Drive, Hike, and Dive WorryFree

For the four wheel drive carry all, it burst out of the cool, dark forest and emerged into the bright coastal sunlight after rocking down the rotted jungle track. Leaving behind the Daintree rain forest which was one of the great natural wonders of the world, we were faced by another on in the Great Barrier Reef just 10 miles offshore. Only one place has two wonders of the world located side by side and this is in one of the least developed regions along Australia's tropical northeast coast, northern Queensland.

You will see one of the oldest rain forests in the world inland. When it comes to the reef, it swings closest to land in this part of the northern coast stretching north and south along 1,250 miles of shore. Available in the rainforest and reef is easy visitor access. You can dive down, watch from a submersible glass sided craft, or from an underwater observatory if you want to see 1,200 species of tropical reef fish or the 350 types of spectacularly colorful living coral that make up the reef.

When it comes to the jump off point, it was Cairns, a small tropical city of 85,000 that is as beautiful as a British colonial outpost serving as the gateway to Australia's Marlin Coast. We opted for a trip out of town by rail on the 100 year old Cairns Kuranda Railway, which twists 21 miles up and through mountains, gorges and rain forests to the village of Kuranda. After returning to Cairns, we drove for 90 minutes north along the Marlin Coast and inland toward the rain forest.

There are 13 of the 19 families of ancient plant life still found on Earth in the nearby rain forest. Dating back to 130 million years are some of these. To pass, you need to use four wheel drive vehicles for old rutted dirt tracks line the forest as they were built for logging. Because of pull offs, one that opens on to an hour's easy stroll along a well marked trail, you can look at the rain forest more leisurely.

The way to describe the rain forest trips being offered by a tour service is environmentally sensitive as it starts from Silky Oaks and comes with a boat ride down the Daintree River. From Silky Oaks, we took a short drive to the old gold rush village of Port Douglas, one of the major gateways to the Great Barrier Reef. Available for scuba divers are charter boats, available for skimmers were sailboats, and atop the reef there were permanent platforms groups of people were ferried to via a fleet of twin hulled jet catamarans.

Taking a look at the beauty of the coral reef and its multicolored fish can be done without getting wet and this is with the 30 minute trips alongside the coral aboard two glass-sided semi submersibles. Trained marine biologists lead hour long snorkeling explorations of the reef. Private grottoes line the swimming pool area, one is even behind a waterfall, and there is an open air coffee shop in the local hotel where we stayed in which was frequented by locals. The famous Four Mile Beach is located outside downtown Port Douglas and it is where you will see beautiful stretches of palm fringed white sand curving along the ocean.

A jump off point away from sea is Port Douglas and it allows you to have a different view of the northern Queensland environment. During the last century, the tableland high above the coast became a prime cattle raising area, and some of the original homesteads on the old cattle ranches still exist. One is Wetherby and it is the site of a 1870s homestead and still a working cattle station. With the family proprietors opening it for tourists, they can see the real Australia.

For every trip, consider obtaining travel insurance. Stress while traveling can be lessened.

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