Back
Along the northeast coast of Queensland, Australia lies the ancient Daintree Rainforest, a swath of lush greenery commonly known as "the land that time forgot." It's the most primeval place in the world (at 135 million years) and contains no fewer than 13 different types of rainforest. So get ready to bust out the bug repellant and a camera – because you're about to experience the world as it looked when dinosaurs still roamed.
Idiot Fruit and the Ice Age
The Daintree Rainforest has survived a lot of the world's geographical upsets, from the age of the dinosaurs to the Ice Age. You definitely won't see a wooly mammoth while you're visiting during your locum tenens assignment, but you will see a multitude of very rare, exotic plants and animals. One example? The Idiot Fruit, which is considered to be one of the most primitive of flowering plants.
Captain Cook and Cape Tribulation
Can you imagine a place as beautiful as the convergence of a tropical rainforest and a sprawl of coral reef? Neither could we, until we heard about Cape Tribulation. Captain Cook once ran his boat into a reef during an exploration here – hence the very fitting name. Here the Daintree Rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef in a shocking mashup of deep green and turquoise blue. It's incredibly rare to see two such incredible locations at once – in fact, this is the only place in the world that you can see two UNESCO World Heritage sites at once. (Hiking AND scuba diving?! Count us in.)
If you've ever wanted to see what the world looked like before colonialism and cable TV, then the Daintree Rainforest is for you. You didn't think you'd be time traveling during your overseas opportunity, did you?