Dreamwalk

On Friday I went for an Aboriginal day. Again I was very lucky and it was only a small group, with 2 other couples. It started at the Jandal art center where the artist, Binna, showed us how the art is created and the differences between old and contemporary aboriginal art. Then we made some of our own.

My artwork!

Outdoor painting (thankfully undercover)

 I brought a couple of prints which I will put photos of up later. I am still looking for the painting I want. Hopefully at the markets on Sunday.
After the gallery, we went to the Mossman Gorge Centre which is only a few years old but a lovely place run by the aboriginals from the rainforest to showcase their culture and history. I got to go on the Dreamwalk tour while the rest of the group went with Darryl, our tour guide. (I sort of wish I had gone with them as it sounds like they had a lot of fun trying bush tucker.)
My tour was ran by Aaron, whose grandmother is from the Kuku Yalanji tribe who live in this area. He has come here from his fathers tribe to learn the ways of his mothers tribe. We started with a smoking ceremony which is basically walking around a specially prepared fire to ask to be allowed into the forest and to be safe there. This area is a special to the Yalanji, full of spirits.

Fire for the smoking ceremony

Red cedar tree

On the walk though the forest, Aaron (who is still waiting for his aboriginal name, which he has to wait for his grandfather to give him) showed up various plants and their uses.

He also showed us aboriginal shelters. The hut is built using "wait a while" canes (from the vine which has spikes and catches anything near it) and palms. The "cave" shelter doesn't look like much (especially a cave) but it does keep the rain off. I can confirm this as it was still raining so we tried it out. 

Hut

Cave shelter

 The mid-point of the walk was at Rex Creek. Normally we would be allowed to swim here but the water level was too high.

Rapids 

Rex creek, looking down towards the river

Aaron showed us the leaves use to make soap which is also a great mosquito repellant, moisturizer
for dry skin and heal wounds. It smells good too! He also showed us a vine which you can use the
bark as a muscle relaxant, like deep heat.

Soap

Making deep heat

 We also got a demonstration on body paint, what they use and what it means.

Different minerals give different colors

And the difference colors represent different ideas. Here drawing his family totem, the cassowary.

Markings

After the walk, we got a cup of billy tea made with the local Daintree tea and damper (kind of like scones/sweet bread). I got the bus back early on my own as I had to met the rest of my tour for lunch. I had Barramundi, which is a local fish and very tasty. Next was a beach hunting trip. We were shown briefly how to use the spear before heading into the mud flats. The mud was quite deep in places and not altogether pleasant at times!

Our guide off the find some mud crabs

This was the minimum mud level

Random mangrove tree in the middle of the mudflats

Frankly there was no way I was ever going to throw the spear at a fish and even come close to hitting it. However I did get 3 mud crabs! And I got first "kill" of the day. The first 2 were pointed out to me by our guides. But the final one I managed to spot and spear on my own. I was very happy!

Victorious hunter!

We also saw other wildlife.

starfish

Puffer fish (super cute and speedy

Sea slug - prettier than the name suggests

Back on the beach (after quite a long walk - I was amazed how far we walked), we went to the house
of the brothers who took us hunting and eat the mud crabs. In the shop, they are $100 a crab. And we feasted on them. Unfortunately there was another group as well and they didn't catch nearly as much as we did (mainly because they had a few kids) so we had to share our haul with them so we didn't get as much as I would like as the crabs were really tasty. I can see why they cost that much! The brothers also had a bunch of sea artifacts they passed around.

200 yr old turtle shell - they used it to feed their family

Saw and sword fish "noses"

Giant clam shells

After eating, we went downstairs and saw their giant clam shells. And I violated an ant. I was given it, told to hold its head and lick its butt. So I did. It tasted of very strong sour lemon and is used as

a cold remedy. Still it's an odd thing to do. :-)

On the way back the weather did clear up a bit and I finally got to see crocodile island which is shaped like a crocodile (it had been pointed out a few times but was until now behind the mist).

Crocodile Island

Blue sky at last!

Daintree Rainforest

On Thursday I got the Billy Tea Safari tour around the Daintree rainforest. The weather once again
reverted to wet. (The locals are amazed it is this wet this time of the year. My talent strikes again.) But the bus could handle anything. It reminded me of a refurbished tank! And I swear our guide was the female version of Crocodile Dundee. I expected her to whip a knife out and tackle a croc at any point! She was born on a cattle ranch, raised with aboriginals, lived all over the world in huts, and is one of only 2 women driving these vehicles around here. She was awesome!

The Billy Tea Safari car/tank

The first stop was a crocodile cruise on the river. Well, actually the first stop was a cup of tea on the river bank and I got the chance to hold a baby (1 yr old) saltie. He was so cute. (Don't worry - his mouth was taped up but they released it immediately after. Even small he had some impressive teeth!). 

Holding a baby croc

The boat had open sides which was a little unnerving. After Hartley's I know how high and far they can jump! Luckily we didn't get any jumping. It was too cold for them to be doing anything. We did see a few big ones on the banks and swimming.

Big female croc, chilling on the beach

Lumpy, 3.5m male

We also saw some babies. They sit on the branches out of the water as it is too cold in the water for them at the moment.

4-12 week old 

1 yr old 

And his brother

And we were luckily enough to spot a green tree snake (or rather have a guide with super keen eyesight).

Green tree snake on cyclone debris

And we even saw a sea eagle.

edge tailed sea eagle

 The cyclone which came though a few months ago has caused a lot of damage. They showed us the
water levels and a wall of water 7m high came down the river in some places. Some sections of the rainforest have been destroyed and it will take decades for them to recover. But the river was still very pretty and peaceful.

Mango trees lining the river

We also had the delight of seeing a dead pig floating in the shallows. Though the smell was worse. (I was actually glad I have a cold!) Pigs are a pest here so people shot them. Instead of taking them to government disposal areas and filling out all the paperwork, they dump them in the river. The pigs in this area have a disease they can pass on to humans so they can't be eaten. But I could have done without seeing or smelling that!

After the river cruise, the bus meet us on the other side of the river and we went to Jindalba, part of the Daintree rainforest. The Daintree is the oldest rainforest in the world at 135 million yrs. It has a huge diversity in plant and animal life. (Our guide did tell us the numbers but I can't remember them all!) It was quite muddy and sloppy and one woman was unlucky enough to slip down the steps of the bus and really hurt her back on the metal steps. We were all extremely careful after that!

Red cedar - used to make shields and boomerangs

Creek 

Female cycad - prehistoric tree which had males and females  

Leaves used as umbrellas. Bark used to start fires

 We had lunch at a little cafe where Cathy, our guide, cooked BBQ. While she was cooked, I went with some others to feed the kangaroos. They had some old red kangaroos (who are mostly grey now), which were huge! And greedy! A lot of people ended up with muddy kangaroo paw prints on them.

Greedy and rude!

Serious shoulder muscles

Swamp wallaby - so cute

 Lunch was delicious. Though I think I eat most of a cow! And happily a lovely glass of wine.

Lovely lunch

 We also used to toilets to change into swimsuits as the next stop, we could swim later. We then drove
along the Bloomfield Track. I will admit I was a little unnerved on this part of the trip. The bus slide, slipped, fishtailed, and rolled! The "little potholes" reminded me of those in the Vicor of Dibley which she disappeared into. It was an interesting trip and proved I will not get travel sick. If a twisty bumpy road (like you were on a stormy ocean) with the car rolling (I got a better view of the road through my window than I care to see again but the bus rightened) doesn't make me sick, not much will!

But we arrived safely thanks to the expert driving of our guide. The Billy Tea Safari company are the only ones with a license to stop here so we had a little beach on the river to ourselves. The weather was still rubbish but some of us decided to swim anyway. While watching the car and jeeps run the gauntlet though the river (the road goes right through it!).

Branch of the Daintree

Crossing the "road" on the Bloomfield track

Taking a dip

After a dip (while the others laughed and watched), we got fresh fruit and billy tea, made in a traditional billy can. The fruit was very tasting. I have never had a custard apple before. It is really good! I need to look for them in the states. We had (on the back left to right) logan fruit, papaya and persimmon (and on the front left to right), tropical banana, I have no idea what the middle one was, and custard apple.

Tropical fruit selection

On the road there were lots of signs for different animals, some very funny.

Aussie humor

Jellyfish

Turtle crossing maybe? In the middle of the rainforest?

We stopped at Cape Tribulation, named by Captain Cook, when he saw it. He named it after all the troubles he had getting there. (He ended up traveling further up the coast to land and he did so at Cook town.) It is also known as Kulki to the tribe who live there, which means the meeting place of spirits. The beach is beautiful and I imagine paradise when sunny.

Beach at Cape Tribulation

Enjoying the beach, even in the rain

 The last stop was at the Daintree Ice Cream Company. We got 4 different flavors in one cup. Wattleseed tastes a bit like coffee (the one with the black specs in). The Jakfruit was my favorite, kind of like passionfruit and mango (the pale yellow one). We also got blackberry (pink obviously) and coconut (a surprise one on the bottom). It was a lot of ice-cream!

Daintree ice-cream

 On the way home, we were super lucky to see a Cassowary. He was a little baby and his dad must
have been killed (the mom lays the eggs and disappears - the dads hatch and rear the young) and he was all on his own! :-( Poor little thing. My photos didn't really work out. We didn't stay long as the poor thing was scared of us and didn't know what to do. All you can see is a little brown body in this middle of the picture.

Hiding baby cassowary

The trip back included a trip on the ferry (pulled by cables) back across the Daintree river, though we didn't see any more crocodiles. :-(

Crossing the Daintree back to Port Douglas