A huntsman spider, as big as any I鈥檝e seen, casts a shadow across my bathroom in Far North Queensland鈥檚 Heritage Lodge. It鈥檚 clinging to a wall above the shower I鈥檝e just stepped out of. I pray that it will stay there, but what if it doesn鈥檛? What if it makes a dash for the gap beneath the door to my bedroom during the night? What if it tickles my ears while I鈥檓 asleep?
I鈥檓 being unnecessary paranoid, I know. It鈥檚 just a huntsman, after all. But I also know that dangers lurk in the Daintree Rainforest.
鈥淭his is the most ancient rainforest in the world,鈥 says Angie Hewett, my tour host. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also the most toxic 鈥 the kind of landscape you want to look at but not touch.鈥
Angie, and husband Neil, have hosted Daintree Rainforest tours on their 67-hectare Cooper Creek Wilderness property for 27 years. As we follow her through their backyard wilderness, she points out plants to avoid rubbing up against. There are wait-a-whiles, a climbing palm with sharp hooks that tear into bare skin, and stinging trees laced with poisons that can irritate for months. But despite the prickly, annoying hindrances, it鈥檚 cassowaries that we鈥檙e primarily here to see. Specifically, southern cassowaries. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e what we call 鈥榢eystone vectors鈥. They鈥檙e vital for the health of the rainforest,鈥 says Angie.