Rainforest

What makes a Rainforest? I'd always wondered what it took to be a "rainforest". Apparently the rules are:

• A minimum of 1300mm (1.3 meters, or about 5 feet) of rain each year
• A forest canopy - layers of trees/shrubs such that there are tall trees blocking out some of the light from lower levels
• A self-contained environment - dead trees/plants serve as a breeding ground from new vegetation

One of the coolest parts of our trip was a short trip up to Mossman Gorge and the Daintree rainforest! We drove North from Port Douglas about 20 miles to a little town called Mossman. Just 2-3K off the main road was a nice little parking area. A trail of about 4K total left from the parking area and walked you through some real-life rainforest.

Now it is the dry season up in Queensland, so it wasn't like steamy and humid as you might expect. Queensland gets it's rain about 4 months of the year.....December - March it apparently does nothing BUT rain. The rest of the year is much much drier. So it was a very nice cool dry walk. The plants and trees are very dramatic (see the pictures to the right). We were hoping to see some tree kangaroos but the only wildlife we saw were some sow/pigs, plenty of birds, and a snake. One of the coolest things up Queensland way, in the rainforests, and all over New South Wales as well are the fig trees! The things are MASSIVE and the roots grow out in a very unusual way. Very stunning plants. Here is a picture: