Daintree Rainforest

The Daintree Rainforest in the far north of Queensland is the oldest and most diverse rainforest on Earth – at around 100 million years, it's vastly older than the Amazon basin (around 7 million years). Sadly, human activities have taken their toll and much of the forest has been cleared, especially for growing sugar cane, but there is still much to be seen.

From Port Douglas, we headed north to the Daintree Discovery Centre – a splendid facility where it’s possible to see all levels of the forest from the floor to the high canopy, and have a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake afterwards.

Then we headed a bit further north, to Cape Tribulation – the end of the sealed road.

This is the Daintree River:

One of the animals of the rainforest which is highly endangered is the Cassowary – a large, flightless bird which was once common but is now thought to number only about 1200 individuals. The road through the forest has a low speed limit, enforced by regular speed bumps – all of them signposted, though not all have been adapted like this one:

As you can see, the weather wasn't great when we were there. Although this is the dry season, there was a lot of cloud and occasional torrential downpours. Once again, the Scottish rain gods have done their magic...