Mozzies as big as small birds, and birds as big as humans!

K: We are in north Queensland now, near Daintree Village and Cape Tribulation, almost 200 kms or so north of Cairns. What a dramatic change from the Outback and even South Australia. It is the Wet Tropics, and we are here in the rainy season. The terrain is rugged, lush and beautiful (think Jurassic Park), and the sounds of the rainforest are everywhere. It is actually the oldest rainforest in the world, older than the Amazon, and maybe the most bio-diverse. It is also one of the few places in the world where the rainforest spills right into the sea. Offshore is the Great Barrier Reef.

The area is also home to some of Australia's most dangerous animals, reptiles, insects and plants. Fortunately, we have seen none of them, but they include the stinger plant, green ants, various venomous snakes and spiders, the platypus, the centipede, and the famed flightless cassowary. The cassowary is as large as a human, has three spiked toes (the middle one extends when it is in attack mode), a purplish head, red wattles, a large horncomb, and iridescent black feathers. I hope that the only one I see is in a zoo. Their kick is apparently quite harmful, potentially deadly.
























V: We lodged at Daintree Ecolodge and Spa--an absolutely magnificent place in the wild of the rainforest. Getting there was a good adventure, as some of the roads were overrun by flooding rivers and creeks. Each bungalow was perched high on stilts, off the valley floor. Off the back of our screened-in porch, complete with hot tub spa, was a beautiful gurgling stream that lulled us to sleep each night. The sounds of the rainforest were omnipresent, and such a great change from urban traffic sounds, as you can well imagine.

In the morning, we were greeted by lizards of this and that ilk. A golden orb spider was our friend each evening at dinner. The chef at the restaurant here was great. I had the best grilled barramundi I have ever had. (It may well be my favorite fish; yes, Minnesotans, better than walleye!) Local rainforest fruits, vegetables, herbs and greens were healthy accompaniments to our meals. Karen, of course, had kangaroo, her new favorite meat. She keeps telling me that it is very healthy and lean. I like it, but not as much as she does.

We explored the canopy of the rainforest as we visited a natural preserve with a great walking trail, interesting exhibits, and a tower rising up through multiple levels of the rainforest tree canopy.

Oh, yes, and in an effort to keep a bit fit, we both took a stretch training class, working on our muscle flexibility. 'Mens sana in corpore sano' ... a sound mind in a sound body!

More from the Wet Tropics.... later.