Search for the Elusive Cassowary

June 21, 2010 - As an excuse to avoid the reef for a day, we hit the road in the early morning for a tour of Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest with a lot of stops along the way. Little did we know, most of the day would be spent looking for a large turkey/ostrich/velociraptor bird. Did we find it? Read on to find out!

Island in the distance on our drive. What do you see this island taking the shape of?

Stop 1: Alexandra Lookout. Near the opening of the park, we stopped here to get some panoramic views of Port Douglas, Snapper Island, and the Low Isles.

Stop 2: Beach for some morning tea (I know, how British of us).
But, while visiting an Australian beach, it is important to remember...











Stop 3: Trek (ok it was more like a 15 min stroll) through an ancient part of the rain forest. Did you know that this rain forest is estimated to be 10x older than the Amazon?!? Things that make you go hmm....picture below is of a strangler fig tree that has already killed its host tree.









Stop 4: Croc river cruise! Yes, we not only saw one, but three crocs! Albeit, there were just lying on the banks of the river not doing anything, but I guess not many people can say they saw a croc in the wild...Krike!
Stop 5: Mossman Gorge for some hiking and river viewing. Nothing too exciting here save for a freshwater river that the aboriginals use as their swimming spot. A nice relaxing way to end the day though.

So what about this mythical hybrid bird you ask? Aside from the fact that Olivia swears she saw one on the way up to Port Douglas (not witnessed by anyone else, btw) our mission was unsuccessful. The closest we got to a sighting was:



Seeing as how cassowary poop was as close as we got to a sighting of this creature, here's what we were hoping to experience - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary.

Up next, bike rentals and 4 mile beach! Stay tuned for more updates...

By: Tony