Saturday, August 3, 2013
Another day with our van rental allowed us to take a full-day trip to the Daintree Rainforests, which is a 2 hour drive north of Cairns. We were relieved that the kiddies took a nap on the car ride there so they wouldn't be too fussy throughout the day, and they woke up just in time to ride our first car ferry!
 |
| Welcome to Daintree! |
 |
| Cassowary, AKA Roadrunner Territory. |
 |
| Driving onto the Daintree Ferry. |
 |
| First time on a car ferry for most of the adults too! |
 |
| Do you see any crocodiles Zaydee? |
 |
| Hello to the largest Rainforest park in Australia! |
There are supposed to be really great hikes throughout the Daintree Rainforest, but since we had the kiddos, we were limited to shorter, easier hikes with friendly walkways versus hiking through mud (although we would have loved to do that!). One of the places we stopped at was the Daintree Discovery Center. It had an aerial walkway and a 23-meter high canopy tower that takes you to the treetops, so that visitors could experience the rainforest from all different heights.
 |
| Welcome to the Daintree Discovery Center! |
 |
| They give tours at the Discovery Center, led by a guy that looks just like this cartoon character! |
 |
| Everyone gets an audio wand to listen to the audio tour as you walk throughout the Center. |
 |
| Yu family photo on one of the walkways. |
 |
| Chao family photo! |
 |
| Time to climb the canopy tower! |
 |
| One of the five platforms in the canopy tower that takes you higher and higher! |
 |
| The Ergo Carrier has been essential throughout this Australia trip! |
After leaving the Daintree Discovery Center, we found another very short hike to see the Kulki Lookout. The Kulki Lookout takes you to see where the rainforest meets the water.
 |
| Entering the Kulki Lookout path. |
 |
| This is what "hiking" looks like with a 2-year-old. |
 |
| Pretty views of the rainforest and the water. |
Our last hike was on the Dubuji Boardwalk, which takes you past some creeks, swamps, and of course the rainforest. These boardwalk hikes are nice because of the wheelchair-accessible paths.
 |
| Start of the Dubuji Boardwalk. |
 |
| Kevin carrying Ro Ro through the hike! |
 |
| Some of the interesting photos that Kevin took during the hike! |
 |
| Great shot of a caterpillar! |
 |
| Above us are the fan-palms in the rainforest. |
 |
| Below us... mud! |
 |
| Nice and clean walkways. |
 |
| Walking stick! |
Next to the Dubuji Boardwalk was the Myall Beach. We took a short stroll along the water, but it was too windy to stay long since it was getting late already.
 |
| The Chaos making their way to the edge of the rainforest and the beginning of the beach! |
 |
| That's good to know... |
 |
| More warning signs! |
 |
| Zaydee's footprints in the sand! |
 |
| Where rainforest meets beach... |
 |
| Hey! What is Ann Ming looking at? |
 |
| Zaydee found something in the sand! What could that be? |
 |
| A sand shark!!! |
We still had a long drive back to Cairns, so we headed back in the late afternoon. Halfway home, we stopped by Palm Cove again to have some dinner, and there was a playground right outside of the restaurant, so the kids had some play time as well to break up the long drive.
 |
| Random restaurant that we ate at. James tried eating Kangaroo. YUCK! |
 |
| While waiting for dinner to be made, the kids played in the playground. |
 |
| Wooo! Swing!!! |
End of a long, but productive day visiting the Rainforests. We never know what to expect when we take the kids out of their daily schedule, i.e. flexible sleepers or little monsters? Fortunately, both Ro Ro and Zaydee adapted well to our plans and the adults were happy we were able to stay busy and do a lot of sightseeing today! Good night!
