On Wednesday I went for a day tour of a small part of the Daintree Rainforest in Queensland with tour company Billy Tea Tours. The day started with me getting picked up at 7am in Cairns and then driving north to pick up the rest of the tour group, a mix of nationalities and ages.

Our first proper stop was to catch a boat and take an hour-long cruise down the Daintree River. I think this was the best part of the tour as we saw the most wildlife here. This included three crocodiles (including one big one called Scarface), a brilliant blue kingfisher, three tree snakes, a Papuan frogmouth and other birds.

Whenever the boat stopped, the oppressive humidity slopped in and made everything uncomfortable. The bonus was we could get some photos (but I was glad after a while to get moving again). We met our bus driver at the river ferry on the other side and set off to a lookout.

The takeaway I got from the tour was that the rainforest was dinosaur country. It has three of the prehistoric tree types – conifers, cycads, and ferns – plus a lot else that more than qualifies the Daintree Rainforest as a world heritage site.

We took a walk along a boardwalk through the rainforest as the guide told us bits and pieces about the flora and fauna. One thing that really interested me was the purple fruits that he called the cassowary plum. Without the cassowary swallowing these fruits and stripping the flesh to reveal the seeds, the tree they grow on wouldn’t be able to survive. A great example of the cassowary as a keystone species.

Unfortunately, we didn’t see any cassowaries during this trip. Next time though.

We had lunch further up in the rainforest, where we also fed Agile and Swamp Wallabies. Very adorable. I, unfortunately, got into a conversation with a couple of 70-year-olds from Colorado who voted for Trump. I couldn’t get away fast enough. Considering this was also the day of the same-sex marriage survey results, I was already feeling pretty raw.

After lunch we headed up to Emmagen Creek. No crocodiles in this part of the river so we were allowed to go for a swim. The rain was starting to come in so it wasn’t as warm as expected but definitely not freezing. I was first one to get in, and a few others finally plucked up the courage to submerge themselves.

Meanwhile the guides set up tables of tropical fruit, damper and billy tea. The rain bucketed down on us for a while so rather than get dressed, I was standing around in my speedos eating mango, sour pop, black sapote, papaya and jackfruit. Couldn’t get any wetter so why not.

The rain stopped, we ate damper, warmed up with a cup of Daintree tea and then set off for a beach on Cape Tribulation. No swimming allowed as crocodiles swim all up and down the coast, but we watched tiny crabs pushing balls of sand out of chambers in the beach. I also got changed.

Drive back down we stopped at an icecream shop that makes different flavours depending on what’s in season. Today’s four-scoop selection included coconut, wattleseed, soursop and passionfruit. I probably didn’t need it but I had it anyway.

We zoomed back down the rainforest, caught the car ferry across and then continued down the coast, dropping people off as we went. I was home by 6.

If I ever go again, and I think Glen should come and see it too, I’d prefer to do one that includes more venturing into the rainforest (despite the snakes and the large tarantulas I know live in there) with the hope of seeing more wildlife. The tour I did was a good taste for now.