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Daintree River

Sunset on the Daintree River during a cruise on Mangrove Adventures

The Daintree River runs through Far North Queensland past Daintree Village and meets the ocean about a 100 km. north of Cairns, and separates the popular tourism destination "The Daintree" from the rest of the world. Many feel like they are on an island north of the river.
This is the main entry point to the world famous tourism destination Cape Tribulation, unless you go for a big fourwheel drive adventure all the way around Cooktown.
After crossing the Daintree River on the ferry you definitely feel like you have enterered a different world. When you have driven up the Queensland Coast and have been looking at sugarcane on the roadside for the last 1000 or so kilometres, you are in for a pleasant change here; ancient rainforest!
The Daintree River is home to prolific wildlife, birdwatchers come from far places to observe the birds, and many large crocodiles live in this area.
Many boat tours operate on this river to give tourists the opportunity to explore this beautiful place, spot some birds, crocodiles or other wildlife, or try their luck at fishing.

The Daintree River Ferry operates from 6am to midnight every day, the cost is $12.- one way or $21.- return, $42.- for a pass of five return trips, more prices and details here.

The Daintree river (and Daintree Village) are both named after Richard Daintree, who has spent several years in Queensland as the Government geologist.

During 1874 - 1880 the Daintee river saw a lot of activity when there were many men cutting cedar in the Daintree area. The red cedar logs were floated down to the Daintree river mouth where they were loaded onto ships and taken away (some as far as England). When the red cedar started running out, some retired from their timber-cutting, to select farming land along the river. They were soon joined by other pioneers from the south who settled the upper reaches of the river.

 

Crocodiles in the Daintree River

A large saltwater crocodile on the muddy river bank

Although there are lots of animals, and especially spectacular bird life, to be found on the Daintree river, the majority of tourists are the most fascinated by the large saltwater crocodiles that are found here.
As soon as you arrive at the Daintree river you should be croc-wise. This means do not let your children go to the water's edge while you wait for the ferry, crocodiles can swim under water without a ripple on the surface and burst out with enough speed and power to take a horse.
You may not see crocodiles but they probably see you.

Don't let the above warnings get you too worried, since National Parks has started placing crocodile warning signs at the entry points to the beach people have started believing that crocodiles will drag you off the beach in broad daylight. This is definitely not the case, and it is not even in a crocodile's normal behaviour to attack people in the sea. There is a very comprehensive listing of crocodile attacks in Australia, and this shows you that crocodile attacks mainly occur at night, and/or in places where no sensible person would swim (see above warnings) and often people had been drinking as well. But there are a few basic rules to stick to:

* Never swim in rivers and creeks near the ocean, mangroves are favourite crocodile territory. Swim in the crystal clear creeks up from the road crossings.
* Never provoke, or harass crocodiles, even small ones. That's how Stupid Stefaan was bitten at Cape Tribulation.
* Keep away from any crocodile slide marks. Crocodiles may still be close by.
* Be more aware of crocodiles at night and during their breeding season, September to April.
* Never feed crocodiles - it is illegal and dangerous.
* Never prepare food, wash dishes or pursue any other activities near the water's edge or adjacent sloping banks.
* Never clean fish or discard fish scraps or bait near the water's edge or at boat ramps.

Fortunately there is a good choice of croc spotting tours available on the Daintree river so you can see these pre-historic beasts in safety, and have an expert guide spot them for you, they camouflage very well....

Daintree River Accommodation

There are a few accommodation options right by the Daintree river;

Daintree River Tours

When you are driving up along the Cook HIghway you will come to the above sign on the highway about 25km. north of Mossman. here you can either drive straight ahead to Daintree Village or turn right to the Daintree ferry crossing.
When you continue straight ahead you will start seeing crocodile tour booking offices on your right after a few kilometres, and then arrive in Daintree Village where there are more tour booking offices, they are a bit too numerous to mention here now but you will have no trouble finding a Daintree river tour there.
If you turn right at the above sign then after a few kilometres and only less than a kilometre before the ferry crossing you will arrive at a group of crocodile tour booking stalls where you can stop and hop on a boat.
There is a wide range of river tours available on the Daintree River, the most popular focussing on croc spotting, but also bird-watching, photography and fishing.

Most tours try to minimize their environmental impact and have boats with outboard motors are environmentally friendly using either 4-stroke, electric motors or high tech 2- stroke outboards.

Tours range from 1-4 hours and depart from 6 am through to 6 pm. Daintree River cruises are often included in Daintree day tours from Cairns or Port Douglas.

You can usually find yourself a crocodile tour at short notice here but bookings are required for the more specialised tours, such as the early morning Daintree birdwatching tours or Dan Irby's sunset tours.

Here are some of the Daintree river tours that you can book online to avoid disappointment on arrival;

The Daintree River Ferry

This history starts In 1954 when a steel punt was constructed, and used as a ferry, to cart timber trucks south from the timber mill located on the north side.

In 1958 the Douglas Shire Council built an outboard-driven ferry to service the people living north of the river. After several years it was replaced by a new privately-owned cable ferry.

The ferry used to operate only during daytime for many years, and it was common for locals that went shopping to buy an extra carton of beer, if you arrived at the river after closing time you had the choice of spending a night getting eaten alive by sandflies and mozzies, or tempt the ferryman out of his house and back on the ferry with a carton of beer!

Since the mid 1990's the ferry runs from 6 AM till midnight every day, and only stops on Xmas day for a break.
In 1996 no less than 1.5 metre of rain fall in the Daintree in 36 hours and the river rose many metres. The ferrycables broke and when the waters went down again the ferry was sitting high and dry on the riverbank, the cafe at the river had gone under water, and the sand on the roads was metres deep.

Warning sign for boats not to hit the Daintree electricity cable

The Daintree River is offcially the boundary of mains electricity, with one exception!
For years the unbelievable situation existed where Daintree residents had to survive with kerosine lamps, generators, and more recently solar power (which does not work well in a rainforest) while their Mayor Mike Berwick had a cable across the river for his electricity!
The denial of mains power for residents was not just his idea and had been Government policy for some time, everytime the provision of grid power was discussed Mike Berwick would always vote NO, denying his constituents what he himself enjoys and everyone else in the 21st century takes for granted.
Nowadays Mike has lost his job as Mayor but the situation persists where he enjoys grid power while the rest of the Daintree residents have to run generators and bear the sky high cost of this. More on this issue

 

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Daintree River Ferry fees

For any enquiries on the ferry phone (07) 4099 9444.
The prices below are current until 1 July 2011 when council will review them.

Motor Car & Utilities (private use)	one way two way	$12.00 $21.00
Buses 6 to 10 seats	one way two way	$13.00 $24.00
Buses 11 to 20 seats	one way two way	$24.00 $46.00
Buses 21+ seats	one way two way	$37.00 $72.00
Licensed Public Transport buses	one way two way	$7.00 $13.00
School Buses	one way two way	$6.00 $11.00
Passenger, Bicycles & Pedestrians	one way two way	$1.00 $2.00
Motor Bikes	one way two way	$5.00 $9.00
Trailers	one way two way	$4.00 $8.00
Machinery Not Carrying Primary Produce	one way two way	$8.00 $14.00
Machinery Carrying Primary Produce	one way two way	$4.00 $8.00
Multi Day Pass (5 return car / ute trips)		$42.00

Map of the Daintree River

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