Magoo's Travels: Australia & New Zealand - Day 51

Day 51

Up early this morning. Mainly due to a fire alarm going off at 6.00 am. False alarm, but I was up then. Showered and went down to breakfast. Ok but nothing special. Filled a hole though.

I had arranged to be picked up at the hotel at 1.15 to go on the Daintree Rainforest expedition so decided to have a relaxing morning at the hotel, which is exactly what I did. I packed my rucksack with all I needed for the afternoon and sat in the bar by the pool until the time came to get ready. Here are some shots of the hotel.

The transport arrived dead on time and the driver John was an interesting character. He was Scottish but was only five when his parents moved over here as £10 poms. He had grown up here then moved to Papua New Guinea in his twenties to work in the coffee industries. He met and married a Papua New Guinea girl and eventually they moved back to Queensland. Although past retirement age he was now operating as a tour guide.

We then set off for the Sheraton to pick up the rest of the party and they were a pretty good bunch. There were only 13 of us on this trip and it seemed just right.

We set off for the Daintree river and went on a one hour cruise. During this cruise we saw a lot of wildlife but by far the most exciting were the salt water crocodiles and we saw a lot. From barely 9 inches long up to the King of the local crocs, Scarface, who was 6 metres long.

The Daintree River

Mist over the oldest rainforest in the world

To be this close to the crocodiles was an incredible experience.

A 9 inch croc on top of a stump

An adult female

Another adult female, probably mother of the tiddler.

An adult male in prime condition - but not ready to take on Scarface yet

Scarface had earned his name, his face was a mass of scars from his many fights with males trying to take over his territory. He was about 60 years old and of his 66 teeth he now only had 4 left. He was still top dog though and was recently seen dragging a full grown cow into a creek to be left to rot until he would return and rip off parts like legs by performing a 'death roll' and swallowing the part detached whole. A cows leg would mean he could go 4 weeks before eating again.

Scarface the 6 metre legend - note the absence of teeth and scars around the mouth.

This one followed us around for a while.

After this we went up to the Mossman Gorge for afternoon tea and a walk through the rainforest with our informative guide. We had the opportunity to swim in the Gorge itself and some of our group did. I chose not to do so as the water temperature was 14 degrees. I walked up to the lookout with John our guide and a charming lady from norther NSW called Ann and her mother Moira, who was here with 40 others to play in a bridge tournament. She had taken the day off today to go on this tour.

Mossman Gorge

The rainforest

Me at the Gorge

Riding the rapids in the Gorge

John, Ann and Moira

All too soon we had to head back to our hotels.

I then showered and got ready to go back to the Sublime restaurant for dinner. Emma the receptionist at the Mantra had booked my table earlier and when I got there I was made to feel so welcome and they had saved my table from the night before for me.