At last - some rest - a whole morning with nothing planned - just some time to kill at a five-star resort on the beach. After a leisurely breakfast, we just took it easy, a really fine way to pass a few hours. At 12:30, we were off again, heading north along the Coral Sea and the Great Dividing Range - past fields of sugar cane and bananas and a few barramundi (fish) farms.
We crossed the Daintree River by ferry. This is the real dividing line between cleared farmland and protected rainforest - the instant change of scenery was quite dramatic. The Daintree Rainforest is thought to be the oldest rainforest in the world, an estimated 120 Million years.
Our first stop in the rainforest was the Daintree Ice Cream Company, which is known for its excellent desserts made from tropical fruits grown in the company's own orchards. Today's flavors were blueberry, apricot, wattleseed, and soursop. We tried a sample pack of all four flavors - deelish.
Before long, we pulled into our resting place for the next couple of nights, the Cape Tribulation Resort and Spa. The resort property on the beach, but our room was up the hill almost in the rainforest canopy. It was high enough up that there weren't any curtains or drapes in the back windows, including these floor-to-ceiling windows in the bathroom - very interesting experience.
We gathered at the pool for an impromptu party or late lunch - Wayne had stocked up on cheese, crackers, nuts, Tim Tams, and assorted other goodies. Once everyone was adequately stuffed, we headed off for a walk in the rainforest - a trail through the hotel property down to the beach. We saw all manner of plants - a quick lesson in biodiversity - cycads, fan palms, giant strangler figs, staghorn ferns and more.
At the beach, we had a boomerang-throwing contest - Wayne even had a left-handed boomerang for the one leftie in our group. Everyone gave it a good try, but Dennis was the easy winner. Not clear at this point what great prize awaits him ....
After all that excitement, we had a nice walk on the beach before dinner. Dinner was a big Italian buffet - certainly nobody went to bed hungry tonight!
