Epic Round The World Trip Adventures! Stunning Photos & Articles - A fascinating gap year travel journal covering every stop of their journey.

Daintree - East Australia
Gap Year Travel Journal

(6th - 7th April) Daintree
The drive up towards Daintree is pretty spectacular – lush greenery wherever you look with sugar and banana plantations everywhere, framed by the ever-present rainforest covered mountains. At Daintree we went on a cruise down the Daintree River in search of crocs with our skipper Freddie. What a character – lived here for 32 years and never wears shoes or shaves – and very proud of that fact! He had some amazing stories to tell of being attacked by wild pigs, removing pythons from his back garden and croc attacks – fascinating to listen to. But best of all we actually got to see some of the wildlife too. The crocs were the most impressive – the photo here is of Scarface, a 5m long adult male. Just jaw dropping to see in the wild like this – especially when you consider the power of them – one swift blow from his tail could break both your legs and he can outrun you on land and outswim you in the water too! After some delving in the undergrowth by a very brave Mike we also managed to see a young python wrapped around a branch of a mangrove tree. On the lighter, less scarier side of things, we also saw the little white-lipped green tree frog on a branch too – not sure if you can pick him out amongst the leaves in the photo?After our cruise, we crossed over the river by the car ferry and continued our drive north. We stopped at the Discovery Centre where they have built an aerial walkway which takes you into the rainforest where there is a 23m high canopy tower. There are five levels on the tower with lots of info about just what you are looking at. The photo of Jo shows her weighed down by audio guide and guide book, trying to get to grips with it all while Mike climbed straight to the top to look right across the top of the canopy. We saw some fantastic giant Ullyses butterflies that are electric blue and about 10cm across and also a stick insect. We had expected these to be small green creatures, but this one was brown and about 20cm long! And talking of huge insects, the female Golden Orb-weaver spider who had spun a web above the coffee shop tables was well scary – her body was 4.5cm long and then there’s her huge legs too. Needless to say we didn’t sit underneath her. Apparently she eats the tiny 6mm male after they mate – a mere snack.