The day began early (2am) due to excitement levels of the upcoming adventure and caffine levels the previous evening. Bed was not uncomfortable but outside noises were a little un nerving at times.
Crocodile trip was not until 1.45pm so before this we had muesli breakfast before heading off to the Daintree discovery centre. We had a tip off that if you continue past the centre there is a jungle boardwalk which is free. There were lots of warnings for Cassowarys, very large birds, same height as humans which can be a bit territorial and cause injury with their feet. The jungle seemed very big and no one else was around but we decided to be brave (!) and do the walk…so glad we did! We met an aboriginal guide who showed us a lizard which he said breathed fire (further research and we are not sure this was factually correct but it made sense at the time…everything here needs at least one way to kill you.) The rainforest was alive with sound and colour…lots of weird and wonderful looking creatures of all sizes. We were standing admiring a tree when suddenly we heard a rustle…and a cassowary walked right by us! Amazing view too quick for the camera.
After the walk we drove along the beautiful winding rainforest road trying not to look down over the un-barriered vertical drops and eventually returned to the ferry where the kind people at Solar Whisper Crocodile tours said they would collect us from our side of the river to save us paying for a ferry trip over.
Once on the other side of the river we read the info all about the rainforest and paid for our trip, where we were offered another trip free as they weren’t that busy, so a 2hr trip instead of a 1hr trip yay!
We saw azure kingfisher (quality bird) straight away. Then hiding in the mangroves we spotted our first crocodile…a 4month old, just chilling on a leaf. The owners of this tour love their crocs and give names to those most often seen, but not until they are 6yrs old as until this age they are likely to be dinner for another larger croc. The dominant male on this stretch of river is scarface, a 4 meter long old boy, but sadly we did not see him. We did however see Elizabeth, Scooter and Eric, all very impressive and stunning creatures. They were mostly hiding in mangroves, with only their heads visible, as they are ambush predators. They mostly eat crabs and small bull sharks, and a large meal can keep a croc satisfied for a year. We saw lots of metallic starlings, a few tree snakes, a tree frog (there is a tree from called Bob who lives on the boat…during one tour a snake came onto the boat and bit into Bob who was luckily rescued by the boat driver…he sulked for a few days but then was fine!) and a few interesting and scarily large splashes in the water. A really enjoyable and fascinating trip. We were sailed back to where the car was and during this time had a great chat with the owners about the crocs and the ignorance of some humans…which most often ends in some poor croc being carted off to a farm for the rest of its days just for being itself. On the drive home we were lucky enough to see another cassowary and her chick!
