Daintree River Ferry – Gateway to the Old-World Forest In 1873, having just established Cooktown to service the shipping requirements of the Palmer River goldfields, Queensland Commissioner of Gold, George Dalrymple steamed up a river of such outstanding surrounding beauty that he named the river after his good friend and colleague, Richard [...]
Daintree Rainforest Foundation, in conjunction with Daintree Rainforest P/L, has committed to a long term data collection process through the installation of a dozen camera traps placed strategically throughout the Daintree World Heritage Rainforest. The first month captured 29 cassowaries, 67 feral-pigs and 17 dingoes. Other species of organism have also been captured by the [...]
The first episode of Sir David Attenborough’s new series commenced in the heart of the world’s longest surviving rainforest. Here, Big Bertha, Grand Dame of Cassowaries, reigns supreme. She is almost 2-metres in height when she pumps herself up to her full height to impress or to defend her domain. The vision of stately old-growth [...]
2018 was looking like a dry year. January 2018 was good; 1,083 mm of solid rain fell over 23-days, awakening the forest from a dryer than usual 'dry'. The forest became lush and vibrant. Water, the essential element for life, was falling in accordance with average years; with average falls in February and March, but [...]
At last, warmer weather and rain has enlivened the Daintree Rainforest, ending a long, cold winter. With below average rainfall, the rich and vibrant presence of fungi has been lessened, but today the Yellow Many-headed Slime Mould (Physarum polycephalum) appeared on a log in a shady section of the rainforest. Not unlike bureaucracies, the slime [...]
This is Oberonia titania. Oberonia orchids are fairy orchids, small and petite. Species titania is the King of the fairy orchids. Thought extinct in about 1960, we are pleased to confirm that it is alive and continuing to exhibit its delicate beauty in the Daintree Rainforest. We first discovered this minute fairy orchid about a [...]
One of the most frequently asked questions on our tour is, “How is climate change affecting the Daintree Rainforest?”. The long term answer is easy. When Australia broke away from the already fragmenting supercontinent of Gondwana, about 50-million years ago, leaving Antarctica and drifting northward for about 35-million years in what is referred to as splendid isolation, no other [...]
Cordyceps is a genus of sac fungi known as ascomycete fungi that includes about 400 species. All Cordyceps species are mainly parasitic on insects and other arthropods; a few are parasitic on other fungi. The generic name Cordyceps is derived from the Greek word kordyle, meaning "club", and the Latin stem -ceps, meaning "head". Several [...]
Spectacular orange floral fungus enhances the beauty of the rainforest, with its bright colour attracting the appropriate insects to traffic spores in a general absence of wind. We are familiar with the White Jelly Fungus or Silver Ear (Tremella fuciformis), but this magnificent variation is delightfully new to us. Tremella mesenterica appears to be the [...]
A most unusual and unexpected find in the middle of the world's oldest rainforest - a 1965 Wolseley Mark II. An original advertisement states: Owning a new Wolseley Mark II is a luxury you can afford … at only £1,280! For this you get distinctive styling, deep pile carpeting, deep foam seat padding, instrument fascia and door [...]
