Daintree Warnings and Dangers

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"Never smile at a crocodile"

If you do not want this to happen to you listen to the warnings. Never even put your hand in the water nor your elbow out over the side of the boat.

Would you believe there were people swimming on Cape Tribulation Beach. And they passed the warning sign to get there.

The guides will tell you a safe place to swim ...where the water is shallow and clean and sparkling...but make sure you know where this place is...Emmagen Creek.

And be sure you are fully aware of safe camping areas...ASK the locals.

If you think this is not for you....well read on...you could be very glad you were warned. Many folk do not heed the warnings...with dire results

These jellyfish have long tentacles and each tentacle has small barbs all over its surface. And it is the volume of toxin from myriads of barbs clinging to your skin which cause the problem.

The jellyfish are around mainly in the summer months...just when you feel like a swim...and on Cape Tribulation Beach just after you pass the crocodile warning sign!

And you find them much further down the Queensland Coast so check it out please.

Just so you know there are other poisonous jellyfish, stone fish (in river estuaries), and the blue ringed octopus often in salt water pools (so pretty) to be aware of.

At Cape Tribulation there is a First Aid Box with the vinegar to pour over the tentacles and the warning NOT to rub...think about why not to rub the barbs,.

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A triangular flat shape fish that lives in warm and tropical areas. It´s very common in Cape Tribulation area. They are venomous and produce severe penetrating injuries. They are not aggresive but stings occasionaly occur when a ray is accidentaly stepped on. So take special care when swimming into this waters. And be careful also with the Box Jellyfish.

Before you go running into that beautiful blue water, be sure to talk with a local to know if it is safe to or not. The reason why you might not want to get in, are the "stingers". These box jellyfish are lethal, and no you can't see them, as the most potent are the small, almost microscopic ones. A few stings, and you won't be swimming out of the water, you will be dragged out... and bagged to go home.

Amazingly enough, there are stinger suits that you can rent, and that cover all susceptible portions of your body. Believe it or not, but your face, hands, and feet are immune because of some substance that they produce that the rest of your body doesn't.

Stinger season runs from late October to early May, basically the best time to be in OZ. Sucks, but at least you are still alive...

You definitely do have to be very aware of Crocodiles in this area. The really only way to be safe is not to swim in ANY water cources, rivers, billabongs, ponds, etc.
And if on a cruise, make sure your hands always remain well inside the boat.

If you're driving into the Daintree region, make sure you have allowed enough time to see it, not just a quick visit of a couple of hours, like we made.
Ours was a particularly bad move, because we hadn't realized until we reached the Daintree river, that crossing it was the only way to get into Daintree National Park. And there is no bridge, just a continually running car ferry barge that holds about 15 cars at a time, and for the 4 minute ride it costs $20 return for your car! (that price probably includes hidden park entrance fees, but it seemed a lot for us, as we had so little time to spend across the bridge. For a whole day, it would have been much better value. )

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There are crocodiles hiding in the water, you can't see them, but don't forget they are there!!

This is one of the Daintree's nastier plants! It's called Wait-a-While simply because you'll be there for a bit trying to untangle yourself.

You`ve got the daintree river with a lot of crocodiles around.
You can jump on a tour doing some crocodile spotting. Daintree village has a number of small operators.