Ngana Julaymba Dungay Tour

A Walkabout Tours guide picked us up at our lodging for the NGANA JULAYMBA DUNGAY: We All Go Daintree Tour.  The aim of this tour was to spend the day (half day in our case) with a local Aboriginal tour guide, learning about culturally significant areas and the relationships the Kuku Yalanji still have with their land. 

We learned about the environment, different bush foods and medicines. We also sampled some seasonal bush tucker while learning about the history, culture and traditions of the Australian Aboriginal people of this area.

If you are ever by Cairns, Queensland, Australia, I recommend taking a tour from them.  https://www.walkaboutadventures.com.au/index.html

We were the first to board the bus.  I thought it might be annoying to have to go to all the other lodging places to pick up tourists but our guide, Aaron, showed us interesting stuff along the way.  First was these trees full of bats.  They are flying fox bats which eat fruit.

There are over 60 species of flying fox bats, four of which can be found in Queensland but don't ask me to specify which species these are.  They are a protected mammal that play an important role in dispersing seeds and pollinating flowering plants and are crucial to keeping native forests healthy.

This photo shows what a flying fox can look like up close.  

We made three more stops to pick up passengers but I think we only had one other couple on board when we made a stop to check out the cheese fruit. Its real name is noni but it's also known as "vomit fruit" due to its unpleasant smell.  Yep, I took a whiff and my stomach twitched.  Aaron wouldn't even touch it but claimed that Aboriginals prized it for curing high cholesterol levels.  Drink the juice from the fruit once and never have high cholesterol again. 

Once we had everyone on board, we headed to Wonga Beach where we learned how to throw a spear before heading out to search for black crabs.  Only aboriginals are allowed to spear fish here but this tour company, since it owned and operated by aboriginals, is allowed to bring non-natives fishing.  None of us caught a black crab.  Sad news for Aaron because he wanted to take one home to eat. 

The only crabs I saw was this little 5" speciman.  He wasn't too happy with us.  

Our next stop was Mossman Gorge which is a part of Daintree National Park and is part of the traditional homeland of the indigenous Kuku Yalanji people (Goo-goo Ya-lan-gee).

People can do self-guided walking tours through the park but, from what I could tell, the majority came to get into the cool water of Mossman River. 

The walkway was full of people but our guide managed to point out some interesting things, like the huge golden orb spider that had spun a web in the foliage alongside the walkway. 

It was hard getting a photo without people and I was never successful.  This is my first attempt at erasing people from a photo.   Double-click to enlarge to see if you can find the spot where people were standing.  Ok, it's pretty obvious.

There were several information boards along the path but many were unreadable due to shadow or bird droppings. 

The Mossman River

Suspension bridge.

Aaron watching over us as some dipped their toes, or more, into the water.  He said he and the owner were the only two people still remaining in the company after Covid struck.