Daintree River Crocodile Hunting Cruise!

Prior to our incredible lunch, we went on a guided river cruise on the Daintree River!   The Daintree River is surrounded by the Alexandra Range mountains and deep valleys. Combined with the climatic conditions of the area the river is prone to quickly developing floods with little warning due to the high rainfalls on the 3,300 ft mountain ranges around the catchment and the influence of the cyclonic forces in the adjacent Coral Sea. 

Due to the ever-shifting deep center of the sandbar, entering the Daintree River has always been a problem for ship captains. The area was missed by Captain Cook when passing in the voyage where his ship was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. The Daintree River was discovered by Europeans in 1873 after they were attracted to nearby regions due to its vast natural reserves of gold.

Due to the river's isolation, saltwater crocodiles - once threatened in the region due to hunting - have flourished in recent years as beneficiaries of legislation that protects them. There have been numerous reports of deaths in the Daintree River from crocodile attacks and authorities warn tourists and visitors not to step close to the riverbank, stay within the confines of boats, and absolutely never swim in the river!

Here's what we saw when we first pulled up.  It looks a little run down, but it was actually a pretty cool place!  

We were given juice and tea and some biscuits (cookies) to munch on while we walked around a little bit.  We then boarded the boat for our tour! 

Lots of mangroves here!    Mangroves are really quite amazing trees!  

Mangroves are what are a collection of salt tolerant plants that are found along coastal areas and up rivers in the tropics and subtropics. There are 34 species of mangroves in Queensland with a total of only 69 species worldwide. 

Some species of mangroves are more salt tolerant than others and, because of this, there are distinct zones in a mangrove forest where the boundaries between species can easily be seen. 

Mangroves actually enhance their own environment, in a way. The root systems are designed to trap silt - the more silt builds up, the more mangroves can grow, and trap more silt and make more muddy areas for more mangroves. But mangroves have had to adapt to all this mud. In terrestrial plants, the soil gets soaked from rain and then dries out, allowing air to reach the roots. This doesn't happen with mangroves as there is little to no oxygen available in the heavy mud, so these plants have adapted their roots to be able to get oxygen without extracting it from the mud. Their roots grow up out of the mud so that oxygen is accessed straight from the air. Many of the root types are distinctive to the species of mangrove so the plant's genus can be identified sometimes by the root type alone.

Various other wildlife is also seen!  Sorry I don't remember what kind of bird this is!  

The first crocodile we saw! 

And for some video!   This is pretty awesome video of the crocodile we saw swimming in the river!   Listening to our guide is pretty funny!  He kind of reminds me of my cousin Jerry!    

And here's video of the Crocodile!!!!! 

And more pictures! 

Check out the crocodile!  

Some traffic on the Daintree!  

Beautiful views!  

In the picture below, they are restoring the shoreline.  

We had to wait for the ferry to take us to the other side!   The ferry can handle about 40 vehicles and takes about five minutes to cross the river.   It's a cable ferry, with cables on either side of the shore.  There is a charge of $26 per vehicle to cross.   Unfortunately, we were not able to exit the vehicle while we were crossing  :-( 

After we crossed the river, we drove along the Bloomfield 4WD track to Emmagen Creek.  And that is a story for another post!  

Hope you enjoyed this trip on the Daintree River!   

New Year, New Medical Problems for Greg

As if the title to this blog post is a shock to anyone!  Ha!  It's looking like we're going to be facing more health issues/surgery for Greg. 

In the last few weeks, he's been experiencing some issues that caused us some concern.    Lots of peeing, fatigue, water retention, bloating, a return of acid reflux, lots of gas (oh, joy for those around him), and a sharp pain on the right side, under his ribs, that goes around to his back, right after he eats.   

We went to see his regular doctor on Monday, who mentioned gall bladder, and scheduled him for an ultrasound on Friday.  She also scheduled us to see their surgeon, because he also needs to have another endoscopy, to ensure that the acid reflux isn't a return of his esophageal cancer!  The acid reflux was something that really concerned us, and he hasn't had an endoscopy since September, 2017.  Praying that that test comes out clear!!!  

We saw the surgeon today and he agreed that Greg's symptoms are all classic gallbladder symptoms.  So, with that being said, we've got Greg on the calendar for the endoscopy next week Thursday.  If the ultrasound comes back that his gallbladder does need to be removed, that will be added to Thursday's schedule and will be done at the same time as the endoscopy.   

So, instead of new stuff growing in Greg (cancer), he's now starting to simply have parts removed!  HA!  Last year it was his hypothyroid, and this year, we start with the gallbladder (most likely)!  Sheesh!  If it's not one thing, it's another with this guy!   He has really forced me to take those "in sickness and in health" vows quite seriously!!   I will say, we were much happier with a simple gallbladder removal versus the many, many other things his issues could have been symptoms of!  Please do continue to pray for him -- that the endoscopy comes back clear and there is no return of the esophageal cancer!

And, just for fun -- we had about 6-8 inches of snow today, and I had to drive 22 miles on not very well cared for roads.  (Hwy 29 west and 13 north, for those in the area).   I plugged my truck in around 11:30 this morning and when we went to leave, my truck started just fine but after about 30 seconds, conked right out!  OYE!  I really wanted to take my truck, but God had other plans.  We had some cold overnight temps the last couple nights, and I'm not sure that I put any "anti-gel" stuff in the last time I filled up (my mistake).  Sooooooooooo, we're fairly certain that my truck is simply refusing to move because it's too dang cold (and the fuel has gelled).  I stopped at the local auto store on the way home and got some Diesel 911 and am hoping that it warms up this weekend like it's supposed to so we can get my truck moving again.   This would be only the second time my truck ever froze up (in 15 years!), and unfortunately, because it's now parked outside (the new car and Abby's car get garage privileges these days), we have to simply wait on Mother Nature to help us out rather than turning on a heater in the garage. 

At least we have the new car and were able to take that to go to the doctor.  It's front wheel drive and today was the first time I drove it in this kind of weather.  I felt it handled really well!  Course, there's also the incomparable skills of the driver!  HA!  

Just south of Stetsonville is where this picture was taken on the way home: 

I'm still working on my blog from our trip to Australia, and have the next entry about half done.  I'll be posting that as soon as I have some extra time.  Now that we are finally off mandatory overtime, that should be soon!  

Thanks to everyone for the prayers.  You all know how much Greg and I appreciate them!  

Love, peace and prayers to all!  

Julie