Bethany

Hello-<BR>My fiance and I are getting married in Australia next month and we are so excited to get to visit such a wonderful country on our honeymoon!! Anyway, we will be spending much of our time in the rainforest and GBR. We have almost all of our planning done except that we would like to do a Daintree River cruise both during the day and at night so that we can see all the great creatures that inhabit this area. Can anyone make a recommendation on a Daintree River cruise that you took, enjoyed and felt was informative. We would also like to disturb the area and creatures as little as possible so an eco tour would be ideal. Thank you in advance for you help!

ALF

We went on the Daintree 'River Train', which is a series of small boats attached to each other, sort of like a small train. The tour along the river was quite interesting, and the guide was very informative. We ended at a small dock where we walked a short boardwalk trail, and then lunched in a rustic enclosure. Saw lots of 'crocs, birds, amphibians, and plants.

Aussie

We wnt no a trip down the Daintree River last month. We drove to where the tours take off from (including the river train above.) we found we just took the next available departure. All operators seem to keep in contact with each other we saw the head of 1 croc in the trees on the shore line (just looked like a piece of wood.) that was it ! We did get great discriptions of the birds & trees. The owner/ guide was very interesting.<BR>The cost was $16.50. (aust.) per head & lasted for 1 hour.<BR>I have to admit for all the talk about this river I was very disappointed !

Bethany

Thanks for the replies. We read quite a bit about the river and all the wild life to see. One of the travel books talked about Dan Irby and his cruises so I tried to contact him. He must be out of business because I got no response. Shame too. According to what we read, he had a smaller boat that could cruise down some of the smaller tributaries and he offered night and day cruises to get the most opportunity to see the animals. Well, I guess we will just show up and see what we can see. I know we won't be disappointed though... Thanks again, Bethany

Carolynne

Hi there, I live in north Queensland and I must recommend a great Daintree River Cruise which operates a sunset cruise on a small tributary of the Daintree River. It is called Electric Boat Cruises. The contact number is 1800 686 103. The sundowner cruise costs $50 and includes boutique wines and hor d' oeuvres. If you just wanted to do a 1 hour cruise you could do th 5 pm cruise and that would cost $17AUD. Smaller boats are better, this one only takes 6 people.

Sunfish

A Daintree River Tour is the best chance of seeing wildlife than any other type of tour in Daintree/Port Douglas. David Armbrust's tour is also good for wildlife but he does not use the Daintree River. See: http://members.dodo.net.au/~chrisld/page.10html Here is a list of all 15 of the Daintree River tours and as the author says &quot;they are all good value&quot; but they are all different. You can see from this site who does what. To see the night wildlife (mammals) you might consider Wait-A-While and that means a trip to the tablelands because there is not much in the way of mammals at sea-level which is where the Daintree River tours operate.

Daff

Hi Bethany,

Dan Irby is definitely still in business. If you look at Daintree Village Tourism Assoc website at www.daintreevillage.asn.au (under &quot;Activities&quot you will find Dan's details as well as a number of other cruise operators. They are all well-run operations and offer different-length cruises on different parts of the Daintree River and also the Mossman River - Dan Irby, Chris Dahlberg and Peter Cooper (Mangrove Man Tours)in particular operate early-morning or evening cruises to suit more serious birdwatchers and nature-lovers and all are world-renowned experts.

Having said that, I gather you will be visiting Daintree in January/February? Please bear in mind that it will be the middle of our wet season (roughly December to March/April) so, although there will be sunny days, there are likely to be days of very heavy monsoon rain which can result in the rivers being in flood - I do know that Chris Dahlberg is going on holiday himself at the beginning of February.

But the wet season in itself is a wonderful experience - the rain comes down in torrents and it is actually pleasantly cool, although it tends to get rather steamy when the sun comes out (I'd recommend air-conditioned accommodation!). And the sight of all the creeks and waterfalls running, and everything looking lush and green - well, it's just magic and we 'locals' never tire of it!

Anyway, I do hope you have a wonderful honeymoon in this very special place!