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Tuesday, July 01, 2025

Australia: Port Douglas

From Adelaide we took a flight to Cairns then shuttled directly to Port Douglas. Here was the biggest disappointment of our trip - we didn't get to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef. We had left GBR to the last of our Australia itinerary as stingers (poisonous jellyfish) should be on the way out as water temperature cools. What I didn't expect was wind. After much deliberation, we canceled our GBR snorkeling tour at the last minute.

We did have a rewarding tour to Daintree National Park, a UNESCO site, the world's oldest rainforest. The highlight was the impossible looking Cassowaries. First, from the van, we saw a male with a chick (see the embedded video 1st below or click here), and few hours later, a single bird (see embedded video 3rd below or click here).

Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Cassowary and Chick - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Cassowary - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia Cassowary - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

We passed over some other worldly landscapes on the flight to Cairns. Is that Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, Australia's largest salt lake, that I captured?
Yellow and Blue Lakes - On the Plane from Adelaide to Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

On the Plane from Adelaide to Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

After checking into our motel, we immediately headed to the sweeping, possibly risky, Four Mile Beach and its very windy lookouts.
Four Mile Beach - Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Marine Stingers May Be Present - Four Mile Beach - Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Four Mile Beach - Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Four Mile Beach - Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Four Mile Beach - Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

The next day we took the full day tour, heading north, passing fields of sugar cane, and then crossing Daintree River on the famous cable ferry.
Sugar Cane and Railroad Tracks - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Daintree River Ferry - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

View from Alexandra Lookout
View from Alexandra Lookout in the Daintree Rainforest - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Thornton Beach. We stopped here for morning tea.
Thornton Beach - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Near Kulki Lookout, we finally spotted a brush-turkey nest mound. Wow! And had a "careful" short walk on a very wide beach.
A Brush-Turkey Nest Mound near Kulki Lookout - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Pilgrim Sands - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Madja Botanical Walk at Cape Tribulation
Madja Botanical Walk - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Madja Botanical Walk - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

After Cape Tribulation, the most northern stop on the tour, we headed south for a 1-hour cruise on Cooper Creek. Crocodiles live here but we did not see any.
Copper Creek Cruise - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

After a satisfying lunch at Heritage Lodge, we continued south, passing more sugarcane fields, for a walk at the "treacherous" Mossman Gorge. Not to mention the Golden Orb-weaving Spider.
Lunch - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Sugarcane - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Mossman Gorge - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Mossman Gorge - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Golden Orb-weaving Spider = Mossman Gorge - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

Reward.
GOAT TROP DROP TPA - Day Tour to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

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