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.
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.
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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This site uses British
English, which is the English we use in
Australia.
Disclaimer:
Although
best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information on this
website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a
mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.