Daintree Rainforest

Australia is the land of contrasts.  Today we were able to tour the world's oldest rainforest--the Daintree.  The rainforest promises beautiful foliage as well as an opportunity to learn about the creation of the earth and the special creatures that live within it.  First we took a cruise on the Daintree River looking of Scarface the oldest of the crocodiles but no luck.  We did find Lumpy but he wasn't going to give us his best shot.  Here's what we saw:

After the cruise we had a chance to see where the rainforest meets the ocean.  It is a great place to take a stroll and admire the beauty of the foliage:

The beach is also the perfect place to learn about the typical Australian games and fun.  First, we got to try our hand at Frisbee and then we learned how in this the magical place stones bounce.

This was all before we actually began our walk in the rainforest.  Spiders were the watch word.  The first is one that is so flat against the tree that you wouldn't know if was there unless you were told by a great guide.  She is sitting on her egg sack.  Then there were the incredible webs of the golden tree spider.

There were also plants to learn about such as the leaves that will grab you and inflect punishment.  You have to wonder how the aboriginals were able to survive as they ate seeds and nuts and avoided the dangerous of the rainforest.

The next highlight was being able to feed and pet the Wallabies.  In Australia there are so many animals that you do want to hug...

Finally just to make sure that today ended on the same high food note, we stopped at the local ice cream factory.  They grow all their own tropical fruits and make the most wonderful ice cream.