Adventures in Sydney: Jacaranda Hunting

Every year, I patiently await the bloom of the jacaranda trees. And every year, I am in awe of the beauty of the purple flowers. It brings me so much joy to spot them on my commute to and from work.

Daintree Rainforest ii

After Cape Tribulation, we hopped onto the boat for the river cruise. We managed to see one adult crocodile and a tiny, tiny baby crocodile. I had taken a photo of the baby croc, however even after zooming into the photo, I couldn't find it at all haha.

Daintree Rainforest i

The World Heritage listed Daintree Rainforest is the largest rainforest (1,200 square kilometres) in Australia. It is also the world's oldest rainforest (180 million years) and is believed to be the last remaining example of what Gondwanaland would have been like. Located next to the ocean, it is famously known as 'where the forest meets the sea'. The region is also home to a significant percentage of Australia's plant and animal species; there are species which cannot be found anywhere else.

Yes, Australia does have rainforests and does not simply consist of deserts (or the 'outback') despite common misconceptions.

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef and covers approximately 350,000 square kilometres off the coast of Queensland. It was added as a World Heritage Site in 1981. There are countless operators for reef day trips, ranging from absurdly cheap (for Australian standards) to mid-range. We went with Passion of Paradise, one of the few local operators in the market. One of our key considerations was that we didn't want to visit pontoon in the ocean.