Far north Queensland

The last time we flew in to Cairns airport was in 2000, but tropical north Queensland is just as lush and green as we remember, with sweeps of turquoise bays. The second map below shows the Great Barrier Reef on the coast.

From Cairns, we drove north, about 90 minutes, then we crossed the Daintree River on a ferry ...

... and drove into the Daintree National Park. The Daintree is a tropical rainforest and a World Heritage Site. This is the view from one of the look-out spots between the river and our lodge. (That's the Daintree River mouth.)

We're staying at the Daintree Wilderness Lodge, one of the eco-lodges in the park. This is our cabin, and the view looking up from the walkway at our front door into the rainforest canopy.

The central part of the roof of our cabin is a clear plastic strip, so we look up into the canopy from bed. There is a constant pattering of leaves, fruits and seeds falling onto the vegetation and our cabin below -- it sounds like rain, but it's not. (We're also giving our bug repellants a good workout.)

And finally (for today), we couldn't be in the north without ... crocodile warnings.