You can rent a four-wheel-drive and explore on your own, but you won’t understand much about what you are seeing unless you have a guide. Most companies basically cover the same territory and sights; they include a 1-hour Daintree Accommodation River cruise to spot crocs, a visit to the Marrdja Botanical Walk, a stroll along an isolated beach, lunch at a pretty spot somewhere in the forest, and a visit to Mossman Gorge. Some tours also go to the picturesque Bloomfield Falls in Cape Tribulation National Park. Expect to pay about A$140 (US$126/£63) per adult and about A$95 (US$86/£43) per child. Trips that include Bloomfield Falls cost more. A company that provides an excellent, gently adventurous alternative is Pete Baxendell’s Heritage & Interpretive Tours (tel. 07/4098 7897; www.nqhit.com.au). On a daylong bushwalk into a tract of privately owned rainforest with Pete, a naturalist and professional tour guide, you taste green ants (be brave — it’s quite an experience) and other native “bush tucker,” discover how to rustle up a toothbrush from a shrub if you forgot to pack yours, learn about bush medicine and the wildlife around you, and clamber up a stream to a waterfall. He takes a maximum of six people at a time. Lunch and Port Douglas pickups are included in the price of A$130 (US$117/£59) per person. Pickups from Cairns and the northern beaches can be organized through BTS Tours for an extra cost. Walks run Tuesday and Saturday, leaving Port at 8:30am.
