The CREB track, beyond Daintree Village, is a rough and ready off-road challenge for highly experienced 4WD drivers (only) and is considered one of Australia’s most notorious 4WD tracks, traversing the Daintree World Heritage Rainforest, the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest in Australia, at around 1,200 square kilometres. 

The CREB (originally the service access trail for the old Cairns Regional Electricity Board) links the wild Daintree through Wujal Wujal country, crossing through the remote Burungu Aboriginal community, via precariously steep and winding terrain, up to the frontier town of Cooktown. 

We drove from a comparatively sedate Wonga Beach on an excellent sealed road doing 100kmh (with no traffic), reaching Daintree Village in no time at all. Here we took our accustomed stroll down to the murderous Daintree River (murderous because though still and serene, you know there are crocs in there somewhere) and where we spotted, there on the far bank, a solitary Jabiru (a Black-necked stork, and the only stork found in Australia). Next, we headed out of the village on the Upper Daintree Road crossing wooden river bridges and single-lane fords (not fortunately in flood) and continued through the rolling Dagmar Ranges, draped in low-lying cloud, and surprisingly populated with light brown cattle, to the end of the line – for us – but for some – the edge of the heart of darkness.