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Cape Tribulation



A place of breathtaking beauty with rugged mountain ranges rising sharply behind the narrow coastal strip, dense rainforest tumbling down the mountains to the beaches, and a bewilderingly rich variety of flora. A visit to this area gives you a rare chance to experience two of Australia’s most significant World Heritage sites – the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics world heritage areas. Both are valued for their exceptional biological diversity.

The cape’s name recalls the visit of Lieut. James Cook to the area. His journal entry for Monday 11th June 1770 reads: “I named the north point Cape Tribulation because here began all our troubles”. It was here that Cook’s vessel, Endeavour, ran aground onto what is now known as Endeavour Reef. The ship managed to limp to the Endeavour River near present-day Cooktown where, for some months, it was laid up for repairs.

Location: 75 km south of Cooktown, 110 km north of Cairns via Captain Cook Highway.

Cape Tribulation National Park features long sandy beaches, rocky headlands and steep mountain ranges intersected by numerous creeks and rivers. One of Australia’s last extensive stands of lowland rainforest is found here. Impenetrable ranges, rising steeply from the coast, are blanketed with dense upland rainforests supporting many ancient plants and animals. This unique landscape is the traditional country of the Eastern Kuku Yalanji Aboriginal people.

The Cape Tribulation section of Daintree National Park (about 17,000 ha) stretches in a narrow, intermittent strip from the Daintree River in the south to the Bloomfield River in the north. The McDowall Range, rising steeply from the coast, forms the western boundary.

Cape Tribulation is in the heart of the Daintree Rainforest, home to some of the oldest rainforest on the planet, and this Word Heritage listed rainforest is adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef. The Daintree is the only destination in the world where two World Heritage areas meet. One of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, the Cape Tribulation area was included in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in 1988. It is here that rainforested mountains sweep down to long sandy beaches.

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Things To See and Do
There are a variety of walks at Cape Tribulation, from under an hour to full day treks.

Fishing is permitted in all tidal creeks in Cape Tribulation, Daintree National Park except Cooper Creek, where fishing is prohibited.

Most of the world’s 19 primitive plant families are found in Daintree National Park and the surrounding area. A number of very rare plants can be seen in Cape Tribulation. The park is also home to many near threatened and endangered animals including, Bennett’s tree-kangaroos, Daintree River ringtail possums and southern cassowaries. Some birds migrate to the area from New Guinea in summer to breed. These include buff-breasted paradise-kingfishers, with their very long tails, and pied imperial-pigeons, which arrive in large flocks. During the winter months (June – August), migrating humpback whales are often seen from the beaches.



The Rainforest Coast Drive
This drive follows the coastal road from Cairns to Cooktown through the only place on the planet where two World Heritage sites, the Wet Tropics of Australia (containing the world’s oldest rainforest) and the Great Barrier Reef, converge. The Daintree Rainforest contains the last remnant of the oldest surviving rainforest in the world.



Daintree Rainforest
The Daintree Cape Tribulation Rainforest in North Queensland Australia is one of the most diverse and beautiful examples of Mother Natures work in the world. This ecologically unique rainforest is home to the most extensive range of rare plants and animals on earth, and all are found within an area of approximately 1200 square kilometers  the largest chunk of protected tropical rainforest in Australia.

The Daintree Cape Tribulation rainforest is a World Heritage Listed area and contains the highest number of plant and animal species that are rare, or threatened with near extinction, anywhere in the world. The Daintree Cape Tribulation Rainforest is a unique area, precariously balanced between the advances of development and the warnings of environmentalists. There are so many things to do and things to see in the Cape Tribulation & Daintree Rainforests, you have the choice of a Day Tour or Overnight Accommodation and spend a few nights in a luxury eco resort or wilderness lodges or simply glamping or backpacking with a few mates.

The beaches of the Cape Tribulation Daintree Rainforest region are rated among the most spectacular in the world. The tropical warmth combined with dazzling sunshine and crystal clear calm water makes you wonder if this is what heaven could be like. One of the most wonderful features of Daintree beaches is the lack of people. Stretching for miles, you can cast your eyes along the golden sand and not see a single soul, just the trees waving at you in the breeze.

The tropical rainforest is home to the most diverse range of plants and animals on earth. The Daintree Cape Tribulation region supports species of plants and animals that have existed for millions of years and are integral to the ecosystem not just of the Daintree Rainforest, but of other areas around the world too. As difficult as it may be to imagine, what happens in the Daintree Rainforest affects what happens on the other side of the planet.


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Wadjal Wadjal falls, Daintree National Park

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