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| Olive-backed Sunbird |
Following
our three-day visit to Daintree Village (see following post) we
crossed the Daintree River on the vehicular ferry for a two-night
stop at Cape Kimberley. This little-known camping ground is
beautifully situated by the beach just 10km from the river crossing.
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| Cape Kimberley |
The
facilities are a little shabby but this place is hard to beat for
location. It is surrounded by a mix of rainforest and melaleuca and
mangrove swamp.
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| Cape Kimberley |
Snapper Island is a short distance offshore.
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| Snapper Island |
The
Daintree River mouth is an easy 3km walk along the beach. A Beach
Stone-Curlew was encountered on the beach.
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| Beach Stone-Curlew |
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| Daintree River Mouth |
Side
streams were well populated by mud skippers.
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| Mudskipper |
Birds
about the camping ground included Olive-backed Sunbird and
Brown-backed Honeyeater.
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| Brown-backed Honeyeater |
We
drove to Cape Tribulation, stopping at various sites along the way
including Hutchinson Creek, Thornton Beach (where a woman was killed
last week by a crocodile), Noah Beach and Cooper Creek.
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| Daintree River mouth & Cape Kimberley from main road |
Many of these
places I know well, having camped here a few times over the years.
What has changed is that these days, a constant procession of traffic
reflects how the Daintree has emerged as a top tourist destination.
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| Thornton Peak |
Above
it all towers Thornton Peak, Queensland's third largest mountain and
the home of Lampropholis
robertsi, a
skink named after me by the venerable Glen Ingram.
Birds
are pretty quiet at this time of year.
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| Macleay's Honeyeater |
Those commonly about included
Macleay's Honeyeater.
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| Australian Swiftlet |
While Australian Swiftlet was predictably difficult to photograph
These posts help prove what an awesome place the land down under can be! I went on a tour down the Daintree River a few years back and it's something I'll never forget!
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