Aug 05

Lync Haven

I was suddenly awakened this morning when Marjo got all excited about the prospect of snorkeling the reef. We are going to cross the croc invested river today to enter the Daintree area north of the Dantree river towards Cape Tribulation. After handing over the majority of our life savings we got ferried across.

First we thought it was unfair that we got on first and had to leave last but the ferry master must have had a look at the bus and thought “they’ll never make it up the hill”. We did but at snails pace. Berna and Jos were the only ones patient enough to follow our trail.
A very nice road though, winding roads, steep hills through the rain forest. It is remarkable to see the striking difference between south (farmland) and north (rainforest) of the river.

Soon we came to the Lync Haven retreat and it is very nice. We are promised to see a live Cassowary (first time I saw Marjo drool with anticipation), feed a crocodile (first time I understand you’re not supposed to hunt, kill and eat them), pet kangaroos (that made Jos excited) and see two large snakes (that made Berna all giggly). Only the dogs lose out on this visit as there are very strict rules, under no circumstances without leash and we’re in the middle of a National Park, so no go anywhere really.
Our campsite is nice though, I took the dogs on a walk and gave them a treat so they don’t complain.

Marjo, Jos and Berna have gone on their snorkeling trip, leaving from Cape Tribulation by boat to go to Green Island for two hours snorkeling and I’m sure the pictures and stories will follow soon.

There must be something Dutch about this camping as there were three other campers with Dutch tourists on the site. Most flew to Brisbane and made the trip up north to fly out from Cairns.

That evening, tired from the trip we had an early night.

The next morning we met Doris (once Boris) the croc. Scott, the Lynchaven proprietor, took us to the enclosure where she lives for feed-and-tell. It seems Doris is a reluctant eater but we got a nice shot. Doris was once bred and sold as a male croc called Boris to an Adelaide pet shop. Wen he grew too tall he needed a new, more natural, environment and landed in Lynchaven. When, one year after arriving, he laid a bunch of unfertilised eggs they started to call her Doris.

While Marjo kept the dogs company, Jos and Berna fed the wallabies and I searched for the resident cassowary but she was not to be seen (by any of the camp visitors). I think they are extinct and no one dares to fess up. The whole Careful for Cassowaries signage shebang is a conspiracy to keep it under wraps. The walk was nice though.