Visiting the Daintree Region of Far North Queensland

The lush rainforest region of the Daintree is very beautiful. Catch the ferry across the Daintree River and tour this charming region around Cape Tribulation. This area is accessible by 2WD until just north of Cape Tribulation. Despite this, there is plenty to see with a 2WD and it is worth taking a few days or a long day trip to check it out. The ferry is very quick and runs frequently during daylight hours. This whole area is beautiful enough to be a national park but it also includes commercial businesses like accommodation, stores, restaurants and caravan parks. There area also private residences, schools and farmland e.g. tropical fruit orchards.

Prior to our visit to Cape Tribulation, we were warned online about the lack of mobile data in the region. This proved not to be true. Whilst patchy in some parts, there was plenty of reliable (Optus) mobile data in the region. We had no issues whilst staying at Cape Tribulation Camping with mobile data. The highlight of this caravan park was the private walking trail from the back of our campsite to Myall Beach. From there, it was only a short walk up the beach to reach the Dubuji Boardwalk.

Daintree – amazing flowering tree trunk!

Daddy Cassowary and Baby – why did the cassowary cross the road? We don’t know but we were thrilled to see these elusive big birds!

A must visit location in the area is the Daintree Ice Cream Company. They make ice cream from the locally grown tropical fruits. We had a yummy taster of 4 flavours – wattleseed, black sapote, mango and coconut for $7.50. The best part of the visit however is the self guided walking tour you can do around their property to view about 25 different fruiting trees and plants. It’s particularly fascinating because these fruits are not the usual supermarket offerings!

Ripening Shed – top is Black Sapote or chocolate pudding fruit. It tastes a bit like chocolate pudding! In the middle is Yellow Sapote. This is supposed to taste like boiled egg yolk. On the bottom is Soursop which has a lemony flavour.

Mossman Gorge is a must visit if you are in the vicinity. It’s the premier attraction of the region as evidenced by the large carpark. There is a large building with a souvenir shop, cafe and shuttle buses. All this infrastructure is located about 3kms from the start of the Mossman Gorge trails. All visitors are strongly encouraged to pay for tickets and catch the shuttle bus. We chose to walk the 3km instead. It’s a straightforward and quite lovely walk along the road and an easy way to save some money. There are several well trodden trails in the Mossman Gorge area as well as a few safe swimming areas. Be warned however that the water temperature is almost uncomfortably cold for swimming despite the warm humidity of the day. The whole area is magical in it’s beauty as you will see in these photos.