From the tropical city of Cairns north through palm-fringed beaches and sugar cane fields to the oldest rainforest on Earth. The drive passes resort-town Port Douglas, crosses the crocodile-patrolled Daintree River by cable ferry, and ends where two World Heritage areas meet — the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.

Stops on This Tour (9)

1. 1
   Cairns Esplanade Lagoon The starting point — a free, lifeguarded saltwater pool on the Cairns foreshore because the ocean here has stingers and crocs, so locals built their own beach
2. 2
   Palm Cove The most refined beach village north of Cairns — a double row of melaleuca trees lines the esplanade, and the restaurants here outclass anything on the tourist strip
3. 3
   Rex Lookout A clifftop pullover on the Captain Cook Highway with sweeping views over the Coral Sea — paragliders launch from here, riding the sea breeze updrafts along the escarpment
4. 4
   Port Douglas — Macrossan Street The main street of the Daintree's base camp — a single strip of restaurants, dive shops, and boutiques where the reef meets the rainforest, with Dickson Inlet marina at one end
5. 5
   Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas A perfect crescent of sand fringed with coconut palms — patrolled in stinger season, and at low tide the beach extends so far you can barely see the waterline
6. 6
   Mossman Gorge A sacred Kuku Yalanji site where crystal-clear water rushes over enormous granite boulders through ancient rainforest — the Dreamtime stories here predate the pyramids
7. 7
   Daintree River Ferry Crossing The cable ferry that crosses the crocodile-inhabited Daintree River — the last stretch of sealed road before you enter the world's oldest continuously surviving rainforest
8. 8
   Daintree Discovery Centre An elevated boardwalk through the rainforest canopy with a 23-metre aerial walkway — audio guides narrate the 180-million-year-old ecosystem surrounding you on all sides
9. 9
   Cape Tribulation Beach Where the rainforest literally meets the reef — the only place on Earth where two UNESCO World Heritage areas grow side by side, named by Captain Cook after his ship ran aground nearby

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