Crocs, Koalas and Roos; Oh My!

Annie: today i am just posting pictures because i am to tierd to think about what i want to write

Word of the Day: smoko=coffee break
Auntie:

If yesterday was all about Australian fauna, today was focused on the flora of Australia. The Daintree Tropical Rainforest is a World Heritage Site and the oldest continuously existing rainforest on the planet. Some of the plant species within the rainforest are said to date back 110 million years! Of the 19 primitive flowering plant families on this planet, 12 of them are found in the Daintree rainforest. The landscape is one of complex and striking diversity; mountain ranges, fast-flowing streams and waterfalls, deep gorges and dense rainforest.

Our driver/tour guide, Greg, kept up an informative yabber (talk, conversation) for the entire day. We also had a morning tea, delicious barbequed lunch and the avro (afternoon) smoko (break) so we never were hungry. Annie was introduced to bik-kies, damper (bush bread) and vegemite!

We visited the Daintree Discovery Center where a trained botanist guided us through a small pocket of the rainforest pointing out unique, interesting and ancient plants. We both licked a Green Tree Ant (asked us about the taste!) which was a bit different. Climbing the 23 meter high Canopy Tower put us up in the treetops.

Cape Tribulation was visited just before lunch and we heard a bit about Captain Cook's exploration of the coast of Australia. Most amazing was that even after sailing around Australia he still did not realize that he had actually found Australia so he kept on looking; sounds far too familiar!

On the tour of the Daintree river we were able to look into the dense mangroves and see two crocodiles, numerous sulfur crested cockatoos, blue heron, wild pigs, white ants, and other small birds (whose names I have forgotten in a senior moment).

Lastly we visited the Mossman Gorge, a favourite spot for the locals to swim during the summer season. The fish were easy to spot in the crystal clear water but since it was a National Park, safe from fishing.

WOTD: Bik-kie = Biscuit, which actually looks and tastes like a American cookie