All reviewers of the Wet Tropics of Queensland so far have covered Barron Gorge National Park, which is an easy train ride from Cairns. The other 40 or so parks and reserves stay unreviewed. Among those, one immediately catches the eye: Daintree National Park. Here, fringing reefs have developed alongside the coastal rainforest, a feature best seen off Cape Tribulation. The reefs are part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Site, so the two are contiguous here – you can stand with one dry foot in one WHS and with the other wet foot in the other WHS.

I visited the park on a long day tour from Cairns. If you have a car, you can do it yourself as well, but it needs ample time. The drive up there (Cape Tribulation lies about 140km north of Cairns) follows the coast via the Captain Cook Highway. It’s a fine drive on a narrow, winding road, with some roadworks here and there (the whole area is susceptible to flooding). Fairly quickly, you will see the Daintree mountain range on the horizon.

We were offloaded from the bus when we reached the Daintree River. This river marks the boundary of Daintree National Park and also between the zones where there is farming and where there is jungle (and people have to live off-grid). Cars have to take the ferry across – our driver told us that the local council likes it this way, it brings them a steady income and also keeps the number of visitors manageable.

From here, we were taking a boat ride on the river for about 12km. The tide was exceptionally high, which wasn’t good for seeing anything on the river banks. There should be lots of crocodiles and long snakes also. Still, it was a pretty ride among the mangroves and the definitely jungly coastline. We managed to find one female crocodile, of which we had good views. This whole region is crocodile-infested, including rivers, ponds and the sea coast, and there are human victims every year.

On the other side of the river, the roads got steeper and narrower. We had a stop at the Alexandra lookout, from where there are wide views of the Daintree coast. This area north of the river also isn’t all forest: it’s a patchwork of private properties and a national park. Especially the southernmost part sees a fair amount of cultivation: tea plantations and tropical fruit gardens mostly (they sell great ice cream made out of the latter). We had lunch at the Heritage Lodge (together with 8 or so other groups, somehow they all go to the same places). The lodge has a nice, wild trail where you can spot the common plants and trees of the area.

More north we went, first to the Madja Boardwalk. This lies deeper in the national park area, with a dark forest and mangrove part. The loop took about 45 minutes to walk. It showcases the plants and trees that are specific to the Wet Tropics and have a long history, such as Hope’s cycads and Fan palms. The plants do their utmost here to reach the canopy and get some sunshine. And our driver/guide found us a couple of cute Peppermint stick insects at the end.

Our final stop was at Cape Tribulation. This is also where the paved road ends. It has a sweeping beach and the characteristic rainforest-that-reaches-the the sea. The scenery is similar to what I saw at the South-East Atlantic Forests of Brazil.

It was a good tour, seeing how life goes on this far north of Cairns. But I still have a bit of a problem with this and the other Australian forest WHS: it's plants and insects that run the show, while I prefer my forests loaded with primates and other larger mammals. This ecological niche in the Wet Tropics of Queensland is covered by the tree kangaroos, but you won't encounter those on a non-specialized trip.