Daintree Tourism News

What's in Season?

TRAVSTAR NEWS - Daintree-Cape Trib News Feed

What’s in season in Tropical North Queensland?

Look for soursop, star apple, miracle fruit, sapodilla, jaboticaba, grumichama and jakfruit in September and October at the Cape Trib Exotic Fruit Farm.

• Soursop fruits are heart-shaped with a rough green skin and soft fleshy spines. Their flesh is very juicy and slightly acid, and produces a rich creamy juice which is very refreshing.
• Star apple can be purple or green depending on the variety and come from the West Indies.Cut it in half to reveal an attractive star pattern in the sweet, smooth and aromatic flesh.
• Miracle fruit are very small red berries from West Africa which act on the sour taste buds to make sour tasting food taste sweet. After one of these you can enjoy a lemon as if it was an orange.
• Sapodilla are small brown furry fruit with orange flesh from Central America which have a caramel taste. The sap from this plant was used as the base for chewing gum.
• Purple-black, grape-like Jaboticaba fruit from Southern Brazil grow directly on the trunk and have a very sweet, slightly aromatic, translucent pulp with a pleasant grape flavour.
• Grumichama are round, purple-black fruits from Brazil which are like cherries with soft, melting, sweet flesh.
• The world’s largest tree fruit, Jackfruit and can weigh up to 40 kilograms. The flesh is golden yellow, very sweet and juicy and tastes like banana bubblegum. You eat the segments inside and the seeds can also be boiled and eaten. In India this fruit is picked green and eaten as a vegetable in curries.

Taste these exotic fruit every day at 2 pm, Cape Trib Exotic Fruit Farm.

More information: Cape Trib Exotic Fruit Farm, Lot 5 Nicole Drive, Cape Tribulation

Ecotourism Achievements

Red Mill House - Red Mill House News Feed

Red Mill House is proud to announce that they have recently been awarded an Advanced Ecotourism Certification from Ecotourism Australia.

The Advanced Ecotourism category is described by Ecotourism Australia as “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.”

Green Policy
Red Mill House has made a strong commitment to environmental best practice and the promotion of environmentally friendly policies. We aim to continually improve and to identify additional opportunities that will assist the business to operate in a more environmentally responsible manner. We also aim to encourage others in the Daintree community to do likewise.

Our environmental footprint has been calculated and we are currently working with our environmental consultant to reduce our CO2 emissions.

We have set a target of reducing your energy and waste levels by 10% per year, which we consider achievable.

Red Mill House is also working with Daintree State School in helping them to calculate their environmental footprint and reduce energy and waste levels.

To view more details on Red Mill House accommodation please click here

Rum Runner Takeover

TRAVSTAR NEWS - Daintree-Cape Trib News Feed

Ocean Spirit Cruises Pty Ltd is pleased to announce that as of the 16th of July 2008 they will take over the management of Cape Tribulation based Rum Runner dive & sail.

Departing from the most natural reef terminal, the pristine sands of Cape Tribulation beach, Rum Runner offers a unique experience to the unspoilt reefs of Mackay and Undine.

Ocean Spirit will be relocating MV Ocean Spirit II, a 24m sailing catamaran, to commence operation in early August.

"Rum Runner has built a great reputation, offering a very unique reef experience from a very unique destination. We will relocate MV Ocean Spirit II which will provide greater consistency of operation and also allow us to increase capacity by 50% whilst still providing a very intimate and personalised reef experience.

The new vessel will cut down travel time allowing our guest to enjoy more time at the reef and a great sailing experience."

Get Whet in TNQ

TRAVSTAR NEWS - Daintree-Cape Trib News Feed

Get Whet in Tropical North Queensland!

The latest entry into the bar and dining scene in Tropical North Queensland at Cape Tribulation is Whet, a very cool bar with indoor and outdoor deck dining. Locals describe it as ‘not quite what you’d expect to find in the Daintree but that’s why it works.’ The emphasis is on local produce, seafood hauled from the surrounding waters, fresh, clean flavours and a creative menu.

Whet also includes a 24 seat air-conditioned cinema with huge beanbags, recliners and leather sofas - a great way to finish the evening or to enjoy a day of rainy, steamy rainforest weather. Whet is fully licensed and open seven days a week. Reservations are strongly recommended.

Travellers Tales

Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours - Jungle Canopy Surfing News Feed

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.

Magic of the Daintree

TRAVSTAR NEWS - Daintree-Cape Trib News Feed

I was up in the Daintree recently to check out some of the ways in which you can have a luxurious and private experience while appreciating the magic of the region.

Well, someone has to do it, so why shouldn't it be me? I found ways in which you can get the best of both worlds. You can chill out completely, avoid package tourists, eat five-star food and be lulled to sleep by a private river and the sound of birds.

The first surprise was Daintree Secrets, a private house at road's end where the house and property are yours alone, whether you're a honeymoon couple or a group of friends.

There are three bedrooms, sleeping up to seven people, and it's self-catering – buy your groceries on the way up from Cairns, cook yourself a feast, and eat it on the wrap-around veranda where a magnificent river rushes just below you.

It's only a few steps down to the paved surrounds of two safe swimming holes, one of which is home to turtles, eels and myriad fish.

You won't find another private pool quite like them – and they are guaranteed croc-free.

Daintree Secrets is not just for the well-heeled. Even in high season it costs only $330 a night for four guests. That works out at $82.50 a night each, and you'd pay that much in a decent motel.

I could happily live there forever, for just down the road is the Heritage Spa where, still in the depths of the rainforest, I was clay-wrapped and Vichy-showered and massaged and finally given a facial that sent me out looking almost as beautiful as the butterflies in the museum a few metres further along the same road. Well, that's a slight exaggeration.

After that I was ready for anything, especially the 15-minute drive to Cape Tribulation for a walk on the beach and then lunch at the wittily named Whet.

The cafe restaurant has been open only a few weeks but delivered a meal to rival anything the posher, pricier cafes of Port Douglas have to offer.

We ate sourdough with roasted garlic butter, sweet potato and pear soup, fresh figs with goats' cheese, and tequila-lime local prawns, and drank a delicious dry white from Margaret River in Western Australia.

Another secret retreat in this area is far from the river, but high on a hill, at Cockatoo Hill Retreat, where life and work partners Carmen Fabro and Gilles Germain have four beautiful little lodges that look out over the forest to the ocean.

The winds are always cool here, and the individual lodges have unique touches like tiny night lights under the bed, which send you to sleep in a subtle glow – although you can turn them off if you prefer the dark.

It's advisable to go bed early, after you've sat outside watching the wildlife settle for the night...
 

Regional News!

Daintree Discovery Tours - Daintree Discovery Tours News Feed

Hi Emma,

I have some interesting news for you. We were very lucky to take out a news reader from the morning show Sunrise just recently. It was a rare treat to have a celebrity!

• Solar Whispers Cruises and Daintree Discovery Tours on Sunrise

Nat the newsreader from Sunrise was on a tour with Daintree Discovery Tours and came out on the Solar Whisper boat and resident croc Scarface put on a show. Scarface achieved nationwide fame when he was shown tossing around a dead pig on the Sunrise program. The newsreader (Nat) was on the boat and her husband got some great shots which she showed on the Monday’s Sunrise. It was great publicity for both companies and the area, but a rare treat. Most of the time, crocs are more active in the night and the last time they saw him eating was about 1 ½ years ago.

Cheers,
Grant and Dianne Knight
Daintree Discovery Tours

If you would like to view some further information on Daintree Discovery Tours please click here

Regional News!

TRAVSTAR NEWS - Daintree-Cape Trib News Feed

Canopy Tower Celebrates 10 years

The Discovery Centre’s Canopy Tower, the only one of its kind in Australia, turned 10 years old in March 2008. At 23 metres (76 feet) high it provides the most amazing insight into the surrounding rainforest – from the forest floor to the upper most reaches of the canopy.

This fantastic structure has 112 steps and 5 large viewing platforms that can accommodate 70 people at any one time. The viewing platform at the top of the tower is 7 metres square. Work commenced on the building of the Tower in December 1997 and it opened in March 1998.The base is a mixture of approx 300 tonnes of concrete, steel, block and soil and the rest of the structure is made from hot dipped galvanised steel and spotted gum plantation timber. The Tower was built using local expertise and is designed to withstand cyclones.

In February 1999, neighbouring sections of the forest were battered by a category 2 cyclone named ‘Rona’ – the Canopy Tower survived unscathed! The Canopy Tower forms part of the Rainforest Tours available at the Centre. Tours can be independent, or can be undertaken using an audio guide, available in 6 languages.

To celebrate, the Discovery Centre has recently announced their sponsorship of James Cook Uni’s Carbon Flux Micrometerological Research Station.

Postcards from the team!

TRAVSTAR NEWS - Daintree-Cape Trib News Feed

Hi Guys,

I've just come back from a wonderful night at Coconut Beach Resort in Cape Tribulation. I'm a big fan of the rainforest and the Daintree region is by far my favourite place in the Far North, it just amazes me everytime I visit how beautiful this destination is.

Coconut is also my favourite resort, the restaurant is a hidden gem, as you walk along a boardwalk through the rainforest the trees open up and before you is a beautiful Indonesian inspired long house. The lagoon pool infront is a perfect place to relax after a lazy lunch and the beach is your own where you can take a wander and explore the fringing reef.

I chose a Rainforest Retreat Cabin this time around and I think this option is my preference. They are larger and much more private. No need for air conditioning or a fan, the rainforest is quite cool already at this time of year.

There is another pool infront of the Daintree Retreat cabins and we took a swim here, it was great for my 4yr old with shallow areas.

Apart from spending time at Coconut we also stopped in at the Fan Palm Boardwalk. It is a $2 donation or free if you purchase a snack. The Fan Palm Boardwalk is an easy rainforest walk, takes you right into the rainforest and took approx 20mins to complete the circuit.

The weather is great at the moment and creeks are flowing, such a beautiful time to visit!

See ya!

Emma

Latest Launches!

TRAVSTAR NEWS - Daintree-Cape Trib News Feed

Edit our Region Guide!

We need some help in the Travstar office to keep our region guide up to date. Its a big job and with so many beautiful areas and hidden spots we need the help of locals and tourists alike to ensure the information we provide is accurate and up to date.

For those who love the region as much as we do, polish up on your creative writing skills and hit the edit button on the category you would like to update. Your contribution will be sent through to us where we will check to ensure it is suitable before publishing on our website.

Share your ideas and experiences with the world!

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