Day 2 in Cairns -- The Daintree Rain Forest

Can you find the spider & web??

Can you find the tree snake? Do you see the croc's eyes?

Crocodile and Pasta, yummm....

G'day Mates!!! It's 6:18 P.M. on Thursday, March 19th. Day 2 in Cairns was another picturesque adventure. It started out rough all due to a simple typo. We received a letter under our door saying that our 4Wheel Drive truck will pick us up at 8:45 A.M. So these NYC chicks figured, "Great! Finally we get to sleep past 6 A.M.!!!" Seems as though there was a typo on that letter, because we got a phone call at 6:50 A.M. asking where we were, and that the truck was waiting! We jumped up, quickly washed and jet set for our rain forest adventure. But rest assured, a plentiful serving of NYC attitude was delivered on a silver f-ing platter once we got downstairs. So off we were with Wiley (pronounced WHILE-LEE), the smokeaholic Aussie tour guide.

We drove about 1 hour and 30 minutes outside of Cairns, to the Daintree Rain Forest. The drive was overflowing with delightful views of creeks, rivers, vegetation, and even tree frogs and Wallabies (small kangaroos)! Before arriving at the Daintree Ran Forest we stopped off at a quaint coffee shop off the side of the road. I guess Wiley sensed that these NYC girls needed some caffeine before the hike to the tropics. So the banana muffins and coffee were on the house. Not only were the muffins out of this world, but we got up close and personal with some tree frogs! (See pic above)

Upon arrival to the Daintree Reserve, we were escorted to a small boat which took up on a trip up and down the Daintree River. We were on the hunt for crocs! We didn’t get to meet the big boys, named Scarface and Fat Albert (Crocs measuring over 5 feet), but we did see some of their offspring. We also saw a tree snake, gorgeous birds, beautiful butterflies, stunning flora, and a breathtaking view of the hills and mountains that make up the Daintree Rain Forest.

We then went on two trails through mind-blowing rain forest. We learned about Liana’s (remember the vines that Tarzan swung from? This is the technical term for those vines), the vast plant life found in Daintree, the different kinds of wildlife that inhabits the rain forest and much more. Most importantly, we learned of what NOT TO TOUCH; there was a lot of different plant life that if we came into contact with, could have done some pretty severe damage to our health. Aside from the extraordinary plant life, rock formations and waterfalls, we saw some creepy crawlers, like HUGE spiders and a Tree Dragon Lizard (see pics above).

We were then taking to Tribulation Beach. The beach is a sacred Aboriginal location. Behind the beach was a small island where the Aborigines were said to have sent girls when they get their first menstrual cycle. There was also a rock formation that Aboriginal couples would go to if they were having trouble procreating.

And then it was lunch time. We were treated to lunch at a café near the rain forest. Christine was brave enough to order the pasta with Crocodile! Claudia and I stuck to the steak.

Christine says the croc tasted like pork. I’ll take her word for it. After lunch we headed to one more area within the rain forest, Mossman Park. We got to see some more cool rain forest stuff and we walked across a suspension bridge. It was very Indiana Jones.

OK folks, it’s dinner time. We’re off to the city for some grub, some more souvenir shopping, and an Australian Male Revue at a local bar! Not sure what to expect…but I’ll report back tomorrow! Thanks for tuning in…enjoy today’s pics and videos!

- The NYC Aussie Trio