Day 58: Jungle Surfing and Tjapukai by Day

We started the day by returning to Tjapukai this time with the littles.  Tjapukai by day is a different beast than by night!  By day it’s totally kid friendly and focused.  We walked in and, after getting our faces painted, we headed over the bridge to a  to a didgeridoo demonstration that turns into a hands on try it for yourself workshop.  So fun!

Before we made it across the bridge we saw the last animal we’ve been wanting to see, TURTLES!! Heaps of them!  Swimming in a pool of fish!!  L was SO excited!!  We also saw a couple of eels which was an added bonus!

Then we went to a dance performance followed by spear throwing and boomerang throwing lessons.  Because we were booked to go jungle surfing we had to leave by noon so the last thing we had time to do was paint a story rock.  We could have easily stayed for twice as long as we did…it was amazing! 

The staff really makes a place, I’ve decided.   “Sea Turtle” was our favorite, he did the didgeridoo demonstration and taught us how to throw boomerangs. 

At one station, I think it was the spears, one of their staff asked how many kids I have.  I guess they were too hard to count , running around like they were.  When I said eight his eyes bugged out a bit and he said, “That’s a whole tribe!  How do you manage?”

I’d just learned a bunch about their culture so I asked, “How would you manage without your tribe?”

His eyebrows shot up, a thoughtful expression claimed his face and he said, “Is that really what it’s like?”

“It’s exactly what it’s like.  Didn’t you just call us a tribe?”

He nodded knowingly and said, “Thank you, I have learned something new today.”

It was the best ‘Holy Crap you have EIGHT kids!” conversation I’ve ever had.

We headed off then for the daintree rainforest to fly through the tree tops!  It was amazing!  In just the walk from the car park to the first platform we passed more species of plants than contained in all of north and south America and all of Europe.  It’s almost unfathomable the sheer numbers of plants there! 

What I didn’t know was that the Daintree is older than even the Amazon Rainforest! 

Surfing was fun!  The guides were great.   It was awesome!

Before we got in the cars to drive the almost 3 hours home, Cathy pulled out some sushi she’d picked up before the trip.  So sweet!!!  We remembered Fred for a minute, wished him a happy birthday then headed home.