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Daintree Rainforest
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| Coral Sea sunrise |
Our alarm wakes us at 5 allowing us time to catch a sunrise
over the Coral Sea. The Esplanade is
filled with many people, causing us to dodge walkers, joggers, and
dog-walkers. We gaze at the golden sky
over a glass-like sea. It is cool, but
no jacket is needed.
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| Cairns at sunrise |
We enjoy our breakfast, then head over to the rendezvous
point for the Daintree Rainforest Tour.
The Daintree Rainforest is an Australian National Park and a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. The rainforest has
continuously existed for more than 110 million years, making it possibly the
oldest existing rainforest.
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| Aboriginal elder |
We are part of a small tour group, of 11. This tour is also Aboriginal based. Nicida and I have always had an interest in
the first nations, indigenous, and aboriginal civilizations, searching out ways
to learn more about them. The tour is
with Cairns Adventure Group, the Cape Tribulation Day Tour. Upon entering the park, we meet an Aboriginal
elder who explains the Smoke Ceremony used to cleanse ourselves before entering
the park, their sacred land. He also
describes their medicines and where they are found in the rainforest.
We hike a bit seeing the rainforest up close. Thick plant life covers the ground. Our driver reminds us that Australia has 20 of the 25 most venomous
snakes in the world. “But little need to
worry, very few people die from a snake bite.”
This area was ravaged by cyclone Jasper, making landfall
December 13, 2023, as a category 2 tropical cyclone. By the time it dissipated, December 18, it
inundated the area with over 10’ of rain.
Put another way, they received 4 months’ worth of rain in 3 days. Landslides caused by the torrents of rain
washed away main roads. Damage is so
extensive that road repairs are not expected to be completed for another year.
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| Crocodile |
After lunch we board a boat for a tour of the Daintree
River. The shoreline is a long thick
line of mangrove trees making landing on the shore all but impossible. It does not stop the crocodiles. We spot a 10’ long one sunning itself on the
shore. Landing on the opposite side of
the river we meet up with our driver, then continue north. We learn there are no public utilities, power,
water, or sewer on this side of the river.
Yet some people still live here.  |
| Crab artwork |
Our destination is Thornton Beach with a view of the Coral Sea. Arriving, we notice there are no manmade
structures in sight. We stroll along the
beach looking for washed up pieces of coral.
We notice pinhead sized balls of sand strategically placed around
pea-sized holes in the damp sand. The many
collections of sand balls appear like artwork.
This artwork is made by Sand Bubbler Crabs. They live in the little holes dug into the sand waiting for high
tide to recede then feed off the nutrients on grains of wet sand. The sand balls are crab-sifted sand,
indicating to the crabs that they have already fed on this batch of sand.
Our final stop in the Daintree Rainforest is for ice
cream. We see many exotic flavors on the
menu board selecting the 4-flavor
sampler, one of which is coconut, along with three other exotic flavors using
local fruits or nuts. Also, along this
road we pass a tea plantation. We
purchase a bag of Daintree Chai Original tea.
It is a bit sharper, more peppery, than we have tasted with the other
Chai teas we have sipped, but we enjoy this too.
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| Road construction |
We have a long ride back stopping and waiting at each of the
one-lane road construction sites, where they are rebuilding the washed-out
roads from cyclone Jasper. Continuing
south, we cross the Daintree River, the same river we had our boat tour on earlier
today.
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| Local ferry |
The only way across the river is
a cable pulled ferry. This is not an
artifact from Jasper, no bridges exist this far north in the Rainforest.
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| Views from our return trip |
We get home after dark, drained from the long day. We still have to pack for tomorrow’s 7 AM
flight to Uluru, with a car picking us up at 5 AM. Shortly before we go to bed, we receive a
message, our 7 AM flight is now 1045 AM.
With no way to contact the driver picking us up, we still get up early
to sit in the 22-gate airport for an extra 3+ hours.
Uluru, Kata Tjuta
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| Australian landscape |
At the airport we find out our plane had problems. The airline had to find another plane, and
crew to fly it. This is one of the few
times we have flown where the plane is not full, Nicida and I share a row of
three seats. As we fly, my eyes are
glued to Australia passing below us.
Uluru is one of those remote locations you really have to
want to come to. The minimum is two
hours flying time from major Australia cities. The Yalara airport, servicing
Uluru National Park, has two gates.
Buses from the Ayers Rock Resort hotel complex pick us up, dropping us
off at our hotel, there are 5 in total. Given
the limited space, we made all our tour reservations prior to leaving
home. First of which, is this evening’s
sunset tour Kata Tjuta.
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| Kata Tjuta sunset |
A bus picks us up for the 45-minute drive to Kata Tjuta,
many mounds of conglomerate rock – basically gravel, pebbles, cobbles, and
boulders cemented together by sand and mud.
Exiting the bus, we are greeted by flies. They are small, but persistent, fortunately they do not bite. They target our eyes, ears, mouth and nose,
only the occasional breeze gives us a
break from them. We are told, being here
in winter we face far fewer flies than the summer crowd.
As sun goes down, shadows creep across the rocks. The red of the rock glows, the blue of the
sky forms a backdrop for the stratocumulus clouds. As the sun recedes the color of the rock
becomes even more vibrant until it goes into shadow, then the clouds put on
their light show of pinks, golds and oranges.
What a start to Uluru National Park.
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| Uluru sunrise |
Uluru is a large sandstone monolith, 1,141’ high, it is 550
million years old. Uluru is the
Aboriginal name for the monolith. In
1873 it was named Ayers Rock, in honor of Chief Secretary of Australia Sir
Henry Ayers. In 1993 a dual naming
policy was initiated to include both names, and it is now known as Uluru/Ayers
Rock. Early settlement of Uluru is dated
back over 10,000 years. It was named a
UNESCO World Heritage site 1987.
Photography is prohibited in areas of Uluru and Kata Tjuta due to
Aboriginal beliefs and rituals performed at each
site.
We wake early for our sunrise camel ride near Uluru. 18 are on this morning’s tour. Our guides match people to camels, most of us
riding two to a camel. We form a
caravan. The guides go over the procedure
for getting on a camel. Foot in a
stirrup, leg over, then lean back and hold on as it raises its back end first, then
the front.  |
| Long shadows |
We feel very tall, people on
the ground have to reach up to get our phones for selfies to prove we rode a
camel. We get to ride ‘Trigger’, a former racing camel, but no racing today. I
feel a bit unsteady at first until Trigger gets into a rhythm traveling at
2-miles/hour down the path. It is quiet,
except for our talking. We witness
sunrise on Uluru, spectacular.
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| Our ride - Trigger |
Returning to the hotel we head for breakfast, finding the buffet
underwhelming. The food was okay, but not
as good as expected. Afterward, we stop
at the grocery store picking up packages of oatmeal, fruit, cheese, humus and
crackers for breakfast and light meals.
At the town square we buy tickets for bus to Uluru, a 25-minute ride from the hotel complex. It
takes us around Uluru, seeing it up close.
Our driver notifies us photography is not allowed in some areas because fine
details show themselves. The Liru trailhead,
is at one of the bus stops. It is a 1.25-mile trail to the Cultural Center. Hopping
off the bus to hike to the Cultural Center, we are greeted by the annoying
flies. We quicken our pace to keep from
being driven crazy by the hoard of flies.
The Cultural Center is worth the trip, we learn aspects of the
Aboriginal people inhabiting the region.
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| Milky Way over Uluru |
We return to the room to prepare for tonight’s Astro
photography tour. Overall, the group is
quite large, over 60, but most of them are Chinese so they have their own
storytellers, the remaining 10 of us, English speakers have our own
storytellers of the stars. The Milky
Way, our goal to shoot this evening, rising over Uluru. The sky is unfamiliar. We see the southern cross, not visible from
the US. The teapot, part of Sagittarius,
is pointing up. In the northern
hemisphere, it points down, pouring tea out on to the Milky Way. Our storytellers relay tales relating
star/constellations to planting, harvesting and fishing. We are reminded what we can do without being
glued to our phones or other electronics.
The brightness of the half-moon washes out a lot of the Milky Way, but
we still shoot it.
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| Kata Tjuta sunrise |
This morning, we are up early, 430 to catch the bus to Kata
Tjuta for the Valley of the Winds hike. A 2 – 3 hour, 3-mile hike into and
among the rock formations. First, we stop
at the designated spot to view Uluru and Kata Tjuta at sunrise. Uluru is so far from us it is only a bump on
the flat horizon. Kata Tjuta is closer
and given the angle of the sun lighting the rocks, is much more
interesting. Back in the bus, on the way
to the trailhead, our driver notifies us, “Be back on time or you will have a
long walk home.” We’re not willing to
see if he is bluffing.
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| Kata Tjuta |
On the trail we
watch for signs, ‘no photography allowed’.
This doesn’t apply just to photography, but painting and drawing as well. We scramble up and over passes which open up
into meadows. We are surrounded by other
conglomerate rock formations that make up Kata Tjuta. It is something to be seen. We make it back before the bus departure time
and enjoy the ride back to our hotel. We
are sore from the 3-mile up/down gravel trail we hiked over the last 2 ½ hours.
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| Kata Tjuta sunset |
This afternoon we are taking our last tour of Uluru, a
sunset helicopter ride of Uluru and Kata Tjuta with Professional Helicopter Services. There are 11 of us riding in
three helicopters. There are four of us
in our helicopter. Each of us gets a
window, although Nicida’s seat faces backward giving her different views than
me.  |
| Kata Tjuta |
I open the sliding window for fresh
air and to eliminate reflections from the window. I believe wearing black will take care of at
least some of the window reflections, maybe I’ll remember to wear black next time. Our pilot rapidly takes off, dipping the nose
for the quick flight to Kata Tjuta. We
do a flyby then he turns the helicopter around so the passengers on the
opposite side have a front row seat to the formation. The formations light up with the setting
sun. Our ride provides a perspective we
didn’t see on our first land based sunset tour of Kata Tjuta. We enjoy the sun setting on Uluru, before
returning to the airport. We would do it
again.
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| Uluru sunset |
The next morning, we are ready to head to Melbourne leaving
from the Yalara airport. It is one of the smallest I have experienced; besides
the two gates, the runway and taxiway are one and the same. Our flight to Melbourne is two-and one-half hours.
Thank you for stopping by,
Mark
Great shots as usual!! Thank you for sharing.
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