Day 2 - Port Douglas, Queensland

We had such a wonderul day today. Beautiful scenery, good company, and great food. We got up super early (still adjusting to the time differene) and worked out at the hotel. We then walked downtown and had a great breakfast at a local cafe in town. The food here in Port has been so good so far! The Aussies are very nutriously sound people - almost everything here is organic, free range, cage free, etc. It's kind of refreshing to see people eat so healthy!

After brekky, we walked down to the park and visited the Sunday craft market. On Sundays the park has a craft market where locals sell just about everything - eco friendly beauty supplies from the rainforest, fresh fruit/fruit juice, leather belts, hats, flowers, paintings, jewelry, etc. We didn't buy anything, but it was fun to walk around and look.

We decided to rent a car to drive up through Daintree National Park. Daintree is the only place in the world where the two most complex ecosystems, the Great Barrier Reef and World Heritage tropical rainforest (the Daintree), meet at high tide mark. To get to Daintree, we passed through green sugar cane farms and mountains in lush green rainforest.

Our first stop was Mossman Gourge. Mossman Gourge is in Mossman, ha. It is a beautiful place, many of the locals were there swimming and picnicking.

We proceeded about 35 miles "over the river" as the locals call it, which is just a carferry trip away. In order to get to Cape Tribulation, you must take a ferry over the river. You cannot go on the ferry unless you have a car (this ruled out the moke we were going to get). Once you put your car on the ferry, you are literally entering a whole new world. This region is breathtaking, a century+ old rainforest, wildlife, freshwater streams, and sweeping beaches. The Daintree contains rougly half the continent's species of animals and plants. See our pictures from one of the many public boardwalks below. We literally almost walked into a HUGE spider - probably at least 6 inches in diameter - GROSS! One of the coolest things we saw was the vast amoung of mangroves that grow here in fresh water. Some of the unique eco system can be atributed directly to the Mangrove Tree, which uses its distinct root system to breathe. There are 31 species of mangroves in Daintree and their desalinating leave are the start of a complex food chain system that eventually feeds the Great Barrier Reef! Check out of our photos:

It is speculated that the Daintree is between 200-300 million years old, making it the oldest rainforest in the world. It's funny that at 7 millions years, the Daintree makes the Amazon quite young!

On our way up to Cape Tribulation beach, we stopped at a recommended cafe, Whet Cafe. At first this place looked questionable, but it turned out (yet again) to have amazing food! Remember these cafe's are in the middle of nowhere and are all logdge type houses, so you aren't ever sure what you are going to get. We had a great lunch here before proceeding up to the beach.

Cape Tribulation was beautiful, although note the sign below:

On our way back to Port, we stopped at the Ice Cream Factory. This is no ordinary Ice Cream Factory - it's biodynamic organic ice cream! I know what you're thinking - what the hell is that? It's basically an all natural organic ice cream from fruits and sugars found in the rainforest. No preservatives, no sugars, absolutely no additives. They also claim to taste better because of the lack of pollution found in the region. I must admit, this ice cream was delicious. I got Coconut Banana and Jeff got Macadamia Nut.

We spent the rest of the late afternoon/evening at the pool and out to dinner. Jeff was craving ribs so we went to a place called Hog's Breath. He loved it and washed it down with a nice cold Guiness.

Today was a great day. Tomorrow will be just as great - we are off to explore the Great Barrier Reef on the Poseiden Catamaran. A full day of diving, snorkeling, and swimming in the Reef - we are so excited.

Till tomorrow.....(I will post pictures tomorrow evening of today's acitvities, too tired now..=)