So that's why they call it a rain forest!

So we managed find our way up the coast from Airlie Beach up to Cairns (pronounced cans, don't ask me why the i and r are silent!). Cairns is on the north coast and is situated just south of the Daintree National Park, which is a giant rain forest. Having only a day, and limited means of travel options, we signed up for a guided tour of the Daintree river area. This area is well known for its wildlife including crocodiles, koala, kangaroos, wallabies, and cassowaries which are BIG and ancient flightless birds that have a reputation for being man killers! The guided tour included stops at a wildlife park, a boat trip down the Daintree river for croc viewing, and lots of little stops at scenic views and points of notes. At one point or another of the tour we managed to see most every animal, which was pretty darned exciting. A highlight was a hunt for 'bush tucker'. Tucker is slang for food, similar to our notion of grub, and bush means food from the bush, aka forest. Our specific prey for the the day was Green Ants, which like most things in AU are named by people with a keen sense of the obvious! (see pic)
The idea with the ants was not to eat them as much as lick their hind section. Sounds odd, no? Well the oddest part was that when you did lick them they tasted just like tangy lime candy! I'm not kidding! It rained on and off all day, which actually was quite nice as it kept it cooler, and well, it made the rain forest feel more like its name. The north part of AU has a monsoon season, which is just beginning. Hot, sticky and wet seem to be the most used words to describe this annual event.

Last night we caught a flight back to Sydney and the comfort of Ron's place. Proper showers and laundry for all! Bayard will be leaving us in a couple days, but we hope to get a little sailing on Ron's boat in before then!