Over, under, and through the rainforest

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Today we went back to the same busstop but instead of Tjapukai, we went on the Skyrail to Kuranda. Its a cable car that goes up over a mountain, a few meters above the rain-forest canopy. Its quite beautiful, and once in a while you can see butterflies or cockatoos. There is a stop with a rainforest boardwalk and a guided tour, which was great. We learned that one plant, called the "lawyer vine", has tiny hooks that the plant uses to climb up other plants. The aborigines used them for fishhooks. The guide said one of his mates ran into this vine while on a bike and got pulled right off the bike and needed 12 stitches. Another plant has hairy leaves with little silica spikes that apparently cause intense pain and swelling. Silmarien was fascinated to learn that if you use it as toilet paper in the woods, you'll be walking funny and screaming rude words in multiple languages. There were basket ferns and strangler figs and a tree that gets rid of vines by shedding its bark and many others. Until the guide pointed them out, they all looked the same to us.

There was a second stop at Barron Falls. Currently it is the dry season so not so much water, but it was still very beautiful. And we saw some sort of rainforest turkey -- black body and bright red head.

Then we got to Kuranda and did a round-about hike (a couple of miles) to get to town. When we got there, it turns out everything closes a half hour before the last train, so we had to scramble to find something to eat, and then get back to the train. Luckily we are going back to Kuranda in a couple of days, because there are a lot of other things to do and see there. We took a historic train back and got more views of waterfalls plus the insides of 15 tunnels.

We saw a flock of bats at dinner (sitting at the outdoor picnic table at our hostel)! I like bats a lot more when they are 50 feet above me!

Oops, back to going to bed at 8 tonight (just Jershon and Erin, Silmarien is up there reading "Kitten Cuddles" or some such book, and Art and I are down at the computers).

Tomorrow we're going to relax around town, check out the local thrift store and community food store, find a way to download photos (sorry about that!), and take Sil to the Muddy Children playground. And hopefully make Jershon a gluten-free Chocolate Mud Birthday cake, but don't tell!

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