An early start to beat the rush at the Daintree ferry – one person told us yesterday that it took 1 hour’s wait to get the ferry. The cane farmers were up earlier than we were.

First stop in the Daintree was Alexandra Mountain Lookout with views down the coast to the river mouth and Port Douglas and beyond.

Jindalba is an elevated pathway above the rainforest floor for most of its length.

Is is an ancient forest with huge cycads (above centre) and king ferns (Angiopteris).

Orange footed scrub fowl were busy building their huge mound.

A range of fruiting trees littered the forest floor.

Cassowary plums were fruiting.

Cape Tribulation Beach is hot and humid – temperature approaching 30 degrees.

The view north from Cape Tribulation.

An amazing mangrove thicket is on the southern end of Cape Tribulation Beach – scanning closely before approaching in case of crocodiles.

Fan-tastic! Djbuji is a national park section with a boardwalk through a beautiful fan palm forest. Huge toothed sedges form an impenetrable barrier to the swamp.

A fruiting sedge and a colourful insect on the walk.

Marrdja is another national park section with fan palm forest, sedge swamp and an extensive mangrove area. There are 30 of Australia’s 38 mangrove species found here – ferns, orchids, ant plants and other epiphytes are plentiful in the branches.

As we were about to leave Marrdja, a cassowary and juvenile were on the opposite side of the road. Cars stopped in the middle of the road and the number of people grew exponentially.

The adult was quite calm and did not show any aggression despite the juvenile being present.

The cassowaries then made their way onto the road and walked down the road for about 60 metres before entering the forest on the opposite side. The throng of observers dispersed as quickly as it gathered.

“Where the forest meets the sea” – accessing Thornton Beach.

A visit to the Daintree Icecream Company – Soursop (underneath), mango, wattleseed and Davidson’s plum – recommended!

After a visit to Cow Bay – back across the Daintree Ferry after a 30 minute wait from 5:50pm.

Central Hotel (bulit in 1878) in Macrossan Street, Port Douglas (late dinner) – doing a roaring trade on State of Origin night.

A visit to see the illuminated St Mary’s by the Sea on the way back to our night’s accommodation.