Hidden Wonders in This Crystal Clear Rainforest Creek!

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]I don't really have a plan today. I'm just going to follow this rainforest creek and see where [music] it takes me.

[00:00:09]>> [music] >> Woo!

[00:00:20]Woo!

[00:00:23]You're not going to lie, that was a lot of fun.

[00:00:25]That's right. I'm on a river up in North Queensland in the rainforest. Crystal clear water. Today's all about exploring. Exploring the water, [music] finding new fish in this system, finding little bush bit of bush tucker. Wow, beautiful. Oh, there's fish fish right there. What's that?

[00:00:45]I feel absolutely blessed to be here on this creek today cuz unlike a lot of the land in Australia, this area evaded mass clearing by the first settlers. Why? Because the mountains around here are so steep and of such a densely packed terrain with so much rainforest on it that the land wasn't seen as being very suitable for agricultural purposes.

[00:01:13]Clearing mountains like this would have been an absolute mammoth task. So, a lot of it survived. And with it, the waterways also remained almost untouched.

[00:01:26]You see, without the dams and weirs that are built along a lot of water river systems around Australia, this stretch of river has none of that. Meaning, it is still connected to the to the salt water, to the oceans. Which means that the native fish, the dominant native fish species in this river, the jungle perch, has been able to survive and still thrive.

[00:01:50]Cuz unlike all its relatives further down south, the building of weirs and dams and destruction of habitat has stopped the jungle perch in those rivers down south from being able to breed it breed out in the salt water and then travel back up to the fresh water.

[00:02:07]Oh, look at this. We're in luck.

[00:02:10]This massive tree is falling over.

[00:02:12]And in doing so, it is presented to us with some beautiful bush tucker. Check it out, these blue round fruits right here. Blue quandong, a rainforest species. It's very common up here in the North Queensland rainforest. Growing along the east coast in rainforest areas from northern New South Wales all the way up to Cape York. Straight off the tree, they're very hard and unripe.

[00:02:39]So, instead of picking them, we're going to find some that have already fallen in the water.

[00:02:46]Right.

[00:02:47]No takers on the little grub.

[00:02:50]Yeah, just going to make it.

[00:02:53]Sweet. Oh, this is a log.

[00:02:56]Yeah, we'll be all right. Go straight over that.

[00:02:59]Go go go go go go go.

[00:03:01]Oh, no.

[00:03:03]Whoa.

[00:03:05]I'm stuck on the log. Good one. Good one, Mick.

[00:03:08]>> [laughter] >> Perfect. I think that's what I'm looking for.

[00:03:17]Mhm.

[00:03:18]That's a good one. First bit of bush tucker for today.

[00:03:21]Blue quandong. This one's fallen from the tree.

[00:03:25]Obviously, it's been softening up in the water.

[00:03:30]Mhm.

[00:03:32]I've waited for that one.

[00:03:33]Oh, now there's my kaya.

[00:03:35]Green flesh.

[00:03:37]Big seed on the inside.

[00:03:40]I really appreciate that right now.

[00:03:43]That's a good little bit of food.

[00:03:45]Got a little bit of a lemony tang to it.

[00:03:47]Pleasant taste. I like them.

[00:03:51]Keep moving.

[00:03:53]Wow.

[00:03:54]Awesome.

[00:03:56]Oh, yeah.

[00:03:57]Keep it straight. Rule number one, keep it straight always.

[00:04:02]Oh, nice.

[00:04:05]Oh, what a beautiful stretch.

[00:04:07]Wow.

[00:04:09]Wow, wow, she's really opened up now.

[00:04:13]What else can we find along here?

[00:04:24]Yeah, yeah.

[00:04:30]Oh, nice. What's that noise?

[00:04:33]Oh.

[00:04:35]Deep hole right there.

[00:04:42]Oh.

[00:04:44]Mate, this is adventure at its finest.

[00:04:50]Really wild now.

[00:04:52]Come on, come on, come on.

[00:04:54]There's a pool over here.

[00:04:57]A little split in the river.

[00:05:00]Sandy bottom.

[00:05:02]Oh, some fish.

[00:05:04]There's fish over there.

[00:05:05]Wonder what it is.

[00:05:21]Yeah, it's really shallow right here.

[00:05:22]I'm so amused by the nature here, by the trees, by the water, and the remote feel of this place.

[00:05:29]I'm not even too phased if I catch a fish right now.

[00:05:36]It's flowing pretty fast.

[00:05:38]I reckon in the next big pool, that'd be a good opportunity to catch something.

[00:05:47]Wow.

[00:05:52]Yeehaw. Yeehaw. Yeehaw.

[00:05:55]Oh, yes.

[00:05:58]This is great.

[00:06:00]Keep on going.

[00:06:08]This is where I like to spend my days.

[00:06:13]My senses are going off.

[00:06:15]So much to see.

[00:06:17]This place is unbelievable.

[00:06:23]You what? Some more rapids.

[00:06:29]Yeehaw.

[00:06:30]Oh, we just made that one. Oh, fishing rod. Oh, fishing rod's all right.

[00:06:38]Okay, we're good.

[00:06:39]Mhm, that's going to be really tight down there.

[00:06:42]Got to go the other way.

[00:06:45]I'm going to go this way. Going to go left.

[00:06:47]I'm going to go left.

[00:06:50]We're walking that. Come on, back in the water. Let's go. Let's go.

[00:06:56]Oh, big log.

[00:06:58]Big log. I hate those big logs.

[00:07:01]These big logs are so annoying. Oh, no.

[00:07:04]No. No. No. No. No. No.

[00:07:07]No. No. No.

[00:07:09]Oh, no.

[00:07:11]What?

[00:07:12]Yeah.

[00:07:13]Yeah, around the log. Around the log.

[00:07:17]Uh-oh.

[00:07:19]Too much water going in.

[00:07:22]Oh, my leg's stuck.

[00:07:25]Oh.

[00:07:30]Good on, Nick.

[00:07:34]Oh.

[00:07:36]I've got a lost.

[00:07:43]Oh, good one.

[00:07:45]There went my paddle.

[00:07:48]The river is a metal, so it's probably still sitting down there somewhere.

[00:07:55]Good one, Mick. Bloody good one.

[00:07:58]Silly, silly, silly.

[00:08:00]So bloody silly.

[00:08:06]I hope this is all dry in here cuz I've got batteries in there for my go for my camera thing for my camera.

[00:08:14]That was a bad idea.

[00:08:21]Well, all right, you bad dogs. I want to continue on foot.

[00:08:27]Going to go in stealth mode.

[00:08:29]I don't want the I don't want the fish to see me on the kayak.

[00:08:32]I think it spooks them too easily.

[00:08:34]I'm going on foot.

[00:08:36]All these palm trees along the river bank here, they're called Alexandra palms.

[00:08:41]Native Australian palm.

[00:08:43]They're very similar to another palm tree, almost identical in fact to one that you would have seen in my videos perhaps down south in northern New South Wales and southeast Queensland, which is called a bangalow palm. They're both in the same genus.

[00:08:58]They both magnificent palms and of course they have an edible heart.

[00:09:05]Well, oh yeah, this could be it. Not that deep, but it's a lot slower when spinner bait going out.

[00:09:15]Come on, jungle perch. I know you're in here somewhere hiding out. Let's try over here.

[00:09:24]There's a fish sitting right there. I'm going to get a bit bit of bread, chuck it right in front of him.

[00:09:30]Where has he gone?

[00:09:32]He's still there.

[00:09:34]Is he going for the bread?

[00:09:36]Yes, he went for the bread. Oh, this could be my chance to catch one of these guys. I'm just going to chuck a hook on with no sinker.

[00:09:48]Just a hook. Keep it as natural as possible.

[00:09:51]One of the smallest hooks that money can buy.

[00:09:54]In fact, I didn't even buy this one. I think someone gave it to me. All right, I hope he's still there.

[00:10:00]All right, here we go.

[00:10:03]We've got something. We've got We've got one.

[00:10:05]Oh, yeah.

[00:10:06]>> [sighs] >> Oh.

[00:10:08]There he is. Is that him?

[00:10:09]What do we get? What do we get?

[00:10:11]Well, check it out.

[00:10:13]It's a beautiful fish. Look at the dots on him. He's got red dots. He's got blue through him, bit of yellow.

[00:10:19]This one here is called a snakehead.

[00:10:21]And he's an absolutely beautiful native Australian fish.

[00:10:27]Oh, found in these fresh water systems up here.

[00:10:31]Not what I was expecting to catch right now.

[00:10:33]I'm going to chuck him back in the water.

[00:10:35]Wow, beautiful snakehead. Whoop.

[00:10:38]Wow.

[00:10:39]All right, I'm going to put you back in the water.

[00:10:41]Come on.

[00:10:42]It's all right.

[00:10:43]Get some water through your gills.

[00:10:46]All right.

[00:10:47]Go on, get out of here.

[00:10:49]Wow, see you later, mate. What a pleasant surprise. I did not expect to catch one of those here.

[00:10:54]I've only really caught those in one creek system, even further north from where I am today.

[00:11:01]Wow. All right, let's keep moving. We've got fish to catch.

[00:11:04]Through the jungle.

[00:11:06]Yeah.

[00:11:07]Wow.

[00:11:09]This is so awesome.

[00:11:11]Come on.

[00:11:13]Come on.

[00:11:15]I found their nest.

[00:11:18]Fish on. Fish on.

[00:11:19]Fish on.

[00:11:21]Fish on, Gary. We got one.

[00:11:23]Oh, what's this?

[00:11:25]Oh, we got a native fish.

[00:11:27]Oh, we got a sweetlip gruntah.

[00:11:31]All right.

[00:11:33]It's not even what I was trying to get.

[00:11:35]Of course, we've got a sleepy grunter.

[00:11:38]>> [snorts] >> Why's he got such fat lips?

[00:11:48]That's a really weird-looking sleepy grunter. Just definitely sleepy grunter.

[00:11:53]That's a legal-size sleepy grunter.

[00:11:56]But the lips, there's something seriously weird about those lips. I want to chuck this guy back.

[00:12:01]Um it's not the fish I've been trying to catch.

[00:12:06]It's a just weird sleepy grunter. I don't know what kind of deformity that is, but he's going back in.

[00:12:10]Mate.

[00:12:13]See you, buddy.

[00:12:15]On bread. Unbelievable.

[00:12:17]Unbelievable.

[00:12:19]All right. Let's go again.

[00:12:22]Third time lucky.

[00:12:24]Give me that fish.

[00:12:27]Oh.

[00:12:29]Fish on.

[00:12:30]Fish on.

[00:12:32]Oh, what's this?

[00:12:34]We got something We got something good.

[00:12:36]We got We got awesome.

[00:12:38]Beautiful.

[00:12:40]It's a small specimen.

[00:12:42]But it is the one and only jungle perch.

[00:12:47]Wow, beautiful. This is the fish that I was talking about up here in the rainforest of Far North Queensland.

[00:12:55]An absolutely beautiful small specimen.

[00:12:57]These guys grow to about half a meter.

[00:12:59]And yeah, basically in the southern parts of Queensland, they're they're they're pretty rare. They're not in the waterways they used to be because of the habitat destruction, the change of the habitat, the building of weirs and dams.

[00:13:11]But up here, they're still prolific.

[00:13:13]Except they do have one competitor up here, an invasive species. Now, back in the day, these guys, the jungle perch, used to be all the way down to northern New South Wales, even in the Richmond River there.

[00:13:25]And I believe in 2024 there was one caught in brackish water around Ballina.

[00:13:32]Which which is an awesome sign. Now, the important thing about these fish is that in order for them to breed, they need to be able to make it down to the salt water.

[00:13:40]If they can't get to the salt water, they can't breed. They breed in the salt water, and then they the juveniles travel all the way back up into the fresh water, where they spend most of their lives until they get big enough to breed again. So, this here is a legal-size fish, but I'm going to chuck him back.

[00:13:57]These days, that's what most anglers do up here. They chuck back the jungle perch. Now, they don't have a minimum size. They do have a maximum size.

[00:14:03]That's 35 cm. And the reason for that is because the bigger fish, the good breeding fish, we want them to stay alive. We want them to grow up big so they can make their way down the fresh water creeks and streams into the salt water, out to the sea, so they can breed, and so we can keep the stocks up.

[00:14:21]We can keep these fish alive. We can keep them healthy. We can keep these systems thriving with native jungle perch.

[00:14:33]>> [music] [music]