Daintree Discovery Centre

It is a great place to learn about our tropical rainforests, and especially the Daintree rainforest, which is the oldest continuous one in the world!

There are boardwalks including an aerial tree top walk, a cassowary circuit, a bush tucker walk with information on Aboriginal food and bush medicine, and a canopy tower with lots of information about every level in the rainforest.


Rainforest animals are not always easy to see, so it's worth taking your time and having a good look into the forest from the walk.


The centre is towards the southern end of the road through Cape Tribulation, there are signs at the turnoff.
  

Reception, Eco Shop and Coffee Shop

Daintree Discovery Centre is a multi award winning attraction. You first come to the cafe that serves local Daintree tea and coffee; and a souvenir and book shop, where you are given a complimentary interpretive guide book, and get to borrow a hand held audio unit when you buy your ticket that lasts for seven days. As you walk on the different trails through the park, there are numbered audio stations, where you can press the number of the station on your unit to listen to additional interpretive information about the exact spot where you are.
   

Display Centre and Four Separate Tours

There are four seperate tours: The Aerial Walkway, the Canopy Tower, the Cassowary Circuit, and the Bush Tucker Trail. There is also an Interpretive Display Centre and a DVD Theatre, and even a well stocked library.
   

The Aerial Walkway

The Aerial Walkway takes you through mid level rainforest. There are signs about rainforest diversity, why do vines climb and what are the host trees for epiphytes; what are the animals that live in tree hollows, as well as different species you pass by, such as king ferns, tree ferns, strangler figs, Alexandra palms, etc.
   

It also takes you to the Interpretive Display Centre, which has interactive displays about broader subjects like ecology and evolution, Australia's Gondwanan origin, and the uses, structure, features and processes of tropical rainforests.
   

Canopy Tower

The cyclone rated, 23 metres high Canopy Tower takes you to every level of the rainforest, from the forest floor through middle layers up to above the canopy. On every one of the five viewing platforms there is plenty of information about the plants and animals of each level.

On the ground level is info about different types and elements of the rainforest. On the first level are the climbers and the different methods that plants use to climb up to the light. On the second level are butterflies, on the third level birds. On the highest level is information about pollination as well as emergents - the tallest trees.
   

Cassowary Circuit

Apart from good chances to see cassowaries, you will walk past signposted plants such as fan palms, breadfruit, tulip oak, mahogany, candle berry, electric fern, Noah's walnut, stinging tree, cassowary plum, sassafras, red cedar, native nutmeg, vivious hairy mary, needle berry, wait a while and idiot fruit.
   

Bush Tucker Trail

This, shorter, trail, goes past some bush tucker plants such as native nutmeg, kharki bark walnut, matchbox bean vine, walking stick palm, scrub breadfruit, cassowary satinash, davidson'e plum, calamus palms and black beans; and contains information about native figs, birds, bats and flying foxes, spiders, and insects including the larvae called witchetty grubs.
   

Aboriginal Bush Medicine

There is also information about Aboriginal bush medicine such as acacia and eucalypt plants including white ash, red ash, Alexandrian laurel and mistletoe.

Plan Your Trip... the FREE Cape York Travel Pocket Guide

Get this 50 pages guide totally for FREE. It contains information that helps you getting started with planning of your trip. You get to make early-stages desicions such as when to go, how long time you should take, how to get there and get around, where to stay (general info), what will it cost.. and a short insight to what is there to see and do in Cape York.

Plan and Bring to the Trip... the full Destination Cape York Travel Guide

This complete 300 pages travel guide is all you need before and during your trip. Besides the background chapters on the peninsula's history and wildlife; and the comprehensive detail about all the places (down to prices, opening hours and full contact detail), it has invaluable information on at least 10 four wheel drive tracks, at least 30 guaranteed FREE camping spots on the Cape (and at least 150 on your way to the Cape), at least 40 best swimming holes, all mapped; as well as practical things - from fuel, roads, wireless internet and mobile phone reception, how to deal with the national parks booking rules; and Aboriginal land entrance and camping permits and alcohol restrictions - to vehicle preparation and accessories and necessary recovery gear by my vehicle-recovery-guy partner). Not to mention locals' tips on how to spot that croc and palm cockatoo ;-)

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