Cape Tribulation

 Hi all

Our next update fom Oz is from Cape Tribulation and the Danetree forest which is an area I have wanted to visit for many years. On the plus side nearly every person  I know who has visited the region raves about it so the only downside was that my high expectations would not be met. The tour we booked was for just one day as we were only in Cairns for a few days, but had a full itinerary. We were picked up at dawn by the indigenous George who managed to memorise the names of our small group immediately and soon had us all interacting despite that fact that most of us were from completely different continents let alone countries. He kept us entertained all the way up the coast with stories of his family and his culture and gave us the English and Aboriginal name for everything we passed on our journey. Before we knew it we had reached the Danetree forest where we stopped for a couple of different walks and then we stopped at a wildlife centre which held a number of examples of the local inhabitants including Cassowary's & salty crocs!

I particularly fell in love with these two cheeky  young lizards who were always on the lookout for a tasty scrap of food ! Our day had decided not not live up to expectations and half way around the tour the heavens opened and the rain bucketed it down!We then ventured over the river to Cape Tribulation which is a mixture of some of the oldest rain forest in the world and mangrove swamp, which gives it a real prehistoric feel especially since it was still quite rainy.

Here is a shot of the forest from a lookout down to the cape itself

And a warning for all Cassowary's not following the green cross code!

Finally a shot on the way home where we joined in the photo fun with three Chinese girls on our tour. I have to say this is one of the ways that we distinguish the different Asian countries, Japanese = very quick formal shots, like shopping and temples, Korean - extremely formal shots usually with Nikon digital SLR's , like culture and large coach tours, Chinese - cannot take a shot that does not include a peace sign or other non formal pose, like small intimate tours and adventure sports.


As always thanks for looking

Hugs

Sara