We made it that far up to the north east of Australia, to Cairns, that it seems evident we have to stretch a bit further to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest, another Aussie natural wonder listed among the world heritage sites. The road to Cape Tribulation was quite twisting but spectacular, for some part driving along the blue ocean, on a side, and the tropical forest on the other. There aren’t many people up here and once we crossed the Daintree River by a tiny vehicular ferry (which only takes 2 minutes to get to the other side) it virtually felt in my imagination like entering into a Jurassic world: warning signs of fearsome saltwater crocodiles and the endangered Cassowaries are abundant along the way, snakes crossing the road, only one winding, narrow road leading the way through the lush, dense tropical forest that has been flourishing for more than 135 million years and no signs of a campground available, sh*t. However, apart the mad rush finding a place to park our van, the ferocious mosquitoes and the threatened jellyfishes possible infesting the waters (so we couldn’t have a swim), I am not sure why Captain Cook named it that way as it turned out to be a great place to kick back. Feeling a bit adventurer, we spent few days exploring the mangroves, trekking along the forest and getting closer to the habitants of this land particularly the resident crocs at Myall Creek. We were advised that we could spot one small female of 2mt on the river bank but these crocodiles spend most of their time submerged, either escaping the heat or hunting, and the rest hidden amongst the mangroves, so it wasn’t an easy job. We patrolled for few hours this creek’s estuary when finally we caught a glimpse of the croc coming back from her busy day in search of a place to rest. We stayed silently to admire her for a bit, trying to capture with our amateur camera her beauty but the reflections from her dazzling armour made it very difficult to get a good shot. Just when we were about to leave, a local came by and, like a bolt from the blue, he warned us not to stay so close to the river as on this bank’s side, exactly where we were standing, a resident male crocodile of 3 meter like to wander around. Time to go! Insights: the cost of the Daintree river ferry is $11 one way or $20 return; note that after Cape Tribulation the road to Cook Town (110km) is mainly unsealed and arduous, only for 4WD; although Cape Tribulation it’s less then 150km from Cairns it took us a good 3 hours to get there; it was almost impossible to find a spot to stay at the last minute but luckily, at the end, we were allowed to camp at the Jungle Resort for $20 a night, mainly just because the owner got pity on us and let us shares a spot with a fellow campervan.

Read the original here Deep in the forest @ Cape Tribulation