Cape Tribulation

Just outside Cairns is a place where two World Heritage Sites meet; The Great Barrier Reef and the national park containing one of the oldest rainforests in the world. Cape Tribulation was named by Captain Cook because just offshore from here is where the Endeavor came to grief on the reef and Cook remarked that this is where ‘my trails and tribulations began’. Along the way we took a small boat along the brackish river waters. We managed to spot a few young saltwater crocs basking on logs and hidden in mangroves but no monsters, It’s not surprising really as the larger crocs don’t like to be bothered and can stay submerged for over 2 hours slowing their heart rate down to 2 beats per minute and being cold blooded only require 150 calories per day. So although not visible, they were out there somewhere, hidden in the murky waters. What’s pretty cool is that here two apex predators come together; the Salt Water Crocodile and the Bull Shark share these water. This is because the bull sharks (that can grow to over 2 meters in length) through osmotic regulation (unique to this species) is able to swim well upstream into fresh water.

On a walk immersed in the rainforest we were exposed to a living museum of ancient plant life. In fact many species of plant thought extinct recently been rediscovered here and even thriving. There are gigantic king fern and a prehistoric plant who’s fruit can no longer be digested (and thus spread) by any known animal living today without said animal expiring. We stayed in small huts off the main roadway and made our way to the water hole, checking locals where swimming (sure sign there aren't any crocs around) we splashed into the cool crystal water from a rope swing. Later I foolishly climbed between the mangrove maze during low tide trying to discover I don’t know quite what and quickly ran away when I heard a noise that sounded like air escaping a balloon. Walking along the beach I had thick rainforest on my left and ocean on my right, I chased poisonous crabs back into their lairs and came across an ominous life raft washed up on the beach. It was still so strange to walk along a beach and see a ocean forbidden to enter, it just seems so unnatural not to be swimming about in those waters.