In Conversation With Hamish Haslop

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 rockface, is only a 30-minute walk away.

Then, there’s our prolific wildlife and birdlife – we’re talking hundreds of species. I like the Victoria’s riflebird, which lives in vine thickets and puts on a dazzling mating display.Marsupials roam our grounds, too, including the elusive Bennett’s tree kangaroo. With a sharp eye, and using the camouflage of the forest, you stand a good chance of seeing it.

What has been your best wildlife sighting here? Sir David Attenborough – what a remarkable species [laughs]. He filmed the finale

INSIDER TIP

“Have a drink in the 130-year-old Lion’s Den Hotel at the end of Mungumby’s driveway: it has a colorfulpast.”

of his series First Life at Mungumby. It starred the rare velvet worm, or peripatus, which I first saw when breaking open a rotting log when I was out exploring with some insect-loving guests. It squirts a kind of goo to ward off predators. It really opened my eyes to the smallerscalecreatures that you might otherwise overlook.

What about this region surprises people the most?

The sheer amount of things to do – and the history. Cooktown has witnessed not just Captain Cook, but also late 19th-century gold rushes, and it even acted as a US base in World War II. And, there’s a rich seam of Aboriginal 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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