Ben and Jack got up just before sunrise, I missed it by about 10 minutes but it was gorgeous. There were tree loppers coming early anyway and we wanted to get going so it was a great way to start the day. We drove to the nearby Daintree river and caught the ferry across to head up into the Daintree Rainforest. It was such a beautiful morning and we drove along the roads with the windows down, so we could smell and feel and hear everything.

We headed straight to the Discovery centre and were the first ones there. It was a fantastic way to see and learn about the oldest living Rainforest and it was incredible to see the towering trees and amount of diversity of plants all living together. Some of the species are unchanged for millions of years. After an hour and a half there we left to do another walk, which was also beautiful. We were given the advice from caretaker Bob to see things in a particular order so as to beat the crowds and so far he was spot on, so our next stop was at an unusual ice-cream place, made with exotic fruit grown there in their orchard. They made 4 flavours per day and change them each day. We had Yellow Sapote, Davidson Plum, Coconut and Wattle Seed. They were all delicious and it was a great experience. We left there and worked our way up to do another walk, this one a little different as it was closer to the beach and so had different plants and trees (mangroves) and animals. Once we finished the walk we had lunch and then drove to Cape Tribulation then drove further on to have a swim in a creek, very cold! We continued north over the Bloomfield track to Ayton across some of the steepest terrain we have ever driven! At Bloomfield we took a short walk to see the falls then drove back. By this stage of late afternoon everyone was more than a little pooped and getting cross but Ben pepped us up and we had a sing-a-long all the way home, taking it turns to choose songs. As we were almost back to the ferry we could see traffic stopped up ahead and then saw that they had all pulled up to let a cassowary cross! How exciting! We had thought that we had missed our chance to see one in the wild, but there HE was, with a chick too!! Gorgeous. Well that just made our day and especially the long drive worthwhile.