Daintree River Lodge

And now, back to Australia . . .

From Mission Beach we drove north to Cairns, but we didn't stop as we were flying out of Cairns in a few days.  We were headed north to Daintree Rainforest National Park.  Once we escaped the suburban sprawl of Cairns we found ourselves on a winding highway running along the coast with beautiful beaches and trees in full flower bending over the road.  

We reached Daintree Village in the late afternoon and checked into our room at the Daintree River Lodge, right next to the Daintree River.

Our room was perched right over the river.

The lodge has a huge veranda

with a communal kitchen, dining area and lounge for guests,

Which came in handy because every evening we had torrential rain showers.

The owner showed us a cashew tree (not native), growing in the yard.  She says she doesn't advertise the fact because the cashew nuts are toxic till they are processed.

The nut is hanging off the end of the fleshy fruit part, which was wonderfully fragrant. I googled it and the fruit is edible, but stringy and sour so they use it for juice. 

The lodge is decorated with artifacts from the logging industry and cattle ranching.  The owners are also cattle ranchers, but the logging industry is no longer active since what is left of the forest is now protected.

The lodge is also a caravan park, but we didn't envy the campers as it was either hot and humid or raining very heavily!

The occupants in the van on the bottom of the photo were lying listlessly on their bed with all their windows open, trying to catch a breeze.

That giant tree on the left of the photo was filled with hundreds of nesting birds, mostly Figbirds and metallic starlings:

Metallic Starlings are native to Australia and not related to the European Starling