Daintree River Cruise

We had the best tour guide ever! Bill Smith has been doing 5 trips a day for 20 years so he knows the Daintree River like the back of his tatooed hand. His informative but very entertaining commentary kept the boat load of passengers listening attentively and rolling around laughing. Anyone who is planning on coming up here should think about taking a trip with Bill on the Nice and Easy Tour. On leaving the boat, he told us to tell our friends if we enjoyed it but if not, let them find out for themselves!

Not long after catching the boat, Bill took us to a spot on the bank where a tiny crocodile was perched on a log. You have to know what you're looking for.
A bit further on, he pointed out a yellow-headed green snake that took an experienced eye to notice it as it perched on a branch of a tree.  

snake is on top of branch - look carefully



in the next photo, look for the yellow head of the snake (to the left)

Finally, we saw a big croc on the bank - Fat Albert! His name came about after he'd eaten a pig that had been left to rot in the river and Fat Albert was so bloated that he "grew" in size.

Bob and John keeping an eye on Fat Albert from the safety of the boat. Once crocs reach the age of 1 year, they can inflict significant damage. They are independent from birth. From 50 eggs, only 2 usually survive past 12 months.

Bill's commentary focused on crocs, other fauna, flora and films that have been made in the Daintree area. Robert's jaw was aching after the trip due to laughing so much.

We heard the story about Bill's one-legged mother-in-law named Peggy; how Steve Irwin stirred up crocodiles to make them attack him; stickadiles (floating sticks); logadiles (logs that look like crocodiles); sugar ants and how not to collect the sweet sugar; flood levels (and the house built on the flood line that he believes must have been bought on the internet); the dog tree that can be identified by its bark and many many more anecdotes over the 90 minute trip. Value plus for $25 per person!

The density of the Daintree and the beauty of the river are explored closely as the boat chugs along. Bill cuts the engines so that passengers can have a close look at crocs, snakes, birds and plants. We all had a good time, learnt a lot and had many good laughs.

As we passed other operators on the river (and there are plenty of them), Bill would raise his voice and talk about the 2 crocs that jumped out of the river and other tall stories so that the competitor's passengers would think about their choice of tour guide. Of course, this was said in fun and good humour between the operators was evident.

We didn't see mega crocodiles but this was because the weather conditions weren't the best. A cold night followed by a sunny morning will see crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks.

Look closely at the bottom right hand corner of the photo - there's a broken piece of wood then some palm fronds - resting just above the fronds is a little crocodile with its snout upper most and its tail dipping in the water.