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The Wet Tropics region is also home to about
a third of Australia's 315 mammal species -
as well as relatively common mammals like
the platypus and wallaby, the Wet Tropics is
home to 13 mammal species, which are found
nowhere else in the world. Some of the Wet
Tropics rainforest species have close
relatives in New Guinea and Southeast Asia.
Rainforest Aboriginal people are the
original owners of the Wet Tropics
rainforests with more than 20 Aboriginal
tribal groups having ongoing traditional
connections to land in and near the Wet
Tropics World Heritage Area.
To Rainforest Aboriginal people, the Wet
Tropics World Heritage Area is a series of
complex "living" cultural landscapes. This
means that natural features are interwoven
with Rainforest Aboriginal people's
religion, spirituality, economic use
(including food, medicines, tools) and
social and moral organisation. Story places
(natural features such as mountains, rivers,
waterfalls, swimming holes, trees) are parts
of the Wet Tropics landscape that are
important to Rainforest Aboriginal people as
they symbolise features that were created
during the ancestral creation period
(sometimes called the "Dreaming" or the
"Dreamtime").
Many eco-accredited tour operators will take
groups on day trips into the rainforest,
either the Cape Tribulation / Daintree Area or
the Kuranda / Atherton Tablelands Area,
explaining the complexity of the rainforest
eco-system. Night safaris, when the
rainforest really comes to life, are also
available.
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Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets
the World Heritage Listed Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park, is an area north of Daintree,
at the end of the bitumen. The Daintree
Cable Ferry provides access into the Cape
Tribulation area. This area is accessible by
conventional vehicles except during periods
of heavy rain when it is recommended access
by 4WD only be used. Travelling north of
Cape Tribulation on the coastline road to
Cooktown (Bloomfield Track) is for 4WD
vehicles only.
Access to the Tablelands is via a scenic 30
minute drive northwest of Cairns to Kuranda
or to the south access via the Gilles
Highway to Yungaburra or the Palmerston
Highway to Millaa Millaa, All roads link to
the towns of Malanda, Atherton, Herberton
and Mareeba and to Lake Tinaroo.
Kuranda is the aboriginal for 'village in
the rainforest'. There are three spectacular
ways to visit Kuranda - the Kuranda Scenic
Railway, the multi-award winning Skyrail
Rainforest Cableway and Kuranda Range Road.
Atherton is the "capital" of the lovely
Tropical Tablelands, a land of beautiful
lakes, waterfalls, rich red soil and
tropical rainforest. Tea, Coffee, vegetable
and tropical fruit crops (mango, lychee,
banana, rambutan, mangosteen etc), dairy
farming all feature in the local economy.
The area also has a number of natural
attractions such as the Curtain Fig Tree, Millaa Millaa Falls, crater lakes and
amazing rock formations, all of which are
easily accessed.
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Visit the Wet Tropics & Daintree Rainforest
and stay with us at
Mid City Luxury Suites
CENTRAL TO EVERYTHING . . . FOR BUSINESS OR
LEISURE
We welcome AAA TOURISM ASSOCIATION MEMBERS
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