Two days later, we arrived back at the Marlin Marina at Cairns. The sun had just set when we saw an odd looking “bird” flapping through the skies. In big cities, it isn’t unusual to see birds at all hours of the day. (In fact, I am convinced that the sea gulls in Melbourne are so mesmerized by the Crown Casino lights that they don’t sleep a single wink!) Another turn of the head, and I saw two more “birds” flapping through the air. I am not an ornithologist, but I was fairly confident that “birds” didn’t have scalloped wings. Within a few minutes, the sky was covered with hundreds and hundreds of flying foxes. It was quite a sight to see!Shortly after the flying fox spectacle, our bus picked us up and we were on our way to Port Douglas, a laid back town an hour north of Cairns. We spent the next few days primarily exploring the nearby rainforest. One of our day trips took us jungle surfing through the trees. On our drive into the rainforest, we would see signs for potential Cassowary sightings. The Casswary is the most prehistoric looking bird that I have seen - a cross bewteen an emu and dinosaur. Now I have driven across plenty of signs for potential kangaroo, koala, etc sightings, and almost have never seen any. But that day it was different. Just as we passed the fourth sign of a casswary outline, we looked up and there it was! We couldn't believe our luck, as it is very rare to spot a cassowary in the wild!
It was the same day that we were introduced to licking a green ant’s butt. I was a bit hesitant at first, but after one lick of the citrus goodness, I was hooked. I could’ve spent the entire day licking green ant butts! Apparently the ants contain a high dose of vitamin C, so not only did it taste good, but was also a great source of the vitamin.
Enamored with the rainforest, Corey and I decided to get the perspective of the area from the traditional owners of the Daintree National Park, the Kuku Yalanji. We took a hike with our Aboriginal tour guide through Mossman Gorge, learning about their culture and spiritual relationship with the forest. I think the main takeaway I got was : don’t touch anything in the rain forest, because it will probably put you in a lot of pain.
