56 km
Our day started with a cruise of the upper Daintree River…about 10km upstream from yesterday. We were treated to a large 4m male croc swimming down the river to find a nice warm spot for the day. Birdspotting went pretty well too, with several heron species and many welcome swallows.
After our boat trip ended we walked to camp, and got things together quickly to commence the CREB ( Cairns Regional Electricity Board) track , which commences just outside of the village.
Upon arriving at the Daintree River… which we were now well aware, had a healthy crocodile population, we stopped on the banks to let out the tyre pressure and check the line we should take across the river.
There were several other vehicles that were doing the same and the joke was that everyone was working slowly so that the other party could go first.
The track goes through some farmland before hitting the rainforest proper. It’s here that the clay track is usually pretty wet as the rainforest cover doesn’t allow for proper evaporation of rainfall.
There were some sections that were wet but others were actually nice and dry.
Johan drove first and gave me some instructions, then after our 3rd water crossing, I took the 4WD wheel for the first time . We drove for approx 45min before we hit a traffic jam… we weren’t sure what happened but seems that a motorbike had slipped and possibly a car rolled in a very slippery , wet area. The car roll over was not confirmed though, but is not unusual for the track. Mind you, there are many opportunities to lose control on slippery clay and slide off the side of the mountain into the rainforest trees! As far as my first 4WD session goes, it wasn’t too bad, but neither was it too technical…the shitty bits we didn’t get to…like the 2 log bridge crossings.
As the time passed we decided to turn around, have lunch and head back into the village, having not even completed 1/3 of the track in 2.5 hours! We did go slowly and carefully though. Lara drove back and did a good job of all the hill starts she had gotten herself into! The car is a manual, so a quick refresher is required .