Down Under 2014 - Day 15 - Daintree Rainforest

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Today we spent the day enjoying the Daintree Rainforest.  We learned that the Daintree is approximately 140 million years old and is one of the most complex ecosystems on earth. Its plant diversity and structural complexity is unrivalled on the Australian continent and represents the origins of its more familiar ‘Australian’ flora. The Daintree Rainforest contains 3% of the frog, reptile, and marsupial species in Australia, and 90% of Australia's bat and butterfly species. There are also over 12,000 species of insects in the rainforest. All of this diversity is contained within an area that takes up 0.1% of the landmass of Australia.

To explore the Daintree Rainforest we chose to zip line through it. We enjoyed a fun morning zipping through the jungle and learning all about plant and animal diversity.

After zip lining, we drove up to Cape Tribulation, a discovery of Captain Cook, to see the World Historical Site where the rainforest and the reef meet. We enjoyed walking the beach and exploring the area.

In the afternoon, we headed to the Daintree Rainforest Discovery Centre and learned about the plant and animal diversity and about the endangered Cassowary bird that is native to the area.

Goodnight from Mossman!