Different country up here, in the far North of Queensland, Australia, a unique confluence of elements, where the Reef meets the tropical rainforests. 

The Daintree rainforest is an awe inspiring 200 million year old legacy from a time when Australia was originally part of the ancient super continent Gondwana.   Lush, dense vegetation, with towering canopies, ferns, and at the sun deprived ground level, very gloomy and mysterious. You half expect a T-Rex to come lumbering through the thick undergrowth.  Full of plant species found nowhere else in the world, some of these really are the living dinosaurs of the horticultural world, though you’d have to be an expert to really appreciate it.

We’re staying in the Daintree Forest Heritage centre, at Coopers Creek, one of the oldest parts of the forest.  It feels genuinely “out there“ – no TV reception, no mobile reception, and just a scratchy FM  radio signal, picking up ABC North Queensland, and it’s news about crops, cane toad impact, aboriginal affairs and on our first full day’ the death of Michael Jackson,   Last night, as we dined on a menu of crocodile fillets, and smoked Emu salads, strange animals darted around outside in the gloom, and the noise of the crickets, and mysterious animal noises thankfully almost drowned out the sound of Irish songstress Enya on the PA. 

Trying to get to sleep is an interesting challenge.  As well as the afore mentioned sound of the forest,, every now and then, ones slumber is abruptly interrupted by the sound of large seed pods dropping a hundred feet from the upper canopy on to the tin roof of our bungalow.