29th June2026: Yet more rain overnight and in the morning! Nic tried to look under the caravan and is concerned that one brake cable might be severed. We will try to sort it out in Cairns. We set out to do a couple of walks in the National Park.

Along the way we saw 2 cassowaries on the road!

The first one was a board walk called the Madja walk where mangrove ecosystem meets rainforest ecosystem! It was truly amazing! So much biodiversity amongst the ferns and tree ferns and palms! However, the mangrove ecosystem had a real  primordial feel! Several different types of mangroves with different patterns of root systems, and different types of pneumatopores were on display. We saw brightly coloured Fidler crabs and mudskippers amongst their roots. 

Next we decided to do the Jindalba loop walk instead of an easier board walk! This took us along a very muddy path with tree roots constantly crisscrossing in front of us on the narrow path, plus a number of fallen trees which needled to be straddled with some difficulty. I might add that Nic and I were wearing our walking boots( mistake not to take our poles!) whereas those we met on the path were in an assortment of crocs and thongs and bare feet! The path was actually well marked with  frequent tags on trees. The guide book said lots of bird watching opportunities! We HEARD lots of different birds, but the best I could do, despite having binoculars, was a green wing and body, and another russet coloured wing! The only bird we saw at closed range was an orange legged scrub fowl scratching away at the ground! We also heard a feral pig snorting and thrashing about in the bushes! The rainforest was indeed towering and majestic but we had to keep our eyes firmly on the trail to avoid slipping! It took us 2 and a half hours to walk 3 km! No cassowaries, but what should we see when we reached the car park but a cassowary! 

We drove back to our van surrounded by waterlogged grass for a major boot clean!

Rain made the thought of cooking outside less inviting so we ate again at the Sand Bar!

                   Tree palm

Needleberry climber

                  Fan palms
                   Unidentified bird

Hanging baskets 
                  Mangrove roots
                  Mangrove roots
                   Fiddler crab

                  Opened seed pod?



Northern wet tropical cycad
Hyparosa kurrangii berries germinate by passing through cassowary’s gut-only found  in Daintree rainforest 
                  Interesting root system



                  Orange legged scrub fowl
                   Cassowary 











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