Cairns to Cape Tribulation, Australia

Tropical Queensland: An Australia Too Wild


intrigued cassowary
A cassowary, an indigenous bird from Australia known for its dangerous attacks.
hungry croc
Crocodile shoots out of the water to capture a piece of meat.
Emmagen Creek
Queensland natives try to cross Emmagen Creek in the Daintree area.
Stingers!
A sign at the entrance to a beach in Port Arthur signals the mortal danger caused by the presence of stingers (sea wasps).
Bus stop
School bus stop sign in the middle of the vastness of a sugar cane plantation on the outskirts of Cairns.
by ferry
Ferry crosses the Daintree River, one of the crocodile-infested rivers in North Queensland.
Sunset on the Daintree
Sunset tinges a river orange in the tropical Daintree region of North Queensland.
protected area
Casal speaks within the only stinger-protected area of ​​a vast beach near Port Douglas.
After, Before
Creative traffic sign alerts drivers to avoid running over birds.
sky rail
Sky rail passes over a river between Cairns and Kuranda.
Crocodiles
Groomer feeds crocodiles in a zoo on the outskirts of Cairns.
The hand
Crocodile handler feeds a specimen by hand.
friendly groom
Caretaker at a zoo in Cairns, holds a snake common in North Queensland.
Cyclones and floods are just the meteorological expression of Queensland's tropical harshness. When it's not the weather, it's the deadly fauna of the region that keeps its inhabitants on their toes.

Were it not for the scheduled passage through the far north of Queensland and one of the our long travels across the world would have flowed with a more relaxed calendar.

We enjoyed the “golden” months of Japanese autumn and winter had meanwhile installed itself with an unexpected mildness. There were, at first sight, no logical reasons to hasten the departure of that exotic Far East that was slowly cooling off.

A few thousand kilometers to the south, however, an unwanted La Niña was slowly growing and the phenomenon was the opposite. The South Pacific was warming before our eyes.

In the extension of the northeast coast of Australia, the Coral Sea reached unhealthy temperatures for the Great Barrier Reef.

We knew that the development of that pattern did not bode well for the east coast of the big island. Accordingly, we accelerated the move to the Southern Hemisphere and the discovery of Tropical Australia.

Bus stop, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild

School bus stop sign in the middle of the vastness of a sugar cane plantation on the outskirts of Cairns.

From Northern Hemisphere Winter to Australia's Torrid Summer

We landed in Cairns at the end of a high, dry season that stretched far beyond normal. The sky was clear and remained blue most days. In parallel, the humidity increased visibly and demanded deeper and deeper breaths.

Shortly thereafter, we find ourselves victims of the typical Portuguese laxity of thinking that everything can be solved at the last, and in serious work to rent a campervan. “Only if I can get you a outdoors (Australian pick-up truck) with canvas cover and arrange it your way … want me to try? “asks the blonde girl at the tourist desk in town and leaves us in undisguised despair.

Luckily, one of your last phone calls gets a positive response. We got away with the old service van of a Cairns Older Car, a much-used rental company.

It is already behind the wheel of the old van that we visit the local Salvation Army warehouses, where we try to solve the vehicle's unwelcoming nudity, buying second-hand curtains and mattresses. After the “decoration” was finished, we left for the lush northwest of Australia.

Daintree River Ferry, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild

Ferry crosses the Daintree River, one of the crocodile-infested rivers in North Queensland.

Barron Falls to Kuranda. The Journey Above the Tropical Queensland Jungle

we interrupt the trip for the first time in Barron Falls National Park.

There we take a cable car that leaves the coast, climbs the verdant slope of the Great Dividing Range and stops at Red Peak Station where an Aboriginal ranger Tjapukai has taken us and other visitors on a walk through the forest.

The humidity was more oppressive there than ever. It made the native host speak slowly. The guide explains to us, with easy examples, the sacred beliefs of your Tjapukai people. Like all things: the Sun, the Moon, the stars, the Earth and its creatures, etc. – originated in the time of the story – the Buluru.

We continued aboard the Skyrail, heading for the next station. On the way, we flew over the immense jungle that covers the region. Until Kuranda, we see little more than the countless canopies of multi-millenary trees and the occasional trickle of water.

Sky rail, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild

Sky rail passes over a river between Cairns and Kuranda.

On the way back, the panorama repeats itself. Until another approach to the Coral Sea, when the predominant green of the jungle gives way to a gradient of blue.

The forest we just flew over is 135 million years old. It is the oldest in the world, considered a privileged stage of the Earth's evolutionary stages.

In North Queensland, this natural process has intensified as in few other parts of the planet. It gave rise to a biodiversity so vast that it deserved the UNESCO recognition. The organization declared the Daintree National Park (a few kilometers to the north) a World Heritage Site.

Casuar, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild

A cassowary, an indigenous bird from Australia known for its dangerous attacks.

Soon, we would understand better why the title.

Back on the Road, Cook Highway Above

Back in the makeshift campervan, we ride the Captain Cook Highway further north. We enter an Australia lost among the dense jungles to the west and the wild beaches that welcome the Coral Sea.

Emmagen Creek, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild

Queensland natives try to cross Emmagen Creek in the Daintree area.

We keep an eye out for the road, ready to avoid the jumping crossings of wallabies and other kangaroos, causing frequent accidents all over Australia.

Worn out by the heat, we gave in to the appeal of the white sands and calm waters of a beach called Four Miles. At the entrance, a huge yellow sign alerts, in several languages, to different dangers: currents, crocodiles and the presence of jellyfish (stingers).

Stingers, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild

A sign at the entrance to a beach in Port Arthur signals the mortal danger caused by the presence of stingers (sea wasps).

“They just arrived at these parts, right?” asks the ozzy lifeguard, under his hat akubra and distinctly looking for fun. "Well, it seemed to me ... I regret to inform you that they can only enter the sea within that area".

We look carefully. We found that this was a mere fifteen square meters of the almost 900 meters long beach. When it seems difficult for things to get worse, we realized that, within the limits of the buoys, the water didn't even reach our knees.

The floating square has little nets. The nets that prevented the entry of various species of jellyfish and jellyfish feared for injecting lethal chemicals when biting victims (hence the English name stingers).

Stinger Protected Area, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild

Casal speaks within the only stinger-protected area of ​​a vast beach near Port Douglas.

These creatures are born at the mouths of rivers that descend from the Great Dividing Range and colonize the coastal waters of the Coral Sea. They do this during the five hot months of the rainy season, when the temperature of the Coral Sea can exceed 30º.

Australia Even More Wild of Daintree National Park

Unlike disappointment, the shower is short. Then, we return to the path towards the Daintree National Park, with successive strategic stops on other attractive coastlines.

As we toured the Cow Bay sand, we met James Pratt, a resident of a Beach house next. We only need to mention the frustration of not being able to refresh ourselves in such inviting waters to usher in a new Australian drama.

"So it is. Queensland is really dangerous. In fact, my poodles are in danger right now. I shouldn't let them run so close to the water. You never know when a croc is around… “When it's not the crocs, it's the stingers. Come on, these only bother a few months…”.

Crocodiles, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild

Groomer feeds crocodiles in a zoo on the outskirts of Cairns.

There is little to add about the first threat. Like the rest of the Australian Top End, the far north of Queensland has been, since the ends of time, a privileged habitat for the world's largest reptile, the estuarine crocodile. They patrol rivers, mangroves, lakes and, because they are able to swim in salt water, too the beaches.

Unlike their freshwater neighbors – which are smaller and only attack humans in extreme cases of self-defense – estuarine crocodiles are aggressive.

They can exceed six meters in length and cause, every year, fatal victims in accidents that the sensational Australian newspapers take advantage of to make their front pages.

Croc, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild

Crocodile shoots out of the water to capture a piece of meat.

Crocodiles aren't the only ones to deserve it. Despite the tiny size of the creatures, the jellyfish are not far behind.

As Expected, Tropical Queensland's Cyclones and Floods

For two weeks filled with intense experiences and sensations, we continued to explore the region. However, we flew from Cairns to Alice Springs, in the center of the Australian continent. It is there that we celebrate the entry into the new year.

A few days later, the plan was fulfilled.

On every Australian TV and radio station, all over the world it was reported that North Queensland was under water.

Sunset in Daintree, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild

Sunset tinges a river orange in the tropical, semi-wetland of Daintree, North Queensland.

More tropical storms and cyclones were expected, more than expected during the months of the Queensland rainy season.

Two hundred thousand people had to leave their homes. Thirty lost their lives. Nine were reported missing.

The final loss amounted to more than 800 billion Australian dollars (to date, around XNUMX million euros).

As always happens in these times of calamity, hyperexploited cases of humans attacked by crocodiles have resurfaced in the newly formed aquatic wilderness.

Cape Cross, Namíbia

The Most Turbulent of the African Colonies

Diogo Cão landed in this cape of Africa in 1486, installed a pattern and turned around. The immediate coastline to the north and south was German, South African, and finally Namibian. Indifferent to successive transfers of nationality, one of the largest seal colonies in the world has maintained its hold there and animates it with deafening marine barks and endless tantrums.
NP Gorongosa, Mozambique

The Heart of Mozambique's Wildlife Shows Signs of Life

Gorongosa was home to one of the most exuberant ecosystems in Africa, but from 1980 to 1992 it succumbed to the Civil War waged between FRELIMO and RENAMO. Greg Carr, Voice Mail's millionaire inventor received a message from the Mozambican ambassador to the UN challenging him to support Mozambique. For the good of the country and humanity, Carr pledged to resurrect the stunning national park that the Portuguese colonial government had created there.
Miranda, Brazil

Maria dos Jacarés: the Pantanal shelters such Creatures

Eurides Fátima de Barros was born in the interior of the Miranda region. 38 years ago, he settled in a small business on the side of BR262 that crosses the Pantanal and gained an affinity with the alligators that lived on his doorstep. Disgusted that once upon a time the creatures were being slaughtered there, she began to take care of them. Now known as Maria dos Jacarés, she named each of the animals after a soccer player or coach. It also makes sure they recognize your calls.
Iberá Wetlands, Argentina

The Pantanal of the Pampas

On the world map, south of the famous brazilian wetland, a little-known flooded region appears, but almost as vast and rich in biodiversity. the Guarani expression Y bera defines it as “shining waters”. The adjective fits more than its strong luminance.
Sydney, Australia

From the Exile of Criminals to an Exemplary City

The first of the Australian colonies was built by exiled inmates. Today, Sydney's Aussies boast former convicts of their family tree and pride themselves on the cosmopolitan prosperity of the megalopolis they inhabit.
Atherton Tableland, Australia

Miles Away from Christmas (part XNUMX)

On December 25th, we explored the high, bucolic yet tropical interior of North Queensland. We ignore the whereabouts of most of the inhabitants and find the absolute absence of the Christmas season strange.
Iriomote, Japan

The Small Tropical Japanese Amazon of Iriomote

Impenetrable rainforests and mangroves fill Iriomote under a pressure cooker climate. Here, foreign visitors are as rare as the yamaneko, an elusive endemic lynx.
Discovering tassie, Part 3, Tasmania, Australia

Tasmania from Top to Bottom

The favorite victim of Australian anecdotes has long been the Tasmania never lost the pride in the way aussie ruder to be. Tassie remains shrouded in mystery and mysticism in a kind of hindquarters of the antipodes. In this article, we narrate the peculiar route from Hobart, the capital located in the unlikely south of the island to the north coast, the turn to the Australian continent.
Discovering tassie, Part 1 - Hobart, Australia

Australia's Backdoor

Hobart, the capital of Tasmania and the southernmost of Australia, was colonized by thousands of convicts from England. Unsurprisingly, its population maintains a strong admiration for marginal ways of life.
Alice Springs to Darwin, Australia

Stuart Road, on its way to Australia's Top End

Do Red Center to the tropical Top End, the Stuart Highway road travels more than 1.500km lonely through Australia. Along this route, the Northern Territory radically changes its look but remains faithful to its rugged soul.
Marajó Island, Brazil

The Buffalo Island

A vessel that transported buffaloes from the India it will have sunk at the mouth of the Amazon River. Today, the island of Marajó that hosted them has one of the largest herds in the world and Brazil is no longer without these bovine animals.
Chobe NP, Botswana

Chobe: A River on the Border of Life with Death

Chobe marks the divide between Botswana and three of its neighboring countries, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. But its capricious bed has a far more crucial function than this political delimitation.
Perth to Albany, Australia

Across the Far West of Australia

Few people worship evasion like the aussies. With southern summer in full swing and the weekend just around the corner, Perthians are taking refuge from the urban routine in the nation's southwest corner. For our part, without compromise, we explore endless Western Australia to its southern limit.
Busselton, Australia

2000 meters in Aussie Style

In 1853, Busselton was equipped with one of the longest pontoons in the world. World. When the structure collapsed, the residents decided to turn the problem around. Since 1996 they have been doing it every year. Swimming.
Melbourne, Australia

An "Asienated" Australia

Cultural capital aussie, Melbourne is also frequently voted the best quality of life city in the world. Nearly a million eastern emigrants took advantage of this immaculate welcome.
Great Ocean Road, Australia

Ocean Out, along the Great Australian South

One of the favorite escapes of the Australian state of Victoria, via B100 unveils a sublime coastline that the ocean has shaped. We only needed a few kilometers to understand why it was named The Great Ocean Road.
Perth, Australia

the lonely city

More 2000km away from a worthy counterpart, Perth is considered the most remote city on the face of the Earth. Despite being isolated between the Indian Ocean and the vast Outback, few people complain.
Perth, Australia

The Oceania Cowboys

Texas is on the other side of the world, but there is no shortage of cowboys in the country of koalas and kangaroos. Outback rodeos recreate the original version and 8 seconds lasts no less in the Australian Western.
Perth, Australia

Australia Day: In Honor of the Foundation, Mourning for Invasion

26/1 is a controversial date in Australia. While British settlers celebrate it with barbecues and lots of beer, Aborigines celebrate the fact that they haven't been completely wiped out.
Red Center, Australia

Australia's Broken Heart

The Red Center is home to some of Australia's must-see natural landmarks. We are impressed by the grandeur of the scenarios but also by the renewed incompatibility of its two civilizations.
Residents walk along the trail that runs through plantations above the UP4
City
Gurué, Mozambique, Part 1

Through the Mozambican Lands of Tea

The Portuguese founded Gurué in the 1930th century and, from XNUMX onwards, flooded it with camellia sinensis the foothills of the Namuli Mountains. Later, they renamed it Vila Junqueiro, in honor of its main promoter. With the independence of Mozambique and the civil war, the town regressed. It continues to stand out for the lush green imposing mountains and teak landscapes.
Skipper of one of the bangkas at Raymen Beach Resort during a break from sailing
Beach
Islands Guimaras  e  Ave Maria, Philippines

Towards Ave Maria Island, in a Philippines full of Grace

Discovering the Western Visayas archipelago, we set aside a day to travel from Iloilo along the northwest coast of Guimaras. The beach tour along one of the Philippines’ countless pristine coastlines ends on the stunning Ave Maria Island.
Rhinoceros, PN Kaziranga, Assam, India
safari
PN Kaziranga, India

The Indian Monoceros Stronghold

Situated in the state of Assam, south of the great Brahmaputra river, PN Kaziranga occupies a vast area of ​​alluvial swamp. Two-thirds of the rhinocerus unicornis around the world, there are around 100 tigers, 1200 elephants and many other animals. Pressured by human proximity and the inevitable poaching, this precious park has not been able to protect itself from the hyperbolic floods of the monsoons and from some controversies.
Muktinath to Kagbeni, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, Kagbeni
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit 14th - Muktinath to Kagbeni, Nepal

On the Other Side of the Pass

After the demanding crossing of Thorong La, we recover in the cozy village of Muktinath. The next morning we proceed back to lower altitudes. On the way to the ancient kingdom of Upper Mustang and the village of Kagbeni that serves as its gateway.
Treasures, Las Vegas, Nevada, City of Sin and Forgiveness
Architecture & Design
Las Vegas, USA

Where sin is always forgiven

Projected from the Mojave Desert like a neon mirage, the North American capital of gaming and entertainment is experienced as a gamble in the dark. Lush and addictive, Vegas neither learns nor regrets.
Aventura
Boat Trips

For Those Becoming Internet Sick

Hop on and let yourself go on unmissable boat trips like the Philippine archipelago of Bacuit and the frozen sea of ​​the Finnish Gulf of Bothnia.
Ceremonies and Festivities
Pueblos del Sur, Venezuela

The Pueblos del Sur Locainas, Their Dances and Co.

From the beginning of the XNUMXth century, with Hispanic settlers and, more recently, with Portuguese emigrants, customs and traditions well known in the Iberian Peninsula and, in particular, in northern Portugal, were consolidated in the Pueblos del Sur.
San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Zapatismo, Mexico, San Nicolau Cathedral
Cities
San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico

The Home Sweet Home of Mexican Social Conscience

Mayan, mestizo and Hispanic, Zapatista and tourist, country and cosmopolitan, San Cristobal has no hands to measure. In it, Mexican and expatriate backpacker visitors and political activists share a common ideological demand.
Cocoa, Chocolate, Sao Tome Principe, Agua Izé farm
Lunch time
São Tomé and Principe

Cocoa Roças, Corallo and the Chocolate Factory

At the beginning of the century. In the XNUMXth century, São Tomé and Príncipe generated more cocoa than any other territory. Thanks to the dedication of some entrepreneurs, production survives and the two islands taste like the best chocolate.
Maiko during cultural show in Nara, Geisha, Nara, Japan
Culture
Kyoto, Japan

Survival: The Last Geisha Art

There have been almost 100 but times have changed and geishas are on the brink of extinction. Today, the few that remain are forced to give in to Japan's less subtle and elegant modernity.
Swimming, Western Australia, Aussie Style, Sun rising in the eyes
Sport
Busselton, Australia

2000 meters in Aussie Style

In 1853, Busselton was equipped with one of the longest pontoons in the world. World. When the structure collapsed, the residents decided to turn the problem around. Since 1996 they have been doing it every year. Swimming.
Unaccustomed gorilla, a short distance from Bon Coin, Bomassa
Traveling
Ducret Expedition 2st:  PN Lobeke, Cameroon - Wali Bai, Congo Rep.

Hyacinth and the Gorilla of Bon Coin: Peculiar Primate Encounters

Camped on an island in the Sangha River, we set out to discover the Lobéké and Wali Bai national parks, Nouabalé-Ndoki, in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo. There we are surprised by stunning but disparate creatures.  
Tatooine on Earth
Ethnic
Matmata Tataouine:  Tunisia

Star Wars Earth Base

For security reasons, the planet Tatooine from "The Force Awakens" was filmed in Abu Dhabi. We step back into the cosmic calendar and revisit some of the Tunisian places with the most impact in the saga.  
Sunset, Avenue of Baobabs, Madagascar
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio

days like so many others

The inevitable fishing
History

Florianopolis, Brazil

The South Atlantic Azorean Legacy

During the XNUMXth century, thousands of Portuguese islanders pursued better lives in the southern confines of Brazil. In the villages they founded, traces of affinity with the origins abound.

Cathedral, Funchal, Madeira
Islands
Funchal, Madeira

Portal to a Nearly Tropical Portugal

Madeira is located less than 1000km north of the Tropic of Cancer. And the luxuriant exuberance that earned it the nickname of the garden island of the Atlantic can be seen in every corner of its steep capital.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Winter White
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
silhouette and poem, Cora coralina, Goias Velho, Brazil
Literature
Goiás Velho, Brazil

The Life and Work of a Marginal Writer

Born in Goiás, Ana Lins Bretas spent most of her life far from her castrating family and the city. Returning to its origins, it continued to portray the prejudiced mentality of the Brazilian countryside
Lenticular cloud, Mount Cook, New Zealand.
Nature
Mount cook, New Zealand

The Cloud Piercer Mountain

Aoraki/Mount Cook may fall far short of the world's roof but it is New Zealand's highest and most imposing mountain.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
very coarse salt
Natural Parks
Salta and Jujuy, Argentina

Through the Highlands of Deep Argentina

A tour through the provinces of Salta and Jujuy takes us to discover a country with no sign of the pampas. Vanished in the Andean vastness, these ends of the Northwest of Argentina have also been lost in time.
church, our lady, virgin, guadalupe, mexico
UNESCO World Heritage
San Cristóbal de las Casas a Campeche, Mexico

A Relay of Faith

The Catholic equivalent of Our Lady of Fátima, Our Lady of Guadalupe moves and moves Mexico. Its faithful cross the country's roads, determined to bring the proof of their faith to the patroness of the Americas.
Era Susi towed by dog, Oulanka, Finland
Characters
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
Magnificent Atlantic Days
Beaches
Morro de São Paulo, Brazil

A Divine Seaside of Bahia

Three decades ago, it was just a remote and humble fishing village. Until some post-hippie communities revealed the Morro's retreat to the world and promoted it to a kind of bathing sanctuary.
Bride gets in car, traditional wedding, Meiji temple, Tokyo, Japan
Religion
Tokyo, Japan

A Matchmaking Sanctuary

Tokyo's Meiji Temple was erected to honor the deified spirits of one of the most influential couples in Japanese history. Over time, it specialized in celebrating traditional weddings.
Flam Railway composition below a waterfall, Norway.
On Rails
Nesbyen to Flam, Norway

Flam Railway: Sublime Norway from the First to the Last Station

By road and aboard the Flam Railway, on one of the steepest railway routes in the world, we reach Flam and the entrance to the Sognefjord, the largest, deepest and most revered of the Scandinavian fjords. From the starting point to the last station, this monumental Norway that we have unveiled is confirmed.
Society
Military

Defenders of Their Homelands

Even in times of peace, we detect military personnel everywhere. On duty, in cities, they fulfill routine missions that require rigor and patience.
the projectionist
Daily life
Sainte-Luce, Martinique

The Nostalgic Projectionist

From 1954 to 1983, Gérard Pierre screened many of the famous films arriving in Martinique. 30 years after the closing of the room in which he worked, it was still difficult for this nostalgic native to change his reel.
Hippopotamus displays tusks, among others
Wildlife
PN Mana Pools, Zimbabwe

The Zambezi at the Top of Zimbabwe

After the rainy season, the dwindling of the great river on the border with Zambia leaves behind a series of lagoons that provide water for the fauna during the dry season. The Mana Pools National Park is the name given to a vast, lush river-lake region that is disputed by countless wild species.
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.