Yesterday was Daintree Day.

We jumped in the car after breakfast and headed north up the Captain Cook Highway.  This road connects Cairns to Mossman, taking you past spectacular scenery where the forest and beaches meet, then through the sugar cane fields.  And it was all happening at Mossman – not only was it the monthly Saturday market yesterday, but there was another rather significant Australian event taking place.

What a pretty polling place – but it was a good thing that I had cast my pre-poll vote back home, considering how busy it was there. As I type this the results of our election are still uncertain….but I’ll keep politics off the blog. I rather love the sugar cane fields – seeing trucks loaded with cane taking them to the sugar cane trains, which once they are long enough head off through the fields to their next stop – presumably to be processed. Many years ago I did a tour through a cane processing plant. I love factory tours and finding out how things are made. I wonder if there are still similar ones taking place? Anyway, our first stop was by the Daintree River, where we took a cruise through the mangroves to see if we could find any crocodiles.

Our tour with Daintree River Cruises was excellent. I find mangroves fascinating, and our guide really knew his stuff. We didn’t have any luck in finding large crocodiles, as the air temperature and water temperature were probably about the same at that stage so they weren’t on the banks sunning themselves. But we did manage to locate a teensy hatchling sitting on a log.

See him there?

We also spotted a beautiful Brahminy kite – a bird of prey with a stunning chestnut body with white tipped wings.  Incredible to watch it soaring overhead.  After our boat tour we joined the queue to catch the vehicle ferry across the Daintree River.

We were headed into cassowary territory. Our destination here was the Daintree Discovery Centre. Here there were boardwalks with audio tours for the whole family. It was an excellent way to learn more about the rainforest flora and fauna, as well as the history of the area.

On our way back to Cairns we stopped off to admire the beaches and the views.

Pizza for dinner with a glass of wine, Pitch Perfect 2 on DVD, and just a little bit of watching the election count finished off a wonderful day.