Day 13 – The Daintree

I rose at 5:30 and showered and dressed. I had the leftover sausages from last night for breakfast and Lynn had her breakfast and we were well and truly ready for our 6:55 a.m. departure by 6:45. The bus arrived just after 7, with a few false starts by us – there are so many tours which pick up at the YHA. There were only a few on the bus but we called in at a few other places and the bus gradually filled. Our last pickup was at the SkyRail terminal. We called into a wildlife zoo at Port Douglas and then picked up our last three and headed out to the Daintree through Mossman. At just before noon our group split – Lynn and I were dropped at a café with Eani, a Chinese girl whose parents live in Houston (in Texas) while she lives and works in Germany. We had our lunch and then were picked up in a minibus to begin our “jungle surfing canopy tour” – otherwise known as ziplining (travelling by Flying Fox) through part of the Daintree rainforest. There were twelve participants and four supervisors. We got geared up and then had to trudge up for about ten minutes to begin our travel – but that wasn’t the end. The first run was uphill and each pair had to provide the motive power for the pair before by running in a giant hamster wheel. I was disappointed that none of the supervisors knew who Penfold was (he was Danger Mouse’s assistant and had eyebrows above but not connected to his head). The first run was short and easy – then they became longer and faster, until we were able to do acrobatics while travelling. The last run was a race between each pair. At first it was rather intimidating, but by the end everyone wanted to do more, but that was not possible. We were dropped back at the company’s shopfront and were picked up by our bus soon after. We stopped for ice cream (but I think the driver wanted a smoke) and to sightsee at a lookout. We recrossed the Daintree ferry and then went on a crocodile tour along a short part of the river. We found three largish crocs and four small ones. By 5:15 we were on the run back down to Mossman and dropped everyone off, arriving back at the hostel by 7. After transferring photos and having a “healthy” tea to use up coleslaw and ham, it was after 9 and it was off to bed for an early(?) night.