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In Time To Gonwonda Land
Adventure In Australia
~ By William Starr Moake
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want to go back in time to see what the earth looked like say 120 million
years ago? You can do it in Far North Queensland, Australia - minus
the dinosaurs, which you wouldn't want to run into anyway.
The starting
point is Cairns (pronounced "cans"), which has an international airport
with direct flights to and from major cities on the U.S. west coast. Cairns
means tombstones and refers to the early history of the sugarcane town
when many residents died from malaria. There is no malaria in the area
today, but dengue fever (also carried by mosquitoes) erupts occasionally,
so use insect repellent during your stay.
I rented a
Toyota in Cairns and drove 50 miles north along a coastline where rainforest
mountains dropped down to breathtaking beaches. One of the most beautiful
was Four Mile Beach just before I reached Port Douglas.
This picturesque
village lies at the edge of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area of North
Queensland, which includes the Daintree rainforest and the Cape Tribulation
wilderness. Port Douglas is the cultural center of the area and boasts
a playhouse run by British actress Diane Cilento. |
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Some
distance inland from Port Douglas I strolled under the canopy of the Daintree
rainforest on a boardwalk. It's the oldest tropical rainforest in the world
- a remnant of Gonwonda, one of the two original continents that formed
when the planet was still young. Of the 19 oldest plant families on earth
today, 12 are found in this relatively small area. The local flora includes
large tree ferns and other cycads, ancient ancestors of palm trees that
served as a major food source for herbivorous dinosaurs.
I was amazed
to see such lush foliage on a continent known for its vast desert wastelands.
In Australia rainforests cover less than one percent of the land and they
get up to 200 inches of rain each year.
The boardwalk
was a good idea for several reasons. On the forest floor I might have encountered
one of the top ten most poisonous snake species in the world, THE most
deadly spider (the funnel web spider) or the Stinging Tree, which has been
known to kill a full-grown horse. I was reminded of the sea wasp warnings
I had seen posted at certain beaches earlier. Sea wasps are brown box jellyfish
that can kill a human if he gets tangled in the transparent tentacles.
You have to play it safe in this part of Australia if you don't want death
to spoil your whole vacation. |
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| About
30 miles past Port Douglas is the Daintree River Ferry, the only way across
the river. It costs $16 and the ride takes only five minutes. I noticed
"No Swimming" signs with a crocodile drawing at the ferry terminal. Salt-water
crocodiles range from the ocean to far inland on rivers. Near Cairns I
had seen one in a zoo that measured 9 meters long (that's 29.5 feet!).
Salties, as they are called by locals, are the largest crocodiles in the
world and kill humans every year in Australia. Fresh water crocs (freshies)
are much smaller and considered harmless. Some people even swim with them,
but not me.
The road on
the north side of the Daintree river turns to dirt as it enters the Cape
Tribulation wilderness. I followed a young couple in a Porsche, which I
was surprised to see on such a rough track.
The driver
soon lost me on the winding road and I punched the gas pedal to catch up.
As I whipped around a bend, I saw a huge bird standing in the road and
slammed on my brakes. It was a cassowary and I stopped only a few feet
from it. The damn thing just looked at me and refused to move out of the
way. It was five feet tall with the biggest claws I had ever seen -- big
enough, I read later, to disembowel a human with one swipe. I backed up
the Toyota and drove around him. It was a good thing I hadn't run over
the cassowary. They are an endangered species and I would have been fined
several thousand dollars. |
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I
finally caught up with the Porsche, which was idling in front of a stream
while the driver thought about risking a crossing. When he plowed through
the water, I saw it was only a foot or so deep and I followed with no problem.
By the time
I came to the third crossing, I noticed dark clouds in the mountains upstream.
The Porsche had already crossed and vanished, but I knew what those clouds
meant. It was raining up there and sooner than later all that water would
rush downhill and swell the streams, perhaps making them impassable.
If I pressed on toward Cooktown, I could get stranded between streams and
have to spend the night in the bush. With no food or safe drinking water.
Fending off creepy crawlies that might try to slither into the car.
No thanks.
I walked to the nearest beach for one last look at Cape Tribulation, then
I turned the rental car around and started back to the ferry.
To contact
William Click Here
To see his
web site Click
Here
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