Australia’s Daintree Rainforest is the world’s oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforest, home to some of the most ancient flora and fauna on the planet. Sarah Reid goes on a dinosaur hunt.

It only takes five minutes to cross the Cairns and Great Barrier Reef region’s croc-inhabited Daintree River on the cable ferry. But as our minibus rumbles off the barge and into the Cape Tribulation section of the World Heritage-listed Daintree National Park, it feels like we’ve travelled a few (hundred) million years back in time.

The human eye can see more shades of green than any other colour. And this fun fact is put to the ultimate test in this swathe of coastal rainforest stretching from the Daintree River up to the Bloomfield River, around 70 kilometres to the north. Estimated to be some 180 million years old, the Daintree offers a window into the evolution of plant and animal life on Earth. Did I mention kangaroos live in trees here?

On my first trip to this next-level wilderness area near the resort town of Port Douglas as an independent traveller, I discovered that this window only reveals so much to an untrained eye. So I jumped at the chance to experience this ancient corner of Queensland with local guides as part of Intrepid’s small-group Australia Retreat: Queensland’s Daintree tour.