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Insured Tour All Around Australia

You can say that it was the four wheel drive carry all that rocked down the rotted jungle track emerging into the bright coastal sunlight as it burst out of the cool and dark forest. It was the Daintree rain forest that was one of the great natural wonders of the world we left behind only to face another one 10 miles offshore in the Great Barrier Reef. You can find two wonders located side by side only in northern Queensland, one of the least developed regions along Australia's tropical northeast coast.

Here is where one of the oldest rain forests in the world can be found. 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. Visitors can easily access the reef and rainforest. Options to see 1,200 species of tropical reef fish or the 350 types of spectacularly colorful living coral that make up the reef are through diving, watching from an underwater observatory, or doing so from a submersible craft with glass sides.

The point of jump off was Cairns which has the charm of a British colonial outpost, it is a small tropical city of 85,000 that is the gateway to Australia's Marlin Coast. Our trip out of town allowed us to ride the 100 year old Cairns Kuranda Railway that twisted 21 miles up and through rain forests, mountains, and gorges to the village of Kuranda. We drove for 90 minutes north along the Marlin Coast and inland toward the rain forest after returning to Cairns.

There are 13 of the 19 families of ancient plant life still found on Earth in the nearby rain forest. Several even date back to 130 million years. There are old rutted dirt tracks that line the forest, built for logging, and passable via four wheel drive vehicles. With 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.

Trips into the rain forest that are environmentally sensitive are offered by a tour service and it starts at Silky Oaks and includes a boat ride down the Daintree River. Considering the old gold rush village of Port Douglas, one of the major gateways to the Great Barrier Reef, the drive from Silky Oaks was short. Especially fitted for scuba divers are charter boats, and then there were sailboats for skimmers, and a fleet of twin hulled jet catamarans was available to ferry groups of people to permanent platforms atop the reef.

Without getting wet, you can see the beauty of the coral reef and its multicolored fish through 30 minute trips alongside the coral via two glass-sided semi submersibles. Together with trained marine biologists, snorkeling can be done. The locals frequented an open air coffee shop in the local hotel where we stayed in and by the swimming pool are private grottoes, one of which was behind a waterfall. With beautiful stretches of palm fringed white sand curving along the ocean is the famous Four Mile Beach located outside downtown Port Douglas.

Port Douglas is a jump off point away from sea that provides you with a different view of the northern Queensland environment. Becoming a prime cattle raising area during the past century was a tableland high above the coast and in existence today are some of the original homesteads on the old cattle ranches. There is Wetherby which is the site of a 1870s homestead and still a working cattle station. As a result of the family proprietors opening it to tourists, the real Australia can be seen.

Travel insurance is something to consider before you leave. Doing so will eliminate problems during your trip.
By : Mary Turner    Five stars rating
Submitted 2010-10-02 11:40:35

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