Rainforest meets Reef

Our first trip went from Cairns towards the north to Cape Tribulation. The region is known for its dense rainforest that stretches all the way to the coast. Accordingly humid and warm it was...!

On the way there, we took a detour to Mossman Gorge National Park to see a famous gorge in the middle of the rainforest. Our first real hike in the rainforest... amazing how loud it is there! Lots of birds and other animals chirping, rustling, and squeaking, and everything is so green! On the way back to the car, we picked a mango (photo). It was incredibly sweet, but also quite messy!

Then we continued north on very narrow and overgrown roads, passing various beaches that always looked great. We took some photos of the incredible views at one of the lookout points (it was indeed perfect weather for that), before our next destination was the Daintree Icecream Factory. It's a small farm that grows all kinds of exotic fruits from the rainforest and then produces fresh and delicious fruit ice cream. Coconut, Davidson Plum, Passionfruit, Mocha, and an undefined flavor filled our ice cream cup :) Then it wasn't far to the campsite right on the beach! On one hand, it was a great experience, on the other hand, we sometimes felt a bit uneasy because there were warnings about saltwater crocodiles everywhere.

The next day, we went all the way to the northernmost point of our trip, Cape Tribulation. We were amazed when we arrived at the beach! It truly looks like paradise, with the rainforest stretching all the way to the beach and the last palm trees standing in the white sand. On the other side, the clear sea sparkling in the sun with all its beautiful shades of blue. Mara immediately did a jump of joy :P

The return trip was a bit faster, as we had already seen the highlights and wanted to visit the Crocodile Farm. Unfortunately, or fortunately, we didn't see any crocodiles or especially cassowaries in the wild, so we could make up for that on the farm at a safe distance. The Crocodile Attack Show was particularly impressive. How loud it is when a 4-5 meter giant snaps its mouth shut! Not as cute as Schnappi the little crocodile anymore ;) We were also able to pet kangaroos and koalas... very fluffy!

Now we're stuck in Cairns again because our car is in the workshop for the first time... Stay tuned!