Going Happily Troppo: Wild Ginger

Wild Ginger, as our AirBnB was called, lies in its own patch of forest adjacent to a national park, an hour south of Cairns in Far North Queensland. We drove at night down the Bruce Highway, then turned up a narrow track, past a browsing pademelon, deep into the forest where the stunning house was bathed in candlelight and the glow of interior lamps. The whole of the front deck faces a steep, short slope down to a beautiful, tumbling creek with tropical vegetation framing the view of giant trees soaring into the sky.

Every detail in the house shows fine attention. Dark brown, polished wooden floors; tasteful decor and lighting; large glass doors and windows on two sides looking out to the garden planted with dozens of bromeliads and orchids and a Buddha popping his head out of the leaves. A perfect hammock chair is suspended above the deck - just add a light whispery breeze, a glass of chilled white wine, the chatter of parrots overhead, and the rushing flow of the water, to rest and dream in complete peace. On our first morning, we were wowed by the appearance of a Cassowary stepping briefly into view on the lawn, before heading off for some mangosteen snacking.

On a fine morning, we waded across the creek for a short walk following fresh, wild pig furrows along the trail to a much larger creek  where we were heartily welcomed by leeches keen to latch on from foliage around the rocky waters.

Higher up the creek beside the property, is a lovely rockpool, full of tame jungle perch, just right to swim in the gentle torrent and bob around in the white water.

Night time bugging proved full of discovery and fun. Undeterred by light rain showers, we rambled round the mangosteen trees, bromeliads, and lawn, to find all manner of creatures:

• a huge cordyceps parasitised moth with fungal whiskers eerily pointing into the night, forever anchored to the spot on a leaf on a mangosteen tree,
• a large centipede with pincers to be wary of
• lizards, frogs, dragonflies
• stick insects and crickets
• St Andrew's cross spiders, colourful jumpers, hoppers, flies, ants, bugs, wasps, cicadas
• butterflies and moths attracted to fallen jackfruit