I went on one of my regular cruises on the Daintree River with Solar Whisper. At the end of the cruise, a rainbow appeared and lasted until I got home.
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| Rainbow over the Daintree River |
Peppa enjoying the rainbow at the end of the Solar Whisper cruise. We saw Lizzie whose 37odd babies hatched on the 27/02/2022 (a bit early). Saw two babies but they are still tiny. Scuter was out on the bank. Called Scuter because many years ago Parks & Wildlife removed a couple of scutes (spikes on tail and along body) for id. The last photo shows three types of mangrove roots: pneumatophores, stilt and ribbon.
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| Solar Whisper Cruise |
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| Rainbow |
I also regularly visit Mossman Gorge. There is a circuit walk through the rainforest which has some amazing trees with big buttress roots. It was drizzling so all of the plants were shiny clean.
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| Mossman Gorge Rainforest |
After a couple of days of rain, the Mossman River was rushing through the gorge. The emerald green colour of the gorge swimming holes will return once the monsoon season ends.
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| Mossman River rushing through Mossman Gorge |
The common plants along the beachfronts are starting to flower.
Terminalia catalpa, the common beach almond is starting to flower but there are still some “almonds” on the trees.
Calophyllum inophyllum (beach calophyllum) is also starting to flower. Daintree Dazzle loves playing with the round seed pods and the beach casuarina whisper in the wind. Sea lettuce (
Scaevola taccada) is another common plant along the beaches.
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| Beach Almond |
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| Calophyllum inophyllu |
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| Beach Casuarina |
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| Sea Lettuce |
I went for a drive up the Rex Range to walk the labyrinth. It is always a treat to stop at the lookout on the range for a view over Mossman with the Alexandra Range and Snapper Island in the background. I love the idea of a labyrinth. There is only one path so it can be a contemplative walk. In the middle, there is a bench where you can rest awhile and an old microwave with a visitor book inside. Orange cosmos flowers are scattered around the labyrinth.
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| Mount Molloy Labyrinth |
Another trip to Mackay coral reef and then sand cay with Ocean Safari Cape Trib. Too many wonders to document but on this trip, I was most impressed by the giant clams.
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| Mackay Reef |
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| Mackay Cay on the GBR |
As always, there is a huge variety of animals living in the Daintree rainforest. This year has seen an explosion in the populations of peppermint stick insects. They are eating away their food pandanus. I sometimes get a nighttime visit from a giant rainforest snail and there are always many types of moth. This is a granny’s cloak with the orange underside. Opal is an endangered spectacled flying fox. And then there’s the spiders: lots of them. The golden orb-weaver females have a body length of around 5cm but the males are tiny at 2cm. Then there is the tiny unknown spider with the intricate web and a St Andrews Cross spider with a perfect silken cross.
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| Rainforest Dwellers |
In March, it is often cloudy in between warm, sunny days. Here are some stunning cloud formations and the Daintree River ferry at night.
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| Clouds |
I had a lovely oyster and salad dinner at The Tin Shed in Port Douglas. It is on Dickson Inlet so all of the boats coming back from their reef and sunset cruises pass by. I have no idea why Indigo is towing a pink flamingo. I could look across the water to see the Alexandra Range, my home.
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| The Tin Shed, Port Douglas |
And here are the beaches that I and usually Daintree Dazzle visited this month: Thorntons, Wonga, Cape Trib, Myall at low tide when bits of reef are exposed and Newell.
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| Some Wet Tropics Beaches |
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