2 October 2017

The Daintree Rainforest in Daintree National Park is located on the northeast coast of Queensland, north of Port Douglas. It is the largest continuous tropical rainforest in Australia. Today we drove north from Cairns on the Captain Cook Highway to Cape Tribulation and back. The drive from Palm Cove to Oak Beach provided some fantastic views of the ocean. On the way to Cape Tribulation, there is a short ferry ride across the Daintree River. From the river to the cape is a beautiful but twisty drive. We made stops at Cow Bay and Cape Tribulation and did a short hike near Myall Beach.

As nice as the beaches appear, you will not find people surfing, swimming or sunbathing like you do along much of the coast. In this area of the country, October through June is stinger season and all year-around is crocodile season.

On our way back down the Captain Cook Highway, we stumbled upon Bouncing Stones Beach where there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of stacked rocks or “cairns”, the traditional symbol of hikers to mark wilderness trails. We are not sure how or why this tradition started but our kids enjoyed making their own stacks. We assume the cairns are somehow related to Town of Cairns. Either way, it was a fun stop.

The Daintree Rainforest was not exactly what we were expecting but we all enjoyed it nonetheless. The kids said we set the bar high on the first full day of our trip. All-in-all, it was a very nice day.