Cape Tribulation, QLD
Wednesday–Thursday November 2–3, 2005
This is Coconut Beach at low tide. Despite its beauty, it is a wild place: the tide rushes in twice a day and crocodiles are lurking nearby. The area is a Unesco World Heritage site.
At high tide, the beach is under water! It is not to be confused with Waikiki.
Not far to the south is a river with crocodiles living in it. They can, if need be, venture out into the surf.
Click on the photograph to the left for more information about Daintree National Park.
The area around Cape Tribulation is undergoing a transition from beach to mangrove swamp to forest. Here you can see a few small mangroves getting a start on the beach.
After a time, the mangroves get going and the beach changes into a swamp. This photo was taken a short distance inland from the photo immediately above.
After more time, the mangrove swamps fill in with soil and the vegetation changes to a mixed forest. This photo was taken a short distance from, yes, the photo immediately above.
Near Cape Tribulation, we took an automobile tour into the bush and walked along long and empty beaches. The Daintree National Park here is a World Heritage site, and the Great Barrier Reef right next to it is another. There is no other place on Earth where two such sites are adjacent to one another.
Next—Heron Island, 40 miles off the mainland and 700 miles south.
