On Friday we scheduled a tour of the rainforests around Cairns, and the tour truly exceeded my expectations. I learned more from this trip about Australian rainforests than I could have any other way, mostly thanks to an awesome tour guide named Sid. This day was also, without a doubt, the most dangerous thing I have done in Australia and certainly high on my list of dangerous things I've done in my life. You'll see why if you continue reading.
Like usual the trip was already booked with a tour company called On the Wallaby.
Once we checked in and got a headcount, we were on the road. It was going to be a long, 12 hour day of touring the rainforest section south of Cairns. Here's a map of the major sites we visited.
Starting off at 8 am was tiring, and as usual we looked dead in the morning. Somehow Diego seemed to have a lot of energy.
We immediately started heading out towards the rainforest, getting a ton of information on the way. Here are some really amazing facts I remember him giving.
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Wet Tropics of Queensland Facts
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World Heritage Site
Much of the area surrounding Cairns is designated a world heritage site called the Wet Tropics of Queensland. To be classified as a world heritage site, the area must meet one of 10 criteria. Six of those are based on culture (cultural criteria) and four are natural criteria. The four natural criteria, in my own words are:
1) Contained incredible natural phenomena or exceptional natural beauty
2) Has significant links, or is a great representation of earth's history
3) Is an outstanding example showing significant ecological or biological evolution or development
4) Contains remarkable biological diversity and threatened species of the world
There are only 188 natural world heritage sites on the entire globe. This one meets all four criteria, and very few world heritage sites do. For the record, the great barrier reef is another world heritage site.
Oldest Rainforest in the World
Sections of this rainforest have been shown to be the longest continuously living rainforest in the world, surviving natural disasters like ice ages and earthquakes, and even mankind. And because of this, there are several primitive species that date back as far as 200 million years ago. This includes plans, birds, insects, etc. Just wait until you read about some of the plans found in this rainforest, they are brutal. Of 19 primitive flowering species found worldwide, 12 of them are located here.
Biodiversity
As mentioned in the world heritage site requirements, there is extreme biodiversity found within the rainforest. There are 50 animal, 11 bird, and 85 floral, 24 reptiles, and 22 amphibian species that do not exist anywhere else in the world. And more species are constantly being found. One new species recently found has been called the Beyonce fly, due to its big butt and glittering wings. Yes, this is a true fact.
In summary, this rainforest is really an incredible place. I had no idea how ridiculous this place was, but was excited once I began learning about it. If you want to know more, definitely visit the wikipedia page or do your own research about the rainforest. It's amazing.
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Cathedral Fig Tree
Anyway, our first destination was a really funky looking tree called the Cathedral Fig Tree. We started climbing a long, winding mountain trail up to it. Throughout the trip we started at sea level and would climb to the top of one of the largest mountains in Queensland, so it was a long road up. Here's a view from a rest stop on the road.
But after a 45 minute or hour long drive we were there.
There are a few common fig tree attractions that tourists visit, for a couple of reasons. One is because they are among the largest trees in the rainforest. Second, they can form some really incredible formations, such as the formation the Curtain Fig Tree has made (we didn't visit this one though). And third, because these trees look really, really funky.
This particular tree is 500 years old, which makes it only a teenager. It will live to be 2,000 or 2,500 years old, possibly more.
He told us about these fig trees and even this one in particular, and how they interact with the environment. They are parasitic plans, first growing off of a host tree, until it finally destroys it and grows on its own. There is much more to the tree than I can remember, though.
They even built a small platform within the tree.
This was the first minor attraction though, and after a quick 30 minute stop we were off to the next location, Lake Barrine.
Lake Barrine
There are several fresh water lakes within the tropical rainforest - some are safe to swim in, and some are not. This one is not a particularly safe one to swim in due to leeches and the like, so we didn't. But it was a very cool place to take some pictures of. If we had more time, simply relaxing here would be nice.
The main reason we came here was for a hiking trail in the section of rainforest next to it. After some pictures and learning about the lake we set off on the hiking trail.
And it was within this trail that I learned how dangerous it can be in the rainforest.
There really was way too much we learned on this tour to put on this blog so I'll point out some highlights. One was the bull kauris tree found next to the trail. It is enormous - over 45 meters (145 feet) tall and 6 meters (20 feet) in diameter. It is a species of pine tree, with flaky bark on the outside to stop aggressive vines from growing on it and killing it. Somehow, this picture makes the tree look small, but it was massive.
We continued on as he pointed out different things while we took pictures of some of the massive vines, etc. This must be where Tarzan lives.
While we were on the trail we did see a snake. From the picture below you can see it was black, moderately sized, and just on the side of the trail. I'm not proud of what I did, but I leaned in for some pictures... The one below I actually stole from Lyda for its higher quality.
As you can see we got pretty close to it, close enough to see its tongue coming out as it watched us. After looking at it for a while we cautiously walked past it. Once we caught up to the tour guide we showed him the picture of it and he told us a little about it.
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Red Bellied Black Snake Facts
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Apparently the snake I was leaning up to for pictures is, according to Sid, the 6th most venomous snake in the world called the Red Bellied Black Snake. I did some fact checking and I'm not sure if he is completely right, maybe he meant the 6th most dangerous, or the 6th most venomous in Australia, I'm not sure. Regardless, it is dangerous. It is listed in the top 10 most dangerous in Australia, making the list because it is the most frequently found in high traffic and populated areas.
Bites from the snake are not considered fatally venomous, and usually only injects a tiny dose when it attacks humans. There are barely any recorded deaths from this snake. It is very timid, and over 70% of bites occur when a human tries to pick it up or kill it. Regardless, it was probably not a smart idea to lean in and take a picture of a snake I didn't know, and it would have ended one of our days pretty quickly.
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After Sid finished telling me about the snake, he started his presentation on the plant located directly behind him called the stinging plant. The snake was dangerous, it could have sent me to the hospital to the day, but this plant could have ended my entire trip to Australia. Here's an up close picture I got from Lyda of the stinging plant.
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The Stinging Plant Facts
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If any of us were to brush up on this plant we would immediately be hospitalized. It is covered with hollow silica needles that lodge themselves in your skin upon contact. Within the needle is a poison like I have never heard of. Starting immediately, the skin begins to burn with excruciating pain. Sid said a fellow tour guide once brushed up against one and described the pain as pouring boiling water on badly sun-burnt skin. The poison is so painful that humans have been known to pass out or even die from it.
What's worse is how long the poison and pain last. It can last weeks or even months. Before modern medicine, the pain could be known to last up to 18 months before fully subsiding!! And the treatment method for getting the needles out of your burning skin is even better - you have to wax the affected area multiple times a day for weeks until the needles are all removed. There are certain insects that are resilient to the needles and still eat the plant, as seen by the holes in it.
Years ago, when travelers, adventurers, or military personnel traveled through the rainforests on horseback, horses would sometimes brush up against these plants and go mad. The horses would be in so much pain that they would run themselves into a tree, sometimes killing themselves and/or the rider.
If you are ever in Australia and need to take a dump in the woods, DO NOT wipe with a fuzzy looking plant with serrated edges.
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Many of us that were on this hiking trail were horrified, but Sid continued walking calmly ahead of us, stopping at the next plant we wanted to give a presentation on. I don't remember the name of it, but here's a picture.
These needles were located on a vine, and they were hanging everywhere. During the presentation Sid stood a few feet away, lightly lobbed his hat at the plant and it stuck like the two were made of velcro. The needles have tiny hooks on the edge and lodge well into whatever touches it. He said it will easily rip skin/draw blood, so if you get caught immediately stop, back up, and carefully work them out of your skin. There were other vines with needles that were just as strong but much, much more difficult to see (they were smaller and brown against a brown vine).
SOMEHOW we all made it out without being poisoned, bitten, filled with venom, or ripped apart by these plants. Once we were out I asked him what the most dangerous thing we could have encountered is. His answer was the cassowary, an endangered species in the rainforest, which he had the unlucky experience of encountering only a few times during his career as a tour guide. Here's a picture of it that was painted on a sign.
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Cassowary Facts
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It looks silly, but there is a reason this thing is more dangerous than the snakes, stinging plants, or anything else in the rainforest. They have been described as the modern day velociraptor. The cassowary has extremely sharp claws located on its second and third toes on each foot which are long enough to pierce completely through your chest cavity and abdomen. They generally leave the area before a human even knows it is there, but they can be territorial at times and when they do it is bad. They approach you and begin to stamp its feet and make a low, guttural noise. It will then charge at you, jump up into the air and try to sink both of its claws into you at the same time.
During World War 2, the military was told to stay clear of these animals to avoid attacks. There have been recorded incidents of them ripping a human from its chest down to its abdomen, or ripping open a stomach and spilling out intestines, etc. If you go to the wikipedia page and read the "relationship with humans" section, it tells a story of one that ripped open the throat of a 14 year old boy, killing him.
There were signs in the area I hadn't noticed that gave instructions on what to do if one is encountered, such as lifting your hands over your head, slowly backing away while facing it, trying to hold a backpack or something between the cassowary and yourself, or hiding behind a tree until it gives up. There were even hotlines to call if an incident, or even just a sighting, occurs.
Maybe it is a good thing that they are endangered and there are less than 1,000 left in North East Australia and Papua New Guinea.
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We climbed back onto the bus, did a head count, and headed to our next location, Lake Eacham National Park.
Lake Eacham National Park
This was simply a fun location to visit and had a lake within which was safe to swim in. According to Sid there were nothing but some friendly turtles, small fish, and 24 degree C (75 degrees F) water waiting for us in the lake. After our experience hiking around Lake Barrine many were hesitant to jump in but I wasn't.
Above: Me diving into the lake. Butt shot.
Besides swimming around the lake there was a tree several people were climbing and jumping off. Like usual I didn't hesitate to join. It wasn't a very tall jump but it was still fun. Wilfrido is pretty scared of heights but we still made him do it.
Once we were tired of swimming and jumping off the tree we dried off and headed up to a table for lunch.
Above: Wilfrido being photogenic after eating lunch
And then onto our next stop: Millaa Millaa falls.
Millaa Millaa Falls
Millaa Millaa falls is a very famous tourist attraction, and is pictured on most rainforest tour brochures around Cairns. The waterfall is part of a larger river and falls network called the Falls Circuit. This particular waterfall is 18.3 meters (60 feet) complete vertical drop into a pool below. You can swim in the pool below although it is quite rocky and only 17 degrees C (62 degrees F), pretty chilly. Besides being a popular tourist location, it was featured in a Herbal Essence commercial. The commercial featured several famous Australian landmarks such as this waterfall, Uluru, the Sydney Opera House and more, but at this location she dunked her head in and whipped it back, creating a rainbow-shape of water over her head. This action is popular for tourists to photograph... yeah I did it, you can see below.
After grabbing some pictures we jumped in and wanted to go behind the waterfall, so we swam over to the left and climbed our way on the slippery rocks to its left.
Behind the waterfall you could barely see or hear anything with the roar and spray of the water.
One by one we swam under the waterfall, crossed to the other side and got back towards the shore. This is when I did my re-enactment of the Herbal Essence commercial.
The girls with longer hair were able to make much more impressive hair flips.
We spent about an hour here before heading to McHugh Lookout.
McHugh Lookout
McHugh Lookout is located on the peak of a mountain (I forgot to ask, but presumably Mt. McHugh or something like that). More importantly, it looks over much of the flatlands, rolling hills, and tropical rainforests surrounding it. You can also see Mt. Bartle Frere, the tallest mountain in Queensland at 1,622 meters (5,321 feet) and Mt. Bellenden Ker at 1,593 meters (5,226 feet). It was a cool place to look at the surrounding area and take some neat pics.
Above: I'm 80% certain the tallest mountain you can see in left-center is Mt. Bartle Frere
Paco and I had not gone high enough, we needed to climb even higher..
Above: If you look closely, several of us are in this picture twice using panorama trickery
After more sigh-seeing we were off to our next location: The Crater
The Crater
Besides just having a really simple, ominous sounding name, The Crater is among one of the coolest things I've seen in Australia. It is located in Hypipamee National Park
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The Crater Facts
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It is a diatreme, which is a massive "pipe" leading into the ground caused by a pressured gaseous explosion underneath the earths surface. It has not been active in a long, long time, and to us it just looks like a massive hole with water at the bottom.
To this day nobody knows how deep The Crater is. Looking down into the hole you can see the surface of the water 58 meters (190 feet) below. From there, scuba divers have attempted to see how deep the pool of water is. They were able to make it 85 meters (279 feet) below the waters surface before they had to stop. If you ever need to get rid of a body, tie it to a rock and throw it in here. Nobody will ever find it.
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We got off the bus and immediately new this was another area to watch out for cassowaries. There were more warning signs here.
Anyway we hiked in, and after a quick 5 or 10 minute walk we were at the crater. It was pretty awesome looking.
We thew a few large rocks in to hear the echo and how long it took to simply hit the water. Those rocks will never see the light of day again now that they've sunk so far beneath the water's surface.
We also hiked down a 15 minute trail to some rapids running nearby The Crater. There was also a watering hole for those that wanted to do more swimming - I was done getting wet and drying off for the day.
And after that the day was more or less over. We did stop by a town called Yungaburra for some free snacks and to stop by an platypus-spotting location. I did see a wild platypus, which was cool since they are unique to Australia, but it was at a distance and my camera could not capture it in detail. We also stopped by a backpackers for a quick snack before getting back onto the bus and falling asleep for the ride North to Cairns.
All in all it was a long, long day. We left at 8 am that morning and returned after 8 pm. But today was also Tom's 21st birthday, so we had to celebrate like always. We showered, took naps, and started our routine.
Several of us ended up staying awake all the way until sunrise in hopes of seeing a good sunrise. Unfortunately the mountains to the East and low clouds made that impossible. But here are the best pics of the night.
Above: Tom before
Above: Tom after
