Scenery and Wildlife

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Tuesday was the day that Vlad and I had booked a helicopter tour of the Great Barrier Reef, but due to weather conditions, our flight was cancelled. We settled, instead for a scenic tour up to Kuranda. Amanda had joined us in Cairns, so the three of us set off shortly before noon.

We rode the Skyrail up to Kuranda. It's basically just a gondola that rides overtop of the treeline, so you are looking down at the rainforest andhave some spectacular views of the countryside, and the coast in the distance. The ride is about 40 minutes in total, but there are 2 stations along the way that you can stop at, so we did. At the first station, we did a guided walk through some of the rainforest, and the guide explained a lot of the different trees and how the rainforest ecosystem works. The second stop was a lookout to Byron Falls, a huge cliff/waterfall, and they have posterboards up explaining that they used to transport people across the falls using a very rickety-looking flying fox.

Kuranda itself is a town built completely as something for do once tourists get to the end of the Skyrail. There are markets and souvenir stores, butterfly gardens and bug exhibits, and quite a few cafes and shops lining the main (and possible only) street in town. The interesting part about this town, is that all the shops close at the exact time that the last train leaves town.

So, come 3:30 we hopped on the Kuranda Scenic SteamTrain, and took the scenic ride down the other side of the gorge. Again, the ride was very scenic, with rainforest views, a few waterfalls, views all the way to the coast, and the interesting tidbits played over the speaker explaining the "early days" of this area.

When we got back to our resort, we had about 15 minutes to get ready for our next event: Aussie BBQ and Night Zoo. We went to a zoo where we had dinner and toured the zoo in order to observe the nocturnal animals. Oh, and did I mention that it was an open bar event? Well, Vlad was intent to get his money's worth, and drank about a pitcher of beer before we were even done dinner. The highlight of my day was when the guide announced we would be starting the zoo tour now and that there would be no dunnies (restrooms) along the way. Now, everyone knows that Vlad has a bladder that is roughly the size of a walnut, and I couldn't help but laugh at the look of horror on his face when he realized that an entire pitcher of beer would soon be making its way to that tiny bladder.

At the zoo we saw possum, lizard, owls, koalas, and a huge 5m long crocodile, and one very adorable wombat. The last stop on the zoo tour was in the Kanagaroo enclosure, where we got to feed them, while an "authentic" Aussie swaggie made us billy tea and damper. The evening was capped off with some good wholesome Australian music and dance. We learned some of their traditional folk songs, like "G'Day, G'Day", "Gimme a house among the gum trees", and of course, Waltzing Matilda. Lucky for Amanda, Vlad and I were able to retain about 1 verse from each song, and sing that one verse repeatedly over the next couple days until she got so annoyed with us that she sent us home. Some of the songs even have dorky actions, and we learned the Australian Heel-Toe Polka, which is nothing like a Ukranian polka (of which Vlad is the polka king).

I was so proud when we got home and I looked at the clock! I had managed to stay up until after 11:00, which was far past my regular oz bedtime of 9:00!

Oz Oddities:
- Vlad woke up at 7:00 am and went to the gym. I know it doesn't have much to do with Oz, but you have to admit that it is rather odd vacation behaviour.
- One of our bus drivers was a rather interesting bloke who shared with us his plan to come travel North America for a year in a motorhome or old bus, and write a book about it. Part of his plans involved playing his music in the hopes that this would inspire single women to offer him accomodation for the night. Very creative idea, but somehow I can't see the public going crazy over a book entitled "Slutting my way across America".

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