March 26, 2012 Mon Day 46 Cairns

Today we went on a Billy Tea Safari.  To Cape Tribulation & Daintree Rainforest. 

Our 4wd.  We needed it on some of the roads we drove.  Only 12 people on this tour.  

Our tour started with morning coffee, then a Daintree River Cruise looking for crocs. 

The rain started with a drizzle, then turned to pouring.
Bought some more rain coats.  We left ours in Sydney.  Didn't need them here!

Not just rain, but high winds.  It made the trip a lot of fun.  Its always warm.
Saw one large croc way in the distance partially on land and one little one scurrying away.  

Mangrove Heron.  Looks like he is not enjoying the rain.  

Fig tree.  Right in the water. 

Next stop was the Daintree Rainforest.  Gave it a true meaning today. 
 Thoroughly enjoyed the experience of a true "Wet rainforest walk" in the pouring rain.  

BBQ steaks made to order.  And salads.
 John, our tour guide and driver did a great job cooking the steaks.

Helping John flip the stakes. 

Dining room.  Very cosy.  Gezellig. 
Love living outdoors all the time,  I will miss that when we're home. 

Rain coats were a little short. 

More nameless flowers. 

After a delicious lunch, we piled back in the truck for our next stop of tropical fruit dessert.
Except the road was flooded. Quite the norm during the rainy season.
On the other side of the river/road you can see the road continuing. No worries.
We walked into the woods and found a spot to eat.  It was drizzling now and it added to the adventure. 

Everywhere are new plants, flowers and birds. 

We helped get the supplies from the truck and John set up the tables, tablecloths and all. 
He is prepared for all weather conditions.  

Boiling water for the Billy Tea.  The term Billy Tea refers to tea brewed in a billy can.  A billy can is a small can, tin or pot used on a campfire for boiling water. A common brand of tea sold in Oz is also called Billy Tea. So the term "billy up to the fire" basically means, "put the kettle on". 

Freshly cut tropical fruit.

Sour sop, Ducas (banana), Pineapple
Dragon fruit, Custard Apple Cherimoya,  Five Corners (starfruit) & Papaya

Longon (leechee ) & Ranbhuta
Delicious, delicious. 

John is swinging the can of Billy Tea to get the tea leaves to the bottom.
We also had wine to go with the fruit and tea.  Quite the experience.
I loved all the different fruit.  Two people in our group didn't try any.  Can you guess who?
We were almost done and all at once it started pouring.  Like it always does here.  No warning.
We ran to clean up.  Smiling, we were on our way.  

Next stop was a walk to the beach and swim at Cape Tribulation.
No one went for a swim. 

We were so fortunate to see one with his 2 very young striped chicks on the side of the road.  I had the flash on, so got a bad picture through the window.  So disappointed.  

                                There are only 50 Southern Cassowaries left in the area.  
We did see one in the zoo in Sydney, but actually seeing this rare bird in the wild is awesome.
Cassowaries are large flightless birds nearly two metres in height.  They are considered a keystone species because they are vital for the rainforest's survival.  They are known to disperse the seeds of at least 150 rainforest plants.  The cassowary plum, a large blue fruit, is so big that only a cassowary is large enough to swallow it whole.  Once swallowed, the seed passes through unharmed and is ready to germinate.  Seeds are often collected from scats for revegetation projects as they are more likely to germinate. 

 Females are bigger and more brightly colored. Adult Southern Cassowaries are 1.5 to 1.8 metres (4.9–5.9 ft) tall, although some females may reach 2 metres (6.6 ft)  and weigh 58.5 kilograms (129 lb).
After laying up to 4 eggs on the ground the female leaves 
and the male sits on the eggs and raises the chicks.  

A young cassowary.
This is one of the few remaining areas where you can hope to see Cassowaries.  They look much like emus except that they have a bony growth on their head called a casque and the infamous murderous claw on each foot.  

On the way home we had to stop. There was water in the fuel filter.  Lucky for us, there was a small restaurant on the road. Ice cream time.   
After a phone call, and draining the water out, we were on our way again. 

Fan Palm

John, our driver told us there was a landslide on the road we were to take going home, so we had to detour about an extra hour.  Detour through Kuranda.  Same snaky road we took the day before.
Peter drove twice as fast then as John.  It rained sooo hard all the way back, but
he got us safely back to our villa by 7:30.  It was the best day. 
Exhausted, we had another long nights sleep.