Port Douglas - Daintree Village

A short drive north from Port Douglas is Daintree Village situated on the Daintree River.

This is another beautiful location in Far North Queensland, even when it is raining.

The crocodiles also like this area so warning signs are prominently displayed.

On our last visit to Daintree Village we took one of the tours exploring the river and looking for crocodiles.

Once the edge of the Daintree Rainforest before timber cutters removed many of the trees, this is now a farming area.

The cattle grazing in the paddocks are accompanied by cattle egrets.

The slope from the town to the river is steep as can be shown by these flood water markers.

On this trip we made two visits to Daintree Village. The first was in the morning on a showery day and the village was very quiet. The following week we visited early in the afternoon and there were more people around.

The Timber Gallery has displays relating to the history of the timber industry in the area as well as items for sale, however we had the impression that the stock was diminishing in quantity.

The Big Barramundi is one of the features of the village.

When visiting Daintree Village, a place to visit is Eliza's Gallery situated in a house opposite the Big Barramundi. On a previous visit we purchased some pottery but this time purchased glass jewellery made on the premises.

We had lunch at the Daintree Village Hotel, at the river end of Stewart Street, where we shared a prawn and avocado roll. We were about to sit down at a table overlooking a row of bushes with brightly coloured flowers when a Ulysses butterfly appeared. On all our visits to Far North Queensland this was the first time I had seen one in the wild.

These butterflies fly very quickly and are difficult to photograph and when they fold up their wings they appear brown.

The Ulysses butterfy was soon joined by a Cairns Birdwing - bright green wings when flying but green, yellow and brown wings when they are folded.

Later in the day, across the road, we also saw a large butterfly with brown wings with white markings.

While we were trying to photograph butterflies we met a man who was trying to photograph this sunbird which was also exploring the bushes and nearby trees. It didn't really want to stay still for photographs either.

Watching these butterflies and the sunbird was definitely one of the highlights of the holiday.