While thousands of people visit the Daintree, in far North Queensland, you can still escape from it all and experience the ancient sense of this place.
Famously known as the place where 'the rainforest meets the Reef', it is home to one of the largest ranges of animals and plants on earth. It contains 30% of the frog, marsupial and reptile species in Australia, and 65% of Australia's bat and butterfly species.
The forests are ancient and can track their lineage back 135 million years – these forests act as a reminder of what much of Australia was like when it was far wetter through the presence of primitive flowering plants – for instance the ancient rainforests stretched out as far as Uluru/ Ayers Rock. Now they exist in small pockets – none are more impressive than Daintree where the coral reefs push up against dazzling white beaches that then merge into tropical rainforest.
Written by
Cam Walker.
i need to know all about this place.
Vast trunks reach up towards the canopy a long way overhead, they’re thick with vines or external roots winding all around them, but everything else seems to be in shades of green. Springy, velvety moss, palm fronds like opaque glass setting the light though to the moist forest floor and leaves everywhere – all green. Even the water running past looks green – but that’s just the reflection from the lush growth that makes this rainforest sweat the scent of growth.
That’s what I remember most about the Daintree. Coming in off the beach – for this is the where the rainforest meets the reef after all, you pass though a narrow band of mangrove and then you’re plunged into shady green that blurs in your eyes after the brightness of the sand and the sea.
You could easily get lost up here in the rainforest. The calls of more than 400 different species of bird and bat can be disconcerting and the leaf covered floor sometimes moves with the lizards, snakes and frogs underneath – this the most biologically diverse areas in Australia and the world’s oldest rainforest at over 135 million years old so there are all sorts of wonderful creatures hiding out in the dense growth of this moist rocky area running from the water catchment hills to the ocean.
Go walking, but stick to the paths and look after this great old beauty, she’s like nothing else on earth if only for all those wonderful shades of verdant green. The Daintree and the reef made me want to paint huge brightly coloured pictures in thick acrylics.
A walk on the wild side, alone in this primal setting on a barely visible path and meeting an immature Cassowary face to face. I cannot say that at the time I was filled with glee as I nearly had a heart attack with fright, but once it lost interest in me and went about its own business, I could not believe I had been so close to a bird that faces extinction. The Daintree is a special place with special people. The Daintree Centre staff were knowledgable and helpful. The library there solved by botanical questions as I came upon so many flowers that I had not seen before. The Epiphyte B & B is THE place to stay. A true Quenslander House open to the elements with bats and geckos visiting at night and a very warm welcome. Take a bird book with you so that you can identify part of the vista in front of you.
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