Journey to the Rainforest

We took a long trip to the rain forest today. We were picked up at our hotel at 7:10am by a shuttle and traveled throughout the day with 10 other tourists. Our driver, Mario, drove us all the way up the eastern coast of Australia to Daintree National Park which is up in the mountains. The drive itself was very scenic as we had the ocean to our right and mountains on our left. We passed a few very small towns along the way (they even put Haubstadt, IN to shame), and tons of sugar cane fields.

We made several stops in the rain forest, the first being Mossma's Gorge which includes small river that flows down from the mountains. We walked through the trees, took some pictures, and then swam in the river. Well, dad and I swam in the river. My mom's job was to hold up towels for us to change clothes since there were no changing rooms nearby. Who knew we were so adventurous? :)

Our next stop was the Daintree River. We cruised along this river for about an hour. Out tour guide explained a little about the plant life and helped us look for crocs, although we didn't see any. It was all beautiful, and extremely humid. After our cruise we took one more walking tour through some other parts of the forest and then rode to our lunch destination. We arrived at a roofed area, in the midst of the trees, overlooking a creek. It was right out of a storybook. "Mario the tour guide" became "Mario the Chef" and grilled us some Baramundi steaks for lunch. We also had salad and fresh fruit including papaya, guava and watermelon. While looking around the creek after lunch, we saw a turtle, a freshwater eel and some other fish.

From lunch we traveled even further north to Cape Tribulation which is a large beach just off the rain forest. While walking through the trees we spotted a bird that is native to the area. I think it's called an "orange-footed something"? But I'm sure my dad remembers if you'd like to know the real name. Our final stop was in a region of Mangrove Trees. There we saw the coolest tree I've ever seen. This tree was actually a network of vines that had suffocated its host tree. The host tree died and disintegrated, leaving behind only the vines and a hollow space. I have a picture of it if you'd like to check it out.

Also, on that last walk we saw a spider called a Golden Orb. Now I'm terrified of spiders, but my dad got a picture of it. The spider we saw was a baby, but this species can grow up to the size of a baseball hat (basically as big as your face). AND it spins a we that is so strong it catches birds to eat! Mario said that a human can push against a golden orbs web and it will spring back instead of breaking. This is why my fear of spiders is rational.

We got back to our hotel around 7pm and were pretty worn out. We grabbed some dinner (Mom ate Indian food for those who can appreciate that) and another round of Gelato, and we headed in for the night.

HOWEVER, my ear has really been bothering me ever since our plane was landing in Sydney. It hurt really bad during our descent and since then has been a little uncomfotable. Tonight it started hurting really badly again, and I thought it may be infected (since I have a sinus infection I'm currently not treating). We went to a 24 hour med check and found out my eardrum is very red and swollen, but the doc thinks it's just too much pressure built up behind my ears. He gave me some drops with an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory medicine, but warned me that MY EARDRUM MAY PERFORATE WHEN WE FLY TO SYDNEY TOMORROW!! I kind of wish I didn't know that might happen, because he said it will be painful, but we're hoping the drops will prevent it, so keep your fingers crossed.

Happy Friday!