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Allan Rogers meets
THE DRAGONS OF DAINTREE

" There are no sharks in this river,
the crocodiles have eaten them!"



Cairns in Australia’s far North Queensland is now a major new tourist destination The rain forest runs up along the coast up to Cooktown and the beaches are backed by palm trees and fringed with coral reefs.

I joined a group heading out of town inside a four wheel drive, overland all-terrain vehicle.

Our driver/guide drew attention to a safety hatch, an emergency exit in the roof. I wasn’t sure if I found that reassuring and began to wonder, why we needed to know. Then, as we ran into torrential rain and were told how easily roads can get washed away we began to understand.

The drive took us up to Cape Tribulation where, in the primeval forest,

I came face to face with a dragon, but I stood my ground. It's amazing how brave you can be when the creature is only ten inches long.

He was a Boyd's Forest Dragon and very much like the one the St. George harassed except he wasn’t breathing flame and fire.

The next adventure was a boat ride on the Daintree River amid the mangroves while we heard about large nectar eating bats and gliding possums.

Along the coastal highway back to Cairns I looked longingly at the golden beaches, most were deserted and I was ready for one of the best swims of my life.

It happened amid the fish that live around the coral at Michealmas Quay on the Barrier Reef.
We sailed out from Cairns onboard the Ocean Spirit, the world’s largest sailing catamaran and took a guided snorkel tour, with a marine biologist out to the fringing edge of the reef.

Finning our way around we met some really exotic creatures. There are well over 1500 different species of fish and I was befriended by a little blue and red striped fish who kept swimming round me.

Back in 1882 a railway was built up into the hills and on a spectacular day trip we clattered over 40 bridges and rumbled through 15 tunnels.

Every now and we caught glimpses of tin roofed homes among the gum tees
.

The Kuranda Tour is run by a company called Tropic Wings and it included a lesson on the art of boomerang throwing.

I was admiring the trees and the parrots flying over the flowers. It was a riot of colour and I was struck by the beauty, I was also struck by something else, a boomerang! It had been thrown by a diminutive a Japanese lady tourist. who apologised with much bowing and hissing..

The trees were massive and the ferns were as high as houses.

Beside a bridge over some sluggish looking water some wit had placed a sign that read

" There are no sharks in this river,
the crocodiles have eaten them!"


Bright green birdwing butterflies flitted by while an Iguana sun-baked on the side of the river bank. The day trips certainly inspire you to hire a car and explore for yourself. There is the chance of running into some of the wildlife but the risks are negligible.
Luckily they don’t have the very large kangaroos, so there’s not the danger of a monumental coming together with a 6 to 8 foot kangaroo on the road at night. You won’t need that, Cairns and the rain forest will make a big enough impression on you.

report by Allan Rogers
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Fact file
Queensland Tourism & Travel.