed quite late (which meant waking up completely full of cold again), or a combination of the above and the fact that I also could not sleep. I kept having nightmares about Patrick Bateman (aka American Psycho). Part of me wishes I hadn't started reading it, as I hate blood and gore and parts of it are quite grim. It makes me wonder what kind of person you have to be to write stuff like that - ie a bit of a sicko.
I was picked up by the Billy Tea Safari Company at 7.15am by John, who I swear was Rolf Harris' twin brother (with beard, glasses and everthing but the didgeridoo - he is dressed in blue above). Two hours later, we arrived in the Daintree Rainforest in Tropical Northern Queensland. It is a World Heritage Tropical Rainforest, which merges with the Coral Sea.
First stop was a cruise up and down the Daintree River on the lookout for crocodiles in the mangrove swamps. Apparently their optimum body temperature is 28 degrees (or thereabouts) but as the water temp is about that at this time of the year and the water levels are high, it meant all those crocs decided to hide away under the surface. We did spot a baby crocodile but I couldn't see it for the life of me. I kept seeing blobs of mud rather than anything resembling one, I have been told that it is on the photo I took but I may have to blow it up a few times to see if the guide was making it up or not. We also saw a large colony of flying foxes (fruit bats) which made a huge racket.
I was picked up by the Billy Tea Safari Company at 7.15am by John, who I swear was Rolf Harris' twin brother (with beard, glasses and everthing but the didgeridoo - he is dressed in blue above). Two hours later, we arrived in the Daintree Rainforest in Tropical Northern Queensland. It is a World Heritage Tropical Rainforest, which merges with the Coral Sea.
First stop was a cruise up and down the Daintree River on the lookout for crocodiles in the mangrove swamps. Apparently their optimum body temperature is 28 degrees (or thereabouts) but as the water temp is about that at this time of the year and the water levels are high, it meant all those crocs decided to hide away under the surface. We did spot a baby crocodile but I couldn't see it for the life of me. I kept seeing blobs of mud rather than anything resembling one, I have been told that it is on the photo I took but I may have to blow it up a few times to see if the guide was making it up or not. We also saw a large colony of flying foxes (fruit bats) which made a huge racket.
We then did a walk through the rainforest. I can't believe how many different species of flora and fauna there are and the oldest recorded living ferns live here (a few hundred years old). We were on the hunt for the Southern Cassowary, which looks a bit like a cross between an emu and a turkey and is an endangered species. They stayed away but we did spot rather a lot of cassowary poo. Each piece is the size of an egg and contains plant seeds, which are eventually germinated in the Cassowary's "compost heap". There are some other nasties lurking in the rainforest, such as the leaves of a plant which are poisonous and will give you a migraine for two weeks if you handle them and tentacles which dangle from a type of tree which will cut you to shreds if they stick to you.
Just before lunch (steak on the barby!), we fed some kangaroos. They were so cute, with lovely soft fur and shame I couldn't smuggle one on the bus! After lunch we swam at Emergen Creek and I tried for the first time three different types of sapote fruit (black, green and yellow). Interesting texture, although the yellow one smelt and tasted pretty unpleasant. I tried billy tea for the first time, which is native to Queensland,. We were told that the main thing with billy tea is that it doesn’t matter what it tastes like, you have to look really good making it. So it is no wonder those Queenslanders have a whole craft made up of forked sticks, jam pots tied with wire, gum leaves and bearded bushies swirling boiling water round their heads. Despite this display, it tasted like ordinary black tea to me.
Final stop was at Cape Tribulation beach. There was no time for a swim, which is probably just as well, as I didn't fancy being in waters infested with stingers and the possibility of being chomped on by a crocodile (there were signs warning us all to stay away from the water as one had been spotted in there recently!).
All in all it was a good trip and in my usual fashion, I snoozed every time I was on the bus. I must still be a bit run down and jet lagged, plus it's hard work being a tourist!
Tonight after dinner, I finally did the deed and bought myself a didgeridoo. I am slowly getting the hang of flapping my rubber lips and for one nanosecond I actually managed to make something which sounded like a "wha wha" noise. It is being shipped back to Manchester, so I expect Vernon to be an expert didgeridoer (is that a word?!) when I get back.
I'm flying to Sydney tomorrow to stay with my brother and my cousin is getting married on Saturday. Good job I have recharged my batteries, as there will be lots of eating and lots of eating.....king crab (yum yum!).
PS. The rash has gone so I am back on the seafood for now - hooray! The food in Cairns has been quite good.
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