Daintree Rainforest and Beyond

Aug. 3rd. We were back on the road by 8am and headed into the Daintree Rainforest. It was around this time that we started to realize what a ridiculously small car we were travelling in. Almost every other car on the road here is a large land cruiser 4wd vehicle with a snorkel for traversing rivers, 2 spare tires, 4 spare jugs of fuel, a heavy duty car jack, a winch, “roo bar” on the bumper for deflecting the various road crossing marsupials, a shovel, and various other useful emergency equipment tied to the roof. We on the other hand have to be very very careful when driving over the 4 inch high speed humps on the paved road. Despite our off road deficiencies, we did manage to drive as far north from Cairns as is possible in a 2wd vehicle. Right up to where the paved road ends and 100km of dirt road, which is impassible during the rainy season, leading to Cooktown begins.

We booked our campsite over the phone. It was the last one available which we hope is a sign of good luck to come. Around 11am we pulled into the Discovery Center and stepped into (literally) the Daintree rainforest. The Discovery center is celebrating its 21^st year of teaching people about the Australian rainforest. It features a “rainforest skywalk” which takes you through the forest about 30 ft off the ground and then up a tower to the very tops of the trees.

After exploring, we made it to the campground with time to spare for cooking up dinner before it got dark. The National Park campground is as basic as they come but at least we didn’t have to worry about someone telling us NO CAMPING.