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The Daintree is not a river you want to contemplate swimming across, as the wealth of crocodile-watching cruise operators gathered on the south bank should indicate.

Skipper Adam Green, from the Daintree River Cruise Centre, starts things off with a baby one — it’s about a year-and-a-half old and could manage a nasty nip. “It’s the ones you can’t see you’ve got to worry about,” he warns.

The Daintree is the dividing line between relative civilisation and a tropical North Queensland which goes heavy on the tropical. The road north stops here; the only way across is via a cable ferry, chugging back and forth until midnight. Most people choose to cruise along it, rather than cross it.

Further downstream, after Adam has taken the opportunity to pluck snakes out of trees and point out that there are more species of mangrove in this river system than anywhere else on earth, a huge crocodile emerges.

“Scarface is the most dominant croc in this stretch of the river,” says Adam pointing out the half-submerged four-metre monster. “In a year or two, a couple of the younger crocodiles will try to muscle him out, but for now he’s got breeding rights here.”

The name isn’t an accident. Scarface seems determined to hold on to his patch, and has been in plenty of fights. The boat pulls away to leave him in peace before he starts another one.

The croc — an ancient remnant of the dinosaur era that has been designed so efficiently it has had no need to evolve — is a fitting master species for what awaits on the north bank. The Daintree rainforest is thought to be the oldest surviving rainforest on Earth. Within it is an almost complete evolutionary record of plant life on this planet, through ferns, cycads and conifers to the far more recent flowering plants.

Branching from the road north are a few walking trails, such as the signposted boardwalks at Jindalba, which educate with geeky enthusiasm. Counterintuitively, these trails are also the best places to get out of the honking, driving rain — the canopy is so thick that very little gets through.

This applies to light as well as water. The most striking sensation is of how dark it is once you’re in the forest — strolling past huge palm fronds, impromptu rushing creeks and colourful fruits that are poisonous for humans to eat.

There’s one inhabitant of the Daintree that will eat pretty much all the fruit, though. The cassowary is a phenomenally ugly-looking, blue-crested bird that can stand up to human height, weigh 60kg and disembowel anything that gets in its way, using its terrifyingly long claws.

To see one with its chicks by the roadside on the way up to Cape Tribulation is a remarkable treat. It is estimated that there are only 1,200 of them left in the wild, and they are critical to the survival of the rainforest. They eat the fleshy fruits whole, then disperse the seeds at the other end, often several kilometres away from the original tree.

Cape Tribulation is where the snaking, swerving road through the sodden prehistoric lushness ends. It was named by British navigator James Cook, whose ship struck a nearby reef on his epic voyage up Australia’s east coast in 1770. Today, with the exception of a tea plantation, a ramshackle beach café and dozens of well-meaning signs alerting drivers to recent cassowary crossing spots, there’s little sign of any human interference.

Here, where the Great Dividing Range comes to the shore, thickly forested mountains rise from the sweeping, empty beach. It’s a small settlement borrowed from the bush by hardy stalwarts growing tropical fruits and offering accommodation in simple cabins. It’s an off-the-

generator, water-from-underground-reservoirs kind of place that has incongruously found itself on the backpacker trail.

23 of the best secret beaches in Australia - in pictures 24 show all 23 of the best secret beaches in Australia - in pictures 1/24 Click through to see the best secret beaches in Australia. Pictured: Lucky Bay in the Cape Le Grand National Park, WA Shutterstock 2/24 Hamersley Gorge, WA Shutterstock 3/24 Spooky Beach, NSW Shutterstock 4/24 Gordon's Bay, NSW Shutterstock 5/24 Edith Falls, NT Shutterstock 6/24 Hyams Beach, NSW Shutterstock 7/24 Mindil Beach, NT Shutterstock 8/24 Twilight Beach, WA Shutterstock 9/24 Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island, QLD Shutterstock 10/24 Cable Beach, WA Shutterstock 11/24 Caves Beach, NSW Shutterstock 12/24 Thistle Cove, WA Shutterstock 13/24 Wineglass Bay, TAS Shutterstock 14/24 Bogey Hole, NSW Shutterstock 15/24 Bremer Bay, WA Shutterstock 16/24 Alexandria Bay, QLD Shutterstock 17/24 Ned's Beach, NSW Shutterstock 18/24 Cape Leveque, WA Shutterstock 19/24 Little Parakeet Bay, Rottnest Island, WA Shutterstock 20/24 Honeymoon Bay, TAS Shutterstock 21/24 East Arnhem Land, NT Shutterstock 22/24 Coffin Bay, SA Shutterstock 23/24 Kitty Miller Bay, VIC Shutterstock 24/24 The Friendly Beaches in the Freycinet National Park, TAS Shutterstock 1/24 Click through to see the best secret beaches in Australia. Pictured: Lucky Bay in the Cape Le Grand National Park, WA Shutterstock 2/24 Hamersley Gorge, WA Shutterstock 3/24 Spooky Beach, NSW Shutterstock 4/24 Gordon's Bay, NSW Shutterstock 5/24 Edith Falls, NT Shutterstock 6/24 Hyams Beach, NSW Shutterstock 7/24 Mindil Beach, NT Shutterstock 8/24 Twilight Beach, WA Shutterstock 9/24 Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island, QLD Shutterstock 10/24 Cable Beach, WA Shutterstock 11/24 Caves Beach, NSW Shutterstock 12/24 Thistle Cove, WA Shutterstock 13/24 Wineglass Bay, TAS Shutterstock 14/24 Bogey Hole, NSW Shutterstock 15/24 Bremer Bay, WA Shutterstock 16/24 Alexandria Bay, QLD Shutterstock 17/24 Ned's Beach, NSW Shutterstock 18/24 Cape Leveque, WA Shutterstock 19/24 Little Parakeet Bay, Rottnest Island, WA Shutterstock 20/24 Honeymoon Bay, TAS Shutterstock 21/24 East Arnhem Land, NT Shutterstock 22/24 Coffin Bay, SA Shutterstock 23/24 Kitty Miller Bay, VIC Shutterstock 24/24 The Friendly Beaches in the Freycinet National Park, TAS Shutterstock

It is also tempting those who want the Great Barrier Reef experience but not from the two main bases of brash Cairns and sanitised Port Douglas. The reef is only 20km away — this is about as close as it gets to the Australian mainland. It takes just 25 minutes in Ocean Safari’s twin-engined boat to find a sand cay surrounded by a rich underwater eco-system.

It’s not about the staghorn coral waving in the current. It’s not about the lurid parrotfish chomping. It’s not about Nemo hiding in an anemone. It’s not even about the harmless white-tipped reef shark gliding past. It’s about how it fits together. It may have been a nightmare for 18th-century sailors to navigate but it’s a dream to be lost in with a snorkel.

On our return, the boat pulls up on the beach. The only way back home is via a trail cut through the mangroves and cassowary-dependant, sunlight-hogging trees. The wood-cut jungle-chic bar at the end feels as tentatively borrowed from nature as it’s possible to imagine.

Details: Cape Tribulation

Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Heathrow to Cairns via Abu Dhabi and Brisbane from £948. The drive to Cape Tribulation takes three hours. The Daintree River Cruise Centre (daintreerivercruisecentre.com.au) runs one-hour wildlife-spotting cruises for £16. The Ocean Safari half-day reef (oceansafari.com.au) trip costs £83. Cape Tribulation Beach House (capetribbeach.com.au) has doubles from £91, room only.

australia.com