Daintree Rainforest - Travel with Ella Parlor

Did I get that right ? Rainforest ? No , Dane Dane tree rainforest in Australia , which I have never heard of before . So you're a pretty avid traveler , Ellen .

I took my first flight when I was seven years old , by myself , which a lot of people don't fly alone in their thirties , let alone at seven years old . My mother is a travel agent . My father was in the military , so very much an avid traveler , I will say .

Like ages 14 to 18 , I didn't want to travel , I was over it , had a little bit of bitterness about it , but I think we all kind of go through that . But I actually went to Australia by myself on my honeymoon , on the note of getting engaged in a previous engagement . Yeah , A different yeah , so this was yeah , this was a very . This was about eight .

It was , oh my gosh , nine years ago . Holy cow , yeah , nine years ago . So this was November 2015 . I had a wedding that didn't happen , my very sex in the city moment , and I went on the honeymoon by myself because , as an avid traveler , I wasn't going to let this expensive plane ticket go to waste .

I'm really proud of myself overall for that journey , but I traded in my ticket to go to Australia because I tried to pick a place that would be the least romantic possible so I didn't have to see a bunch of other couples on their honeymoons and I went to Sydney , australia , and I will say as a Californian I'm a California girl , grew up on the beach .

I travel 16 hours to get to Sydney and I land and I open my eyes and I look around and everybody looks American , everybody's English , and then I step into the ocean and I'm like I traveled 16 hours to get here . What ocean am I in , I asked him what ocean is this , sir ? What ocean are we in right now ? And he's like the Pacific .

And I'm like I traveled 16 hours to be in a place where everybody looks like they do at home , speaks like they do at home , with a bit with an accent , surf culture , same ocean Are you kidding me ? I was so annoyed , I was like this is not the cultural experience I was thinking . And so a friend says you can't be in Sydney .

I mean , sydney is beautiful , just like Southern California is beautiful , Right , but you don't travel that far to feel like you're at home . And so I ended up taking a fly up to Cairns , which is spelled C-A-I-R-N-S but it's pronounced Cairns like cans of soup . Yeah .

So I fly up to Cairns and I stay in an Airbnb and this is when the host says , oh , you want an experience that doesn't feel like home . I got you . And she actually was a retired travel guide , my Airbnb host , which was a blessing , that's awesome . And so she set me up for a tour at the Dane Tree Rainforest .

And while I will say , growing up in Southern California , you have a very hyper awareness of ecological impact because we are so hyper aware of protecting our mother earth and our oceans and all of that , but I would say that I'm not the most eco-friendly .

You know , outside of that , like I have a bit of awareness , I don't think of myself as the most eco-aware individual and I learned so much and it was such a humbling , just wild experience and I was like I think that it could be really interesting experience and I was like I think that it could be really interesting and I would encourage anybody who has the

means and the time to go . It will really put into perspective how small and insignificant we are . This , this beautiful ocean , and then also for for anyone who doesn't isn't aware , the Great Barrier Reef is also located outside of yeah , outside of Cairns . So if you go to Sydney .

I wanted to talk a little bit about Daintree , rainforest and maybe Nudie beach if we have time , which is not a nude beach , for the record how do you spell that one ? the nudie beach ? Nudie beach is spelled like nude n-u-d-e and then a y . Okay , named after a man , apparently the man who discovered it , or found it .

It was named nudie , that was his name , but it is not a nude beach , but if we get a chance . I would love to tell you about that as well okay

, funny .

I'm like this must be a nude beach , this must be a nude beach . Yeah , yeah , like , how long were you in the rainforest ? Is it just day trips or yes , it was a , it was a long .

What are your thoughts on paid tours when you go to a city like , how do you feel about that , like if you go to rome or somewhere ?

But if it's like very Western , I don't like doing tours personally , cause I just like just kind of go with the flow . But these , but the tours , the insiders , they just know so much . Right , some of that's lived there their whole entire life . You're not going to be able to figure that out , you know they'll tell you a hidden gem .

So , especially if you don't speak the language , I would definitely do a tour .

We were just discussing our opinions on guided tours because growing up , especially because I'm from California , I spent a lot of time in Las Vegas and they have a lot of guided tours . Like the brochures are in your face Come here , come here , try this tour , try this tour . And I've just , I am , I am conditioned to say no , thank you , leave me alone .

No , thank you , leave me alone . And I'd always done that . And so this was my first guided tour and I will say , of the few that I've done , because I've maybe done maybe four or five , because , again , I still have this apprehension against wasting money on something I can learn myself using Google .

You're right , when you have a local , the insider knowledge , the historical , they can call out certain things that Google just isn't going to know or have the wherewithal to have .

And I really enjoyed this guided tour and I don't know that it would have been the same experience had I just found it on a map or a brochure and tried to take myself First of all . I think you can get to the Daintree rainforest unless you know how to drive for there .

That's the type of local insider knowledge . I do think that a lot of the guided tours are a lot like I did it at the rome Coliseum . I could have googled that myself . I feel , um , but you know I , I understand it , um . So that's why I was curious Kristen , where do you stand with guided tours ?

I'd say I'm split , although I'm , I am more towards it , because then you get to learn , and so I think with our podcast it's been a lot of connecting with the locals so we get that insider knowledge . So it's not typically like a , an actual guided tour company , but I see the value . I mean , I would want to learn more like that .

When I was in Rome , it was one of my highlights was to be able to talk with the people and find that out , and that's why I love this podcast so much is because we talk to people who are actually living it and we really dive in deep , which is what a guided tour was .

And specifically , if you're in a very remote place , like I , would die if I couldn't eat , and I , you know , I work out a lot , so when I am hungry , I am hungry and I need to eat now . So you know , hence the reason I look like this , because I either showered and I didn't have time after my swim to get it all done .

Because I either showered and I didn't have time to , after my swim , to like get it all done . So but the rainforest , I mean the pictures look incredible and I was really excited to learn sort of you know this tour and what it is , and um , yeah .

I would love to get caught up to speed on you know , and so you guys talked about the , the rainforest we're just talking about , like , how to get there , how we got there so , or how I got there .

Who is inspired to visit this amazing place , I can't wait to go back . It's truly usually when I visit somewhere , I leave and I'm like all right , check the box , I'm ready to move on , unless I want to live there , which is totally different .

But this is somewhere where I want to take my family there , I want to take my friends there , because I think that from an existential perspective , it is so , so , very special . So I will say some of the facts , because I took this tour nine years ago are disputed on the internet .

So , for the sake of argument , everything I'm saying is going to be regurgitated from what I learned on the tour , and then I will flag anything that might be a little up for debate . But my understanding of Daintree when I went is that it is the oldest place on earth . It is the oldest standing place on earth .

It is verifiably older than the Amazon rainforest . It is verifiably over 180 million years old , which means that literal dinosaurs walked there and I mean , our earth is Earth , so it always existed that long .

You can't do long-term studying in the rainforest . You have people who set up shop to live there .

But the problem is the rainforest is so alive that even as you're walking through the trees have these beautiful dangling , almost like spider webs , and they touch you and grab you as you're walking through the rainforest and you can just brush them off like a spider web .

But if you stand there , put a post up there , build a temporary shelter there the rainforest will absorb it . Nothing can sustain , Not a metal pole , not a camera . You can't just set up a camera and have it record , because the rainforest will consume it . Um and so this is where it's different than like a california or anything else that's been there like .

This is what so there's no camping allowed huh , you can't there . Yeah , I mean , people try . There was a camper , there was a camp shut up , but they were shutting down shop because their their setup got was decaying , um , after however many days .

So it is such a moist , alive forest and and I mean it you're walking through and you feel like the trees are talking to you . There are over 400 birds , 400 birds species in this rainforest so it just gives you Truly , it's very akin to what you see in Avatar .

It's beyond , it's beyond , and that's why it's really hard even today to find a lot of footage of it . You have to go there to experience it in this beautiful , almost spiritual way . It is unlike other areas of earth , like the pyramids of Egypt , where you can photograph and get a concept .

You really have to go there to understand how tall the trees are , how alive everything is , all the noises , all the colors , the vibration . But there are not just 400 species of birds . There are insects and bugs and all of these amazing things that are just living freely and they're a part of the rainforest's ecological system .

So it's really , really interesting , because anything that tries to stay in that forest , that doesn't belong , disappears .

But what I will say is that we were on like we got the shallow end of the forest , if that makes sense , like we did not go too far deep . I think we walked maybe about a mile and a half in and a mile and a half out , so we did not really penetrate . You know how , how deep it can go when you talk about the indigenous people .

So the conversation about the indigenous of australia just honoring , like australian history , is a very hot topic in australia . In north america it's not as much of a hot topic because we've completely wiped out the indigenous population and kind of put them away . I don't say that to sound political , but I'm saying it's a very stark difference .

Um , in australia it's a lot more we'll your face , I guess , like this idea of the indigenous versus the Westerners or settlers , colonizers , whatever you want to call it . And again , I'm not saying that to be political , I'm just saying from a cultural perspective , as an American .

Again , we have an idea of an indigenous population in our nation , but they're not around , they're not on our streets begging for food the way that it is in Australia . And so the indigenous people of the Daintree rainforest it's .

I don't know the full studies of them and I wouldn't be equipped to like fully talk about them , but what I will say is , actively , there are indigenous people who live in the rainforest . Um , they are of a tribe that is called the Kuku Yanali . I might be saying that correctly

, um , but they have been there for over 50,000 years and they are a part of the rainforest stories . As far as safety or not , I will say , like , if you're with a guided tour guide , they probably have .

Yeah , I , I again , I don't think you can even go by yourself if you try , um , but if you could , right , like , these are things to be really considerate of of , because this is much bigger than you , this is much bigger than like oh , this is much bigger than like oh , I have some dollars and I want to go visit this really amazing rainforest .

I also think , in some ways , it's kind of a best kept secret to prevent any type of hostility or confusion or cultural clashes . So I don't fully understand the indigenous population of the rainforest , but what I can say is it's really hard for us to study the rainforest , including the indigenous people that currently inhabit it .

That's what I was told oh wow , that's very interesting Say like how big it is you said you're just on the edge . We were just on the edge . Um , let me look it up , cause I forgot how big it is . To be honest , I totally forgot .

Because it's so dark and dense when you're in there , I mean it's beautiful , the the sunlight comes in so you can see the birds , you can hear so many amazing things and spiders , and it's so incredible . But then what we did was the trail that we took brought us to the beach , and so you land on the beach .

I mean , this is a forest that , as you said , is sitting on the Cape Tribulation Beach , and so what we ended up doing ?

Because they gave us the option that we can either take the Jeep with them back , but when you get to the beach , like basically , you're spit out from the rainforest and you're on the beach , you can hitch a ride with an Uber , which is what we decided to do Everyone else hopped back in the Jeep .

It was just my girlfriend and I that were like , we'll stay on this beach , we're not scared . And so it was just her and I on Cape Tribulation , by ourselves , on this beautiful beach , with the forest , you know , as our backdrop , but again , bearing in mind , we were , we were on the periphery . We weren't like super deep into it .

I'm sure there are ways and you have to work with the local rangers or whatever it may be , but we were just there for a quick day tour . Cape Tribulation is kind of like the entire beach .

It's like saying Southern California coast , if you will , and then there are these little beaches in between , so you have like the Wonga Beach and the Thornton Beach and Imogen Beach , so you have these other beaches like within it , almost like what we have in Southern California right , where it's like yeah , there's Huntington , but then there's also sunset and seal

and you know . So we have the beaches within the beach . My understanding , cause I was using Google maps to figure out where we were too , cause I didn't fully understand where we were . Um , it was just good .

I mean , when he said to us you know there , you're not going to see them , but they can see you , like that sends a shiver down your spine because you're wondering am I welcome here , am I going to be safe , am I ? You know , your head starts to go because again , it's such , it's such like meow wolf .

You know that there's so something so much bigger than you happening , like you feel so small and so insignificant in the sense of you're like oh , dinosaurs literally stepped here , like actually lived here . They've discovered dinosaur bones here and we're feeding off of this very vegetation , right and just for anyone that doesn't know what Meow Wolf is .

And then just to get a little perspective , like what is 460 square miles , like I , I can't like figure out what that is , you know . So I looked Disney World is 43 square miles , so it's 10 times as big as Disney World .

La County , which you ladies know is la county , is 4 000 square miles and los angeles , proper city , is 468 square miles , so that's how I love that , thank you interesting . So there's probably a lot more to explore than than a day trip , so you probably could spend , but if you did multiple days , you'd go in and out , in and out probably .

So when we see a lot of these beautiful because I have a few friends who've filmed for nat geo , national geographic- when you see these beautiful footages of nat geo . That is anywhere from 18 months to 5 , 10 years of footage . One month of footage really isn't sufficient , especially from an ecological standpoint . So they have people who come in set up shop .

They're mostly focused on one species within the forest , not the whole forest as itself . It's just so a mass that it's kind of I don't want to say impossible , but again you're covered in , in in just a few hours . You're covered with these like they almost look silver , like , um , they're like , uh truly like a spider web .

But then they have these little sticky things that are like tiny sticky hands that just stick all over you , because already the four is just saying , saying welcome , you're here now and you're a part of me , so , um , you just really do get absorbed into the rainforest what are the trees , the , what are they uh called , like the species ?

um , let me see , I'm gonna look that up because I don't remember exactly what that is called . I will say that they also have , because there are thousands of species in this forest . They have , um , there's a dinosaur that is alive there . Um , it's called the green dinosaur and I don't believe it exists anywhere else on the planet .

Naturally , the green dinosaur sorry , that's the one it was the green dinosaur is the tree , sorry okay , okay , yeah , yeah , so they have the ribbon tree fan palm . I'm trying to find the one . Let me see . Oh , the strangler . That's called the strangler of course . How could I forget ?

Yes , oh yeah , the strangler tree , if that gives you an idea of what it does when you're walking so you don't want to sit still too long , huh ? It's cool , I mean , and again , how poetic is that ? Don't sit still too long or you will die . I mean , i's like it sounds really awful to say it that way , but isn't that a metaphor for life ?

We are not meant to stay stagnant .

But I think just beyond that , like remove religion from the scenario , because I can almost guarantee that my religion doesn't match the religion of the indigenous people who habitate this Daintree forest . But the fact that you can just really think , wow , this is so much bigger and older than him .

We think we have an idea of dinosaurs because we grew up going to museums and seeing the bones . But when you're in a space that is tech free and I mean truly tech free , I mean , besides the devices on yourself , it's just a different type of it's . It's very , very awe inspiring .

, you know , is really , and it's so dark . I was so surprised because it was so hot and blue skies but dark and there were just like all these macaws flying all over the place and , uh , monkeys swinging from the trees . And it was pretty amazing . I was curious how , when did you go ? And I don't know if you spoke about this already .

Um , what was the weather like ? Was it humid ? Um , what's the best time ? Best time to go , you know to where you went .

That said , they told us to pack a sweater , which I thought was kind of crazy because I'm like a sweater . It's daytime in the summer and it's hot and humid , but because the forest is so dense , you don't get the same humidity or light or warmth from the sun . So you have this cold chill when you're walking through .

And that's where I say like it's almost like when you're walking into an ac room , but logically , you're like well , of course it's cooler in this room than outside because there's an air conditioning running , but this , this , if you can imagine , you know , walking from a hot space into a cooler space , because the trees just kind of encompass you , it's very

interesting . So , yeah , we , we brought sweaters , light , light sweaters , nothing , nothing too heavy . You don't need a parka , but it is the . The weather definitely changes when you get closer to the forest .

And that's pretty probably close to the equator right , so it's probably warm all year around , I would think , as great as my geography is , I guess Australia always throws me off because it was so much closer to exactly Bali and China than I really envisioned in my head . And as far as the equator goes , I don't really understand .

They don't have snow , tropical icebergs . I remember getting that speech from when I was scuba . I'm a scuba diver , so of course you are nice . Yes , um , of course , diving the great barrier reef , which is , for anyone who doesn't know , um christian . We had said earlier , the great barrier reef is up north , where kansas , where the daintry rainforest is .

It's not near sydney at all , it's about a three hour flight away . They were like you don't have to worry about our tropical icebergs , like they don't have . I guess they've never had an iceberg out in their oceans , so it probably does stay , does stay warm , but close to the equator , I mean , I don't . I guess that's just relative to what we consider close .

It's not on the equator , right .

And then you have to also understand there's a lot more um , desert and plain and and like less , we'll say commercialized stuff . But so , yeah , you're most likely going to take a flight and it was a very rough , bumpy flight . It was the most . It was the oldest , scariest plane I'd ever been on . I will say that .

But I also booked it last minute because , like I said , I went to Sydney and I was like this feels too much like California , get me out of here . So it was like a whatever cheap last minute flight . Maybe there are nicer options , but I took tiger air and never heard of that airline and the .

I would not be surprised if that plane was from the 1970s Like . It was a very rickety ride for everybody .

She had to drive us because the Uber wouldn't take us to the spot where we're meeting . So where we met for the tour was not at the Daintree Forest , it's we're meeting at another area , but Uber wouldn't go that far . I don't remember exactly where we were meeting for that .

But again , if you're looking for a tour , like , they will give you all that information of what you need . So renting a car might've been prudent , but luckily my Airbnb driver did come , come clutch and was able to give give us a ride .

Um , so , like there are so many ways to get to the great barrier reef , if that's what you're interested in , I will say , um , I do want to tell you about nudie beach only because , again , it's just a special gem and it's so hard to get to that .

Okay , it's one of those places in the world where you're like , not too many people have been here it's , and if you can make it happen , I would be disappointed to know I went all the way to cane cans and then didn't hear about nudie beach and didn can make it happen .

I would be disappointed to know I went all the way to Cairns and then didn't hear about Nudie Beach and didn't make it to Nudie Beach because it's like you've already gone that far . Just go the extra couple miles . And this is where we talked about guided tours earlier .

I'm a big proponent of staying in Airbnbs or VRBOs , verbos , because when you stay in an Airbnb or a verbo , compared to a hotel , you have a local who is invested in your enjoyment of the trip . Because there's this mutual I'm going to rate you , you're going to rate me . We're in a mutual partnership here .

So in my experience , I've had overwhelmingly positive experiences . But they want you to have a good time and they're happy to help you with whatever you're trying to do . And it's a local . They're also going to keep a closer eye on you .

As a female myself who travels alone a lot , they're going to keep a closer eye on you than a hotel who doesn't know who's coming in and out , like my Airbnb . I've had Airbnb hosts like text me and say hey , like , not your mom just checking that you're okay , cause it's midnight , you're not home yet , right ?

Like those type of extra rides , no , but I'll say that I will say like hey , if I'm not home by midnight , check-in . But like , because , again , I'm a female alone in a country and I just need to be vigilant about my safety , right .

So I'm a big proponent of Airbnbs or VRBOs , like renting from locals , but a big part of that is because they will know the like secret stuff . So Nudie Beach was one of those secret spots . To get to Nudie Beach is quite the trek . So you got to . You know you fly into Sydney . If you're coming from the States , take another flight into Cairns .

Then from there you're going to hop on a big ship which will take you , uh , by the great barrier reef , right , because that's where you want to go . The great barrier reef is about an hour off the shore , so it's an hour cruise .

So you take like a big ship , um , towards fitzroy island , which is a mid-sized island , um , smaller than catalina island for anyone who's familiar with california . From there you go to fitzroy island and from fitzroy island you take a little dinghy boat to nudie beach .

Nudie beach is not a nude beach , but if you wanted to get nude you totally could , because it's a small , private , desolate island that just is really , you know , difficult to get to , in the sense of how much you've got to travel to get there . Locals will go there for , like , a quick lunch break just to tan on the reef .

So the beach is white , white white because when the Great Barrier Reef dies and breaks off , that reef , as we know , turns white right . So it goes from pink a coral to then white and washes and washes up .

I'll actually send you a photo , because it's probably the photo was so beautiful that my friend took of me that my , my mom blew it up and hung it in her living room . No one knew it was me in the photo , but it just looks like a real . It's a really incredible scene , so I'll send that to you if you want to post it for for your listeners .

It's just again . You're in a space where you turn around , do a 360 . There is no one else , nothing but ocean . So if you look up nudity on the map , it is like the middle of the ocean just yeah , so far away . Climb up to see the 360 uh , there's , there are rocks , there are these big rocks , yeah , and you can climb up and it's just ocean .

Okay , you'll see a little bit of Fitzroy Island , like um , you'll see a little bit of Fitzroy Island , but yeah , it's just ocean okay it's so and I just I love how big like the world is so small in so many ways , but it's still so big . It's so big and we're the small one .

What I love is that I've been so blessed that I've been able to find a career that allows me to travel and visit the world , and so I'm really grateful for that . But what I want to do is empower more people , women , everyone to just think outside of their own little world , whatever that might be .

Whether it's the city you live in , the town you live in , the state you live in the country you live in , we are never going to be peaceful , kind people to each other .

It's through traveling and learning others , like whatever other might look for you , someone who doesn't look like you , who doesn't eat like you , who doesn't speak the same language as you do . This is where our compassion is deepened , and I think we get so self-absorbed . Because we live a world in our own four walls , with our family .

We think the world revolves around us , and when we travel and extend ourselves into other spaces , we can realize there's so much more happening in this world . I just put it in the chat for you , that is beautiful , so yeah , my book Looks really amazing .

that's great yeah so we'll post that if you're okay with that , or yeah , of course , of course it's one of my favorite photos , just because it's so .

So that could be from an operational standpoint , sales standpoint or marketing . Those are the three verticals where I'm the strongest .

So , working with various CEOs or founders who are trying to figure out where the bottlenecks are in their business , helping with team morale if , like , the team is struggling there , giving some strategies and tactics on proper marketing , because I've had I've worked for a multi-billion dollar company , so I've had really big million dollar marketing budgets and what

happens is , with a lot of smaller , medium-sized businesses , they're spending money where they don't realize . Like that's not how you should be spending and allocating your budget .

So , with my big experience of like look , when I worked for a $5 billion company , we weren't spending this much money on social media , neither should you being able to have those kind of like real talks about effective marketing , because marketing is such an elusive concept and it's so necessary , especially from a digital standpoint today .

It's a great way to build communities and a great way to build your network and get more clients , but you want to make sure that you're doing it in an effective way where you're not losing a ton of profits because you're getting caught up in whatever the hot TikTok trend is of the day .

So really offering like effective tactical ways to market it's beyond like a digital ad . It's going to be a lot of relationship building , making sure you're in the right room , making sure that you have the right relationships , and so my book is a lot less expensive than my services .

So I wrote the book really to help smaller business owners kind of have an idea of how big business works and thinks in terms of marketing . I've worked with a lot of celebrities , sports teams , influencers , things like that , and so a lot of people have sports teams , influencers , things like that , and so a lot of people have asked questions about my career .

So I was like , let me just write a book . I wrote the book from a hospital bed , which is also in the book , so that's kind of like the yeah you found the silver lining . Yeah , well , I had . I had time to think about my life and the meaning of it , so I was like , let me just write this book now while I have the time .

So it's been a really great project . It landed on several bestseller lists and it's been a really interesting , fun thing . But , yeah , if you just go to ellaparlorcom , it's going to have all the things . And if anybody does want to work with me , I'm always happy to help and empower smaller business owners . That's what I'm hoping to do .

I really want to help empower people to fill their purpose and feel good about whatever .

Their whole thing is to get consultants and leave a train consultant Some are volunteers and some are , like paid but to get them to learn these skills , to go in and help all these small businesses like locally any you know hairdressers , car shops , etc . So many like let's keep the small business world alive .

If you enjoyed the podcast , can you please take a second and do a quick follow of the show and rate us in your podcast app , and if you have a minute , we would really appreciate a review . Following and rating is the best way to support us . If you're on Instagram , let's connect . We're at where next podcast ? Thanks again , thank you .