Great Barrier Reef Rendezvous
It’s hard to stand out from the crowd when you live in the Great Barrier Reef. The spectrum of symbiotic wildlife and vibrant colours you’ll find within this iconic seascape offers endless discovery. Float above gliding manta rays in a glass-bottom boat, dive into meet-cutes with ancient sea turtles, and marvel at leaping humpback whales. A visit to the Whitsunday Islands proves life above the reef is equally exciting, with tropical birds, mammals, and reptiles you can find in the wild and on safaris.
Daintree’s Legacy of Apex Predators
Daintree Rainforest’s ancient saltwater crocodiles will be happy to know their descendants are doing them proud as earth’s largest living reptiles, surviving for over 65 million years. A tour along the Daintree River or to the Australia Zoo will bring you as close as you’ve ever been to these ancient apex predators, coexisting with their human neighbours throughout the world’s oldest rainforest.
Rave at Kuranda Rainforest Village
Very few dances are as mesmerizing as the ones performed at the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary and Birdworld Kuranda. Watch more than a thousand tropical butterflies float weightlessly across lush gardens and listen to the symphony of one of Australia’s largest collections of free-flying birds, including prehistoric southern cassowaries and striking black cockatoos.
Atherton Tablelands Bird Search
If you’re more interested in finding the southern cassowary in its natural habitat, head straight to the untouched, rainforest-covered mountains of the Atherton Tablelands. This incredibly diverse region is home to nearly half of Australia’s 726 bird species. Follow a passionate guide into the heart of one of Australia’s most important bird meccas and discover the sounds and stories of some of the world’s most unique birds.
Dreamtime at Mossman Gorge
Discover the human connection to the Daintree Rainforest with the proud guidance from the indigenous Kuku Yalanji people who’ve inhabited Mossman Gorge for 50,000 years. Embark on a Dreamtime Walk and discover the stories and legends steeped in the rainforest and the local community.
This article was originally published in No. 33 of Globetrotting Magazine.
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Born to two parents who met travelling, Sael has always wanted to travel the world. Sael has hiked the Inca Trail in Peru, visited blue-footed boobies on the Galapagos Islands, stood on both hemispheres of the equator in Ecuador, climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, hiked the base of Uluru, surfed Pacific Ocean waves in Mexico, and skydived over the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns. Meeting new people and sharing stories are some of Sael's favourite parts of travelling, and he hopes he can help ignite this passion for discovery in others.
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