Remember how much I like plants? Well, just imagine that excitement when I'm in a flippin' RAINFOREST! And not just ANY rainforest, but the WORLD'S OLDEST RAINFOREST! I've got to wonder why all we ever hear about is the rainforests in South America and we never hear anything about the Daintree? I had never heard of it, and had no idea that there was even a rainforest in Australia until we started planning our trip. How sad is that?!
First, a little information, as I'm sure you are as sorely lacking in knowledge about the Daintree as I was!
The Daintree Rainforest is a 1,200 square mile tropical rainforest located on the east coast of Australia's Queensland and is estimated to be 180 million years old! It was named after Richard Daintree who was a 19thcentury photographer and geologist from Australia. Daintree Rainforest encompasses Daintree National Park, some State Forest, and land owned privately. The ecosystem in Daintree Rainforest is considered to be one of the world's most complex, and is Australia's longest continuous tropical rainforest. Daintree Rainforest is included as part of the UNESCO-designated Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site, which was recognized as such in 2015.
The tropical rainforest ecosystem of the Daintree Rainforest is one of the most complex on Earth. Its plant diversity and structural complexity is unrivaled on the Australian continent and represents the origins of other Australian flora. The forest contains the world's best living record of the major stages in the evolutionary history of the world’s land plants.
The Daintree Rainforest contains 30% of the frog, reptile and marsupial species in Australia, and 90% of Australia's bat and butterfly species. 7% of bird species in the country can be found in this area. There are also over 12,000 species of insects in the rainforest. All of this diversity is contained within an area that takes up 0.1% of the landmass of Australia. Part of the forest is protected by the Daintree National Park and drained by the Daintree River. The roads north of the river wind through areas of lush forest, and have been designed to minimize impacts on this ancient ecosystem. From a total of 19 primitive flowering plant families on Earth, 12 families are represented in the Daintree region making the highest concentration of these plants worldwide.
Our tour of the rainforest was provided by Billy Tea Safaris. We were picked up in front of our hotel in this! What a hoot! It was actually quite comfortable, which was good, seeing as we were spending a good portion of the day in it.
We then continued along the highway and stopped for a guided tour along the elevated National Park Boardwalk. Our guide was incredibly informative, pointing out various flora and fauna.
The roots on this tree are called "Buttress roots" which are large, wide roots on all sides of a shallowly rooted tree and prevent the tree from falling over while also gathering more nutrients.
The tallest trees in the rainforest tower 200 feet above the forest floor!
I absolutely LOVE the beautiful fan palms!
Truly enjoying our time in the rainforest!
That's Abby!
After we walked through the rainforest, we were treated to lunch, grilled by our guide!
Steak, potato salad, pasta salad, salad, pickled beats. It was delicious!
The restaurant where we had lunch had a number of tropical birds and a special kangaroo area!
They had a super friendly Cassowary, too! (Just kidding, it was fake!)
We were given slices of sweet potatoes to feed the kangaroos!
So, that's just a part of our day exploring the Daintree Rainforest! The next entry will start with our guided River Cruise on the Daintree River. Crocodiles, mangrove forests and more wildlife!
Hope you enjoyed traveling through this portion of the Daintree Rainforest with us!
Love, Peace and Prayers to all!
Julie, Greg and Abby
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