Kuranda

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Today we took a road trip to Kurnada about a 45 minute drive up into the mountains inland from Cairns. We stopped at Rainforest Station Wildlife Park. We saw dingos, koalas, kangaroos, and wallabys. The scariest animal was a 5m croc called Jack-The-Ripper so named because he killed his last 12 mates, needless to say he has his own cage! I was wondering why it took them so long to separate him?

Kuranda is a tourist town with many shops along the main street and a weekend market . This is where you can catch a train or a tram down the mountainside. The train was not running due to a mudslide. We did hike down Barren River Falls Park to the lookout. This 1.3 km return walk is excellent as it takes you through the rainforest canopy on a suspended walkway. The descent is very gradual and at the end you get a great view of the falls.

We went to Mareeba next which is a 1/2 hour drive southwest onto the Tablelands. Mareeba's population is small unless you count the number of termites that inhabit the red mud mounds found everywhere along the arid landscape. In Mareeba we visited a coffee plantation called Coffee Works where we learned all about coffee production. After all the growing, harvesting, processing, roasting, grinding, and packaging, each tree produces only 1 KG of coffee per year. It is amazing that coffee is so affordable .

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Photos

View from highway up to Kuranda
That is the Pacific Ocean in the background.

Barren Falls
I hear it is quite the sight after the heavy rains

Rainforest Station
Jack The Ripper

Rainforest Station
Andreas and roo

Rainforest Station
Koala