Australia - Day 6 (Part 2 of 2) - Port Douglas

On our way to the actual rainforest, we stopped for a quick look at the view.  Our guide said there are usually only a handful of days per year where you can see from Mossman all the way to Cairns, and we were super lucky!

During the Daintree Rainforest walk, we saw tons of cool stuff.  This is a tree that has a symbiotic relationship with colonies of ants - the ants protect it from fungus and algae and in turn, the tree provides a home for the ants:

Cool spider sitting on the same tree

Just down the path, our guide showed us how the local sedimentary rocks created from silt that indigenous peoples use to create art:

Family photo time on the big tree!:

Here's the beautiful forest canopy looking up from the floor:

On the walk, we also saw quite a few fungi species:

twisting vine

The next stop was lunch and a swim.  In the changing room, a very nice, very gigantic huntsman spider looked after the tourists:

Lunch was an amazing spread of sausage, steak, fish and sides, including vegemite!  Andrew and Sylvie tried (just a little of) it.

After lunch, we walked down a rainforest path to a beautiful little stream that we swam in for about 30 minutes or so.  The water was super cold, but it was refreshing and you could watch all the birds and butterflies flitting above us.  It was the prettiest place I have ever had a swim.

Our swimming hole

The last big spot was Cape Tribulation, which is the spot where the rainforest meets the ocean.  In fact, it's the only spot on the entire planet where two World Heritage Sites meet one another: 

Don't go in the water!

On the drive back, we stopped for ice cream, but I was so excited, I forgot to take photos!  We had a combo of macadamia, raspberry, apricot and wattleseed, which is a native plant that tastes a bit like coffee.

Tonight we opted for tapas for dinner.  It was a great meal with lots of little things to eat.  Seems to be less popular with the locals, but we thought it was better than the recommended Salsa Bar from last night.  More snorkeling tomorrow!!  Cheers!