Australia's Tropical Rainforest
Nature’s glory is beautifully showcased in Australia’s tropical World Heritage-listed rainforests, a ‘living museum’ of flora and fauna that covers an area of nearly 900,000 hectares of rainforest and tropical vegetation, and were placed on the World Heritage List in 1988.
The towering forests are the oldest surviving rainforests on Earth at an estimated 135 million years. This ancient living museum nurtures plants still to be discovered and vast species of marsupials, reptiles, birds, and butterflies in a preserved area covering nearly 900,000 hectares.
Modern rainforest access tends to be via boardwalks for minimum disturbance and impact. Regional information centres and interpretive attractions are excellent sources of information and booklets on the rainforest are available for those wishing to guide themselves, however visitors may learn from the experience of a tour with a qualified ranger or guide on one of the many rainforest tours available throughout the region.
Day and night guided wildlife tours give a magical glimpse of wildlife foraging, flitting and occasionally fighting. Most rainforest resorts, lodges and even B&Bs have day walks and spotlighting evening tours, which guests and visitors can join.
Visitors can choose from a variety of 4WD safaris in specially configured vehicles with accredited drivers and guides to experience the highlights of the rainforest. Most day trips include a river cruise to view the region’s most infamous inhabitants, crocodiles, sunning themselves among the mangroves.
There are many magical locations to experience the rainforest. North of Port Douglas is the Mossman Gorge where the Mossman River tumbles under a suspension bridge and over huge granite boulders. Traveling north past the picturesque Wonga Beach is the quaint Daintree Village with its yesteryear character, art and craft shops and casual restaurants serving its famed barramundi. A unique ferry crossing on the Daintree River Ferry takes visitors into the Daintree National Park with a winding road leading north past Cow Bay, the spectacular Alexandra Range, the Coopers Creek wilderness area, towards Cape Tribulation.
The Daintree and Cape Tribulation areas are the region’s most famous rainforest tracts with pristine white sand beaches, unspoilt rainforests, picnic areas, rainforest walks, 4WD safaris, reef trips, mangrove and crocodile watching tours, ocean kayaking and horse trekking. Further north is the rugged Bloomfield Track leading to the magnificent Bloomfield Falls.
The Great Green Way, south of Cairns, is home to the southern World Heritage listed rainforests that are rich with flora and fauna including 159 bird species, 52 animal species and 50% of the country’s remaining stands of Licuala fan palms. Along with trekking and bushwalking, white water rafting is a spectacular way to experience the wonder of the rainforest.
The fertile plateau of the Cairns Highlands contain some of the most beautiful ancient rainforests of the Wet Tropics as well as lakes, rivers, national parks and spectacular waterfalls including the Barron Falls at Kuranda.
The region has earned the moniker ‘Nature’s Theme Park’ with ecotourism pioneers bringing rainforest experiences closer to visitors through research and preservation with a vast array of experiences from rainforest cableways, train trips, canopy walks, bird-watching hides, cruises, personalised tours to wildlife reserves and immersion habitats.
Throughout the rainforest visitors can indulge in any style of accommodation including pleasure spas of eco-resorts and 5-star luxury lodges, intimate B&Bs, eco-retreats, cabins and bungalows, luxury beachfront homes and secluded resorts that are deliciously private - as the songs of the rainforest tempt you to unwind.
All rainforest experiences are operated with the adage that protection and preservation are paramount; the more people understand and appreciate them, the better the chances of saving them are.