Jungle Canopy Surfing - Daintree

Advanced ECO Certification
Monday, June 08, 2009

Jungle Surfing & Jungle Adventures Nightwalks awarded Advanced ECO Certification
Jungle Adventures Cape Trib are proud to announce that their products Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours & Jungle Adventures Nightwalks have been awarded Advanced ecotourism level Certification under the ECO Certification Program through Ecotourism Australia. Through a rigorous assessment process, Ecotourism Australia awards this prestigious certification to “Australia's leading and most innovative ecotourism products, providing an opportunity to learn about the environment with an operator who is committed to achieving best practice when using resources wisely, contributing to the conservation of the environment and helping local communities”.

Jungle Surfing and Jungle Adventures Nightwalks take visitors flying through the rainforest canopy by day and along the bustling forest floor at night. “Our team are passionate about our unique environment and we all recognise that our livelihood and the future protection of the Daintree depends on conservation and sustainability” said General Manager Sheena Walshaw. “So we’re absolutely committed to achieving best practice in environmental, social and economic responsibility.”

“Travellers today are looking for assurance that their great experiences don’t come at the environment’s expense, and so they should. The ECO Certification Program provides that assurance, and we’re really proud to have achieved the Advanced level Certification. It’s not an easy process, but it’s great to know - and for our customers to know - that we’re doing the right thing for the future of the planet.”

The definition of ecotourism adopted by Ecotourism Australia is: "Ecotourism is ecologically sustainable tourism with a primary focus on experiencing natural areas
that fosters environmental and cultural understanding, appreciation and conservation". The ECO Certification logo means that you are guaranteed to experience a genuine and authentic tour, attraction or accommodation that looks after the environment. The ECO Certification program assures you that certified products are backed by a commitment to sustainable practices and provides high quality nature-based tourism experiences.
Release date: 18 May 2009

For further information, please contact Sheena Walshaw at Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours on
07 4098 0043 or sheena@junglesurfing.com.au

JUNGLE SURFING WINS QUEENSLAND TOURISM AWARD
Thursday, December 04, 2008

Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours crowned an amazing year by winning the Queensland Tourism Award for Tourist Attractions at the 2008 awards held at the Brisbane Exhibition & Conference Centre on Friday 14th November. The award, which was open to attractions of state or territory importance which significantly contribute to the tourism experience within their region, saw a wide variety of attractions named as finalists in a fiercely competitive category. Sheena Walshaw, General Manager of Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours, said “We’re overwhelmed to have won the award in such an impressive field, and we’re especially delighted to be recognized for our contribution to attracting visitors to the Daintree, which we’re passionate about.”

Jungle Surfing has been operating for five years, has taken over 50,000 people flying from tree to tree through the rainforest on flying fox ziplines, and this year opened a new harnessing centre and doubled tour departures to eight tours a day. “Jungle Surfing’s a tour with something for everyone and I think that’s the secret of our success.” said Ms Walshaw. “It’s a combination of exhilaration and education, eco-experience and adventure tour, and anyone from three to 103 can give it a go. It’s a real thrill sharing this spectacular rainforest in such a novel way, and everyone goes away with a smile on their face.”

The eight finalists in the Tourist Attractions category were Capricorn Caves, Outback at Isa, The Workshops Rail Museum, Undara Experience, Reef HQ Aquarium, Fantasea Adventure Cruising – Reefworld, The Station Store & Sunshine Castle. Jungle Surfing was also named as a finalist in the Steve Irwin Ecotourism and the Adventure Tourism categories.

Jungle Surfing’s other successes this year include winning two Tropical North Queensland Tourism Awards for Ecotourism and Adventure Tourism, and being named a finalist in the 2008 Telstra Business Awards.

Jungle Surfing will now go on to represent Queensland at the Australian Tourism Awards in Melbourne in early 2009.

Flying Adventures!
Thursday, November 27, 2008

In 1995 self-described mad scientist Stephen Walsh acquired 6ha of rainforest in Cape Tribulation and started guiding interpretive walks with his mate and fellow mad scientist Ian Samuels. Today, the operation has evolved into an exhilarating flying fox canopy tour called' Jungle Surfing' on 18ha which has attracted more than 40,000 visitors since 2003.

The eco-attraction is a breathtakingly novel way to showcase and interpret the Daintree Rainforest using a unique system of flying fox ziplines between manned tree platforms.

Founder and Director Stephen Walsh is a passionate environmental scientist and one determined man.

From designing the unique flying fox system and personally constructing tree platforms up to 20m off the ground by hand to overcoming initial blocks to finance, local planning issues and breaking into the tourism network, Mr.Walsh has scaled all obstacles with grace.

He has a bachelor of Marine Science, Zoology and Biology and is a pharmacist, qualified dive instructor, outdoor recreation instructor, and owner-builder.

Jungle Canopy Tours is now a key attraction in Cape Tribulation. The unique flying fox system has been designed to allow his tour guides to control the movement and speed of visitors.

The community north of the Daintree is Australia's largest sustainable energy community. Mr.Walsh used recyclable materials to construct the walking tracks, he pioneered the system of constructing the platforms without any incision into the giant trees and revegetated cleared parts of the land, replanting more than 1000 trees and carefully removing introduced species to ensure the forest is pristine.

Stephen has ambitious plans to expand the business to include canopy walkways and further highropes activities.

This exciting activity departs daily at 10:00am, 1:30pm and 3:35pm daily. Please click here for further details and bookings for Jungle Canopy Surfing Tours.

Information courtesy of Tourism Queensland

Travellers Tales
Friday, June 06, 2008

So far I have experienced World Heritage-listed rainforests both from underneath and at their coastal edges. Now, after leaving behind the sugar cane plantations north of Mossman and crossing the Daintree River, it feels as if I am travelling through their midst.

As the narrow road twists and curls toward Cape Tribulation, the jungle seems to bear down upon it, giant ferns and screw palms creating a tunnel around it. With an ethereal mist suffusing the trees, lit by glimmers of sunshine, and with choral music playing on the car stereo it is one of the most uplifting drives of my life.

Before I know it I have arrived at Cape Tribulation and am being strapped into a harness for an afternoon of surfing through the jungle canopy on flying foxes. I can already tell from the banter between the guides and my group of mostly young women that this is going to be fun.

Then I am handed my helmet, which has the name "Monkey" inscribed upon it. I might have spent the morning with Lara Croft but, according to their headgear, my companions this afternoon are even bigger cinematic legends such as Tarzan, Princess Leia and, erm, Tinkerbell.

In common with drift snorkelling, this tour melds excitement with education and the guides are careful to pass on information about the 135-million-year-old rainforest we are flying through while also safely scaring the living daylights out of us.

The canopy tour runs on a system of flying fox ziplines linking fi ve tree platforms, the highest of which reaches nearly 20 metres off the ground. Guides do all the hard work propelling jungle surfers along using a rope pulley system, allowing you to enjoy the wide-ranging views across the forest canopy and out towards the Great Barrier Reef.

We begin by travelling in pairs along two spans, with my buddy being a Canadian Tinkerbell. One by one we are secured to the zipline and then coaxed to step off the platform into thin air. Then, trying not to look down, we are hauled along the line to the next platform.

The next span is the longest one at 78 metres, rendered even more heart-stopping when we are left to dangle at the run's highest point, 22.5 metres above Mason Creek. Even with Tinkerbell for company it is unnerving.

Then I travel solo, firstly at speed down a 45-metre stretch and fi nally, living up to my "Monkey" epithet, hanging cross-legged and upside down. Later that evening, after an alfresco dinner serenaded by warbling tree frogs back at the Cape Tribulation Resort and Spa, I add another perspective on the world's oldest continually surviving rainforest by doing a night walk.

It is an eerie experience strolling in the dark through a place ancient enough to have seen the dinosaurs come and go. I pass between giant trees that have been here since before Captain Cook sailed past in 1770.

At night, however, the rainforest also becomes a discernibly living entity, under the cover of darkness allowing a number of nocturnal species such as possums, bandicoots and platypuses to thrive. Tonight, we spot a spindly python hunting for food, a few forest dragon lizards and numerous frogs.

It is the sounds of the jungle that are most apparent: the hum of insects, the whoop of birds, the glug of gently flowing creeks and the crackle of leaves and branches moving in the evening breeze.

Back at my cabin in the resort after a long, varied day exploring the rainforest it is this soothing soundtrack that ushers me to sleep.