INTERVIEW
In conversation with...
HAMISH HASLOP
Chasing waterfalls Hamish at Mungumby Lodge in the Greater Daintree Rainforest
Owner and manager of family-run Mungumby Lodge in far North Queensland, Hamish Haslop is passionate about the Greater Daintree Rainforest he calls home. But, he tells us, there’s much more to this region than its nature You’re originally from New Zealand. What drew you to Australia’s Cooktown region? I’m a diver and first came here around 30 years ago after I’d watched a Jacques Cousteau documentary about the Great Barrier Reef. Then I realized there was this UNESCO World Heritage rainforest alongside it. You’re at the apex of three ecosystems here: outback, rainforest and reef, all cradling different types of flora and fauna – it’s an incredible place. What’s special about Mungumby Lodge? We like to bring the outside in. We welcome you with tropical flowers and decorate the rooms with nuts, seeds, and natural objects from the rainforest. We’re also the door to several great self-guided walking trails. Hidden Falls, where pure spring
water cascades over a sheer of his series First Life at rockface, is only a 30-minute Mungumby. It starred the rare walk away. velvet worm, or peripatus, Then, there’s our prolific which I first saw when breaking wildlife and birdlife – we’re open a rotting log when I was talking hundreds of species. out exploring with some I like the Victoria’s riflebird, insect-loving guests. It squirts which lives in vine thickets a kind of goo to ward off and puts on a dazzling predators. It really opened mating display. my eyes to the smallerMarsupials roam INSIDER TIP scale creatures that our grounds, you might otherwise “Have a drink in the too, including overlook. 130-year-old Lion’s the elusive Den Hotel at the end of Bennett’s tree Mungumby’s driveway: What about this it has a colorful kangaroo. With region surprises past.” a sharp eye, and people the most? using the camouflage The sheer amount of of the forest, you stand a good things to do – and the history. chance of seeing it. Cooktown has witnessed not just Captain Cook, but also late What has been your best 19th-century gold rushes, and wildlife sighting here? it even acted as a US base in Sir David Attenborough World War II. And, there’s – what a remarkable species a rich seam of Aboriginal [laughs]. He filmed the finale history. You can get a feel for
it through the rock art in nearby Quinkan County. What’s the most striking piece of local Aboriginal rock art, in your opinion? I can’t name a single piece because all rock art is part of a gallery (a collection of different rocks with paintings) and everything is interwoven; each gallery tells the story of a community. The galleries in Quinkan County don’t have ropes or barriers and allow you up close to the art. And Aboriginal art isn’t limited to rock art. At Wujal Wujal, a Kuku-Yalanji community near Port Douglas, which you can visit from Mungumby, you’ll meet a number of artists who paint silks and scarves and create beautiful jewellery from rainforest materials.
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