Cape Tribulation, Australia
Just spent the last four days in Cape Tribulation, a beautiful region encased in the Daintree national forest. It is the world's oldest rainforest, about 100 million years old, and related to the ancient rainforests of Africa, Asia and the Americas. The same species of plants still exist here that existed on the one single super continent of Panachea that made up our land mass long ago, when the world was hotter and covered in tropical rainforests.
After my profound bat experience in Port Douglas, I headed towards a bat rescue and education center called "The bat house" website:
http://www.austrop.org.au/
There I got an up close look at the flying fox, and was educated about what they actually are. When I entered, a young American woman who was volunteering informed us that the flying fox isn't a bat at all, but really a relative of the Lemur (a primate!) and has no relation to microbats as those are probably more linked to small mammals like mice. The center takes care of baby flying foxes who have mostly lost their mothers to gun toting fruit farmers (who shoot them unneccesarrily to protect their fruit crop) and tick disease. The young woman had a three month old baby wrapped up in a blanket (it replicated the sensation they have under the monther's wings). They are completely incredible, and I sat there for a couple of hours just watching it cling to her shirt, wide eyed and expressive it then moved itself around a little basket nest they made for it. They have hundreds of these creatures on site, who, when recovered, are released back into a colony of about 60,000 other flying foxes. They have a very high success rate with being released back into the wild. I could go on and on about these amazing creatures, but I don't want to sound like a school teacher, so look at the site. For those who are interested, you can volunteer there for weeks, months and years at a time, which I would have done if I didn't buy my ticket to New Zealand already. It's a cool place and the folks who run it seem really great. These animals are totally amazing and unfortunately, completely misunderstood due to a lack of research. The research station is at least trying to fill that void.
I stayed in a tent hostel for a couple of days in the rainforest. Being the height of the wet season meant nothing was saved from moisture and mosquitos. So it was a bit challenging, but pretty incredible to wake up to a 300 year old fig tree outside your door. At night, I went on a guided walk lead by this old guy named Possum who did tours from the hostel every thight. He was a soft spoken little guy who really loved the animals and forest. We saw a giant huntsman spider, a tuarantula basically, that if you step on it or harrass it, will bite you and send you to the hospital. If anti-venom syrum is not taken within six hours, the bite would be fatal. You'd have to be an idiot to get bit by the spider, or any animal in the forest for that matter. All of them are terrified of people, the spider especially. The reaction of the animals is to either remain perfectly still and blend in with the trees, or run to the nearest hole. The one exception is the giant Cassowary, an ostrich kind of bird with a dinosaur type head, sleek black feathers and a red turkey gizzard with a bright blue face. People have been attacked and even killed by Cassowarys who are protecting their nests and chicks. They have strong spurred legs that can disembowel the overly curious. The key with these birds is simply do not get too close. They are extremely endangered (only 400 left in the world...80 in the Daintree region). Of course, just about everyone saw a cassowary except me. I'm convinced it is a Mr. Snuffalufagus Australian gag they play on unsuspecting Americans. Remember the snipe game as a kid? I've seen photos of Cassowary's though, and they looked genuine. You're lucky if you see anything in the forest. It takes a keen eye to see all the life in such dense vegetation.
We saw giant stick insects, giant grasshoppers, tree frogs, sleeping birds (which is a bazaar to see wild chickens just sitting on branches, completely immobile even when you shine light on them) and loads of tree dragons (big iguana type lizards that freeze in hopes that you will just go away and run on their hind legs to escape) and raftor lizards (giant komono dragon like reptiles). I realized I had never done a nature walk like it, at night, seeing all the nocturnal animals out and about and those daylight creatures asleep....it was really fascinating.
We also saw the damaging effects that wild pigs have on the forest floor. These pigs were introduced by Captain Cook who discovered Cape Tribulation in the late 1700's. Evidently a cargo ship sank and the crew released the pigs in hopes they'd provide a good food source for settlers. Instead they have decimated part of the forest. Anotehr pest are giant cane toads (released to eat the south american cane beatle which destroys sugar crops). The toad eats all the little native frogs and is a monstrous giant of a creature. It's the same toad that indiginous people lick in South America to Hallucinate. We refrained when we saw one. Evidently the high keeps you going for a week.
The humidity was like swimming in soup and became impossible to sleep in, or walk in or bathe in. It was downright uncomfortable. It was the wet season, but something was telling me it was a little over the top...perhaps an El Nino? When the rain cleared briefly one afternoon, I went on a sea kayak with a local guy who runs sunset tours. Most people don't go swimming this time of the year due to the jellyfish (the box jellyfish is deadly if you get stung). So I hadn't felt the water close to the coast at all (only when I went diving in the reef which is save from the stingers), until I pushed my kayak in. It was completely bazaar! The water was about 28 degrees celsius which is over 80 degrees farenheit. It was like a hot tub. Stu, the local Aussie guide said he has been fishing along the coast and catches fish that feel like they've been in an oven. Coral bleaches at 32 degrees celsius. This was not good. Obviously, an El Nino was occurring and the reef was in trouble. It used to happen only once every 5 years or so, now it's every 3.5 and the frequency is rapidly increasing. We paddled out for a couple of hours, me Stu and a local Cairn's woman and her duaghter. Everyone seemed to see turtles popping their heads out of the waters (it's hatching season, and many are making their way down to Noosa and along the coast to hatch their eggs.) Unskilled in turtle spotting and drugged out on dramamine, I couldn't get it together to spot the little guys, though I did try very hard. We paddled into the ocean, past the Cape, past pristine rainforest that dropped into the sea, bald eagles, wild Cockatoos, and four foot wafes that threw the kayak into the air (good thing I took that dramamine even though I was falling asleep!) .
Unfortunately even the Daintree forest is in danger. A few years back the government stupidly sold off parcels of land to private developers who now want to cash in. The government wants now to buy it back realising it was a big mistake, but the developers want an arm and a leg for the land now. So as a result, houses are being built, roads, bridges...and the rainforest is sadly being divided up into smaller and smaller pieces. It's sad....something you would see in America....beautiful landscape being sold for the rich to have megamansions and over the top luxury resorts along a pristine coast.
Australians have a very similar culture than Americans....a frontier/cowboy culture dripping with consumerism. One hero of theirs is Ned Kelly...the man in the iron mask. Ned kelly lived about a hundred years ago and was a billy the kid kind of figure who shot his way around the bush and stole from the rich to give to the poor. I saw a young kid on the bus in Melbourne with a big tatoo of the character on his arm. Mainstream European/Australians like to see themselves as wranglers of the wild...and foreign tourist lap it up. Alligator wrangling, kangaroo boxing, fancy restaurants serving emu and kangaroo steaks, cashing in on the incredible wildlife of the region. In sad reality, it's just kind of a shallow image making that does nothing but consumes the natural beauty of the land. Aboriginal culture seems depressed compared to the Maori of New Zealand. I've been told by white Australians that it's because the Maori were warriors and the Aborigines were not. They just grow more depressed as their land disappears, sinking into alcoholism and drug abuse. There are many Aboriginal people who I see around Cairns, sitting in libraries, on benches, wandering in and out of shops. Shop owners suddenly become somewhat uncomfortably hyper aware when someone with dark skin enters their shop. There is definately a "them" kind of perspective that is disturbing. I have not been here long enough to even begin to understand the dynamics, nor the Aboriginal culture or way of life and as a white person probably never really could.
There is a concerted effort to save the Daintree at the moment and I hope those who are fighting for it succeed. The struggle has been going on for years. We drove past an old tree sit from the early eighties that was responsible for the government changing its policy on selling off the land as well as the resulting World Heritage status being declared. But the struggle continues and there is still a lot to save. If you can, come and see it before it is gone. It's an incredible step into the fundamental plant animal/human past.
The rain is full on. You can't step outside without getting completely soaked. If it keeps up I might just stay in Cairns for the next several days as its out of the rainforest and the accommodation has walls rather than plastic sheeting (as well as mosquito protection...my arm looks like the elephant man's from all the bites.....OUCH!). I'll keep you posted. If you're bored, write me. I'm never sure who is reading this and its great to know that folks are travelling along the road with me.
After my profound bat experience in Port Douglas, I headed towards a bat rescue and education center called "The bat house" website:
http://www.austrop.org.au/
There I got an up close look at the flying fox, and was educated about what they actually are. When I entered, a young American woman who was volunteering informed us that the flying fox isn't a bat at all, but really a relative of the Lemur (a primate!) and has no relation to microbats as those are probably more linked to small mammals like mice. The center takes care of baby flying foxes who have mostly lost their mothers to gun toting fruit farmers (who shoot them unneccesarrily to protect their fruit crop) and tick disease. The young woman had a three month old baby wrapped up in a blanket (it replicated the sensation they have under the monther's wings). They are completely incredible, and I sat there for a couple of hours just watching it cling to her shirt, wide eyed and expressive it then moved itself around a little basket nest they made for it. They have hundreds of these creatures on site, who, when recovered, are released back into a colony of about 60,000 other flying foxes. They have a very high success rate with being released back into the wild. I could go on and on about these amazing creatures, but I don't want to sound like a school teacher, so look at the site. For those who are interested, you can volunteer there for weeks, months and years at a time, which I would have done if I didn't buy my ticket to New Zealand already. It's a cool place and the folks who run it seem really great. These animals are totally amazing and unfortunately, completely misunderstood due to a lack of research. The research station is at least trying to fill that void.
I stayed in a tent hostel for a couple of days in the rainforest. Being the height of the wet season meant nothing was saved from moisture and mosquitos. So it was a bit challenging, but pretty incredible to wake up to a 300 year old fig tree outside your door. At night, I went on a guided walk lead by this old guy named Possum who did tours from the hostel every thight. He was a soft spoken little guy who really loved the animals and forest. We saw a giant huntsman spider, a tuarantula basically, that if you step on it or harrass it, will bite you and send you to the hospital. If anti-venom syrum is not taken within six hours, the bite would be fatal. You'd have to be an idiot to get bit by the spider, or any animal in the forest for that matter. All of them are terrified of people, the spider especially. The reaction of the animals is to either remain perfectly still and blend in with the trees, or run to the nearest hole. The one exception is the giant Cassowary, an ostrich kind of bird with a dinosaur type head, sleek black feathers and a red turkey gizzard with a bright blue face. People have been attacked and even killed by Cassowarys who are protecting their nests and chicks. They have strong spurred legs that can disembowel the overly curious. The key with these birds is simply do not get too close. They are extremely endangered (only 400 left in the world...80 in the Daintree region). Of course, just about everyone saw a cassowary except me. I'm convinced it is a Mr. Snuffalufagus Australian gag they play on unsuspecting Americans. Remember the snipe game as a kid? I've seen photos of Cassowary's though, and they looked genuine. You're lucky if you see anything in the forest. It takes a keen eye to see all the life in such dense vegetation.
We saw giant stick insects, giant grasshoppers, tree frogs, sleeping birds (which is a bazaar to see wild chickens just sitting on branches, completely immobile even when you shine light on them) and loads of tree dragons (big iguana type lizards that freeze in hopes that you will just go away and run on their hind legs to escape) and raftor lizards (giant komono dragon like reptiles). I realized I had never done a nature walk like it, at night, seeing all the nocturnal animals out and about and those daylight creatures asleep....it was really fascinating.
We also saw the damaging effects that wild pigs have on the forest floor. These pigs were introduced by Captain Cook who discovered Cape Tribulation in the late 1700's. Evidently a cargo ship sank and the crew released the pigs in hopes they'd provide a good food source for settlers. Instead they have decimated part of the forest. Anotehr pest are giant cane toads (released to eat the south american cane beatle which destroys sugar crops). The toad eats all the little native frogs and is a monstrous giant of a creature. It's the same toad that indiginous people lick in South America to Hallucinate. We refrained when we saw one. Evidently the high keeps you going for a week.
The humidity was like swimming in soup and became impossible to sleep in, or walk in or bathe in. It was downright uncomfortable. It was the wet season, but something was telling me it was a little over the top...perhaps an El Nino? When the rain cleared briefly one afternoon, I went on a sea kayak with a local guy who runs sunset tours. Most people don't go swimming this time of the year due to the jellyfish (the box jellyfish is deadly if you get stung). So I hadn't felt the water close to the coast at all (only when I went diving in the reef which is save from the stingers), until I pushed my kayak in. It was completely bazaar! The water was about 28 degrees celsius which is over 80 degrees farenheit. It was like a hot tub. Stu, the local Aussie guide said he has been fishing along the coast and catches fish that feel like they've been in an oven. Coral bleaches at 32 degrees celsius. This was not good. Obviously, an El Nino was occurring and the reef was in trouble. It used to happen only once every 5 years or so, now it's every 3.5 and the frequency is rapidly increasing. We paddled out for a couple of hours, me Stu and a local Cairn's woman and her duaghter. Everyone seemed to see turtles popping their heads out of the waters (it's hatching season, and many are making their way down to Noosa and along the coast to hatch their eggs.) Unskilled in turtle spotting and drugged out on dramamine, I couldn't get it together to spot the little guys, though I did try very hard. We paddled into the ocean, past the Cape, past pristine rainforest that dropped into the sea, bald eagles, wild Cockatoos, and four foot wafes that threw the kayak into the air (good thing I took that dramamine even though I was falling asleep!) .
Unfortunately even the Daintree forest is in danger. A few years back the government stupidly sold off parcels of land to private developers who now want to cash in. The government wants now to buy it back realising it was a big mistake, but the developers want an arm and a leg for the land now. So as a result, houses are being built, roads, bridges...and the rainforest is sadly being divided up into smaller and smaller pieces. It's sad....something you would see in America....beautiful landscape being sold for the rich to have megamansions and over the top luxury resorts along a pristine coast.
Australians have a very similar culture than Americans....a frontier/cowboy culture dripping with consumerism. One hero of theirs is Ned Kelly...the man in the iron mask. Ned kelly lived about a hundred years ago and was a billy the kid kind of figure who shot his way around the bush and stole from the rich to give to the poor. I saw a young kid on the bus in Melbourne with a big tatoo of the character on his arm. Mainstream European/Australians like to see themselves as wranglers of the wild...and foreign tourist lap it up. Alligator wrangling, kangaroo boxing, fancy restaurants serving emu and kangaroo steaks, cashing in on the incredible wildlife of the region. In sad reality, it's just kind of a shallow image making that does nothing but consumes the natural beauty of the land. Aboriginal culture seems depressed compared to the Maori of New Zealand. I've been told by white Australians that it's because the Maori were warriors and the Aborigines were not. They just grow more depressed as their land disappears, sinking into alcoholism and drug abuse. There are many Aboriginal people who I see around Cairns, sitting in libraries, on benches, wandering in and out of shops. Shop owners suddenly become somewhat uncomfortably hyper aware when someone with dark skin enters their shop. There is definately a "them" kind of perspective that is disturbing. I have not been here long enough to even begin to understand the dynamics, nor the Aboriginal culture or way of life and as a white person probably never really could.
There is a concerted effort to save the Daintree at the moment and I hope those who are fighting for it succeed. The struggle has been going on for years. We drove past an old tree sit from the early eighties that was responsible for the government changing its policy on selling off the land as well as the resulting World Heritage status being declared. But the struggle continues and there is still a lot to save. If you can, come and see it before it is gone. It's an incredible step into the fundamental plant animal/human past.
The rain is full on. You can't step outside without getting completely soaked. If it keeps up I might just stay in Cairns for the next several days as its out of the rainforest and the accommodation has walls rather than plastic sheeting (as well as mosquito protection...my arm looks like the elephant man's from all the bites.....OUCH!). I'll keep you posted. If you're bored, write me. I'm never sure who is reading this and its great to know that folks are travelling along the road with me.
posted by Mr. Sophie at 11:53 PM
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