Above the canopy

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Day 97 - Kuranda (day trip!)

What a great nights sleep back in our lovely little caravan, staying in the resort the other night was nice but there’s no place like ‘home’!

The weather isn’t looking too bad when we venture out this morning which is great news as we’re going to Kuranda via the scenic railway and coming back on the Skyrail. The journey starts from the Freshwater station which in itself is very picturesque. When it comes we’re delighted to see that it’s the fancy pants train with all the gorgeous artwork on the front! Beautiful! The carriages are really lovely too, very oldie worldie feel to them! The train makes its spectacular journey through the Barron Gorge national park soaking up breathtaking views along the way. Our photo’s won’t do it justice at all but take our word for it, if you’re ever near Cairns then the trip to Kuranda is definitely going to give you the wow factor! We sit happily on the train lapping it all up and listening to the running commentary as we climb steadily upwards. There are 15 hand-carved tunnels along the route plus the giant bridge to cross at Stoney Creek Falls. It’s hard to take in the magnitude of the near unbelievable feat of engineering this must have taken when it was built between 1882 and 1891. We have a great laugh doing the ‘tunnel’ shots and trying to get a photo of the train infront of us as it comes round Horseshoe Bend and of course taking the rear end shots! The view over Barron Falls is amazing, absolutely fabulous and it’s fun to see everyone fly off the train to try and get the shot and clamber back on again when the driver sounds the horn to say he’s leaving! The whole experience is one we would have been happy to repeat today let alone at some point in the future! Great fun, even with unsettled weather!

On arrival at Kuranda we launch ourselves straight on one of their shuttle buses to get up to the town where there’s plenty of markets for us to browse around and pick up some mementoes, not for us but for others! It’s got a very relaxed, hippy vibe going on and there are plenty of chilled out travellers around for this time of the morning! We wondered if our four hours up here would be too long but there’s actually plenty to do. We decided to go out on one of the river boat tours, secretly hoping we’d spy an estuarine crocodile along the way! We saw some turtles, plenty of birds but there were no sign of the crocs. In fairness they like a bit of sunshine to lure them out onto the logs along the riverbank but it wasn’t too bright this morning so they’d given the log sitting a break by the look of it! Not to worry, with the onboard swallows nest it was lovely and the guide, Dave, was very knowledgeable about the area and the wildlife. His next trip looked fun as a group of Aboriginal kids from Mareeba showed up and Dave quickly invited them on board (he didn’t charge them) and during our walk along the riverbank we could see him letting the younger ones steer the boat! Good on ya Dave.

As we walked alongside the Barron River we were still keeping an eye out for crocs but instead met a lovely lady who lives locally but moves pretty much every five years! Her last home had been on Magnetic Island but the restriction of having to know the ferry times drove her husband mad so they moved up here! Everyone you meet has a story to tell and gives advice on travelling. We listen intently but then take the bits of advice that we feel we need and sneak the rest into the memory bank in case they’re useful in the future!
We follow three of the Kuranda walks, along the river, through the rainforest and then back into the village. It’s a lovely wander with the birds singing high in the trees, or in the case of the Catbirds that are around - screeching high in the trees is a better description! I’m getting quite good at mimicking that call now and we’re sure that the bird was calling back to us today! Not that my singing sounds like a scalded cat you understand! Anyway! We were a bit gutted to find the Bat rescue centre is closed on Saturdays but we can see them all hanging around through the fences. Beautiful Flying Foxes which we have yet to see in the wild but really long too.

With all the wandering and the messing around on the river it was time for our exit via the Skyrail. By cable car we glided the 7.5km route looking down on the rainforest canopy and spying on the birds that usually spied on us! The views were dramatic and our only suggestion for improvement is to have see-through floors! Now that would be good! It was pretty windy coming down the final stretch and the cable cars were swaying quite a lot which was interesting, especially at that sort of height! As we came in to land we spotted the Cairns Cable Ski centre which is for wakeboarders (we think) so pretty much water-skiing without boats! Really weird to watch from the Skyrail, it was like they were on remote control which they sort of are! Fascinating! In the souvenir shop we get our cable car photo, a bit ‘Disney’ but nice to have nevertheless.

We’ve got some time left as we managed to catch the 3pm bus back to the train station so we hit central Cairns and the Esplanade one more time! We strike up a long conversation in the car park with a fascinating couple from the Gold Coast which all started because they were looking at our bike rack so Darryl asked if they wanted to buy the bikes! I mean, they’re less than 3 months old but you wouldn’t ‘buy’ them, I’m not even sure you would ‘borrow’ them! Anyway, they’re here to look at an apartment as a way of selling their Broadwater home on the Gold Coast to release some money for them to have some fun with. They are a complete hoot, both ex pommes from Kent and have us in fits of laughter! It’s a good 30 minutes before we realise we’ve not even paid for our parking yet but the conversation continues, moves on to how he came out here illegally but handed himself in during an amnesty. It takes all sorts! It was so funny the way we all hit it off and then parted company just as quickly!

Over on the grass past the Lagoon there are market stalls set up and another group playing which creates a lovely atmosphere again. We check out the market stalls, the first one we come is a gent moulding clay frogs to sticks. The effect is tremendous and they’re really arty. That reminds us of a stall we found in Kuranda markets selling stuffed Cane toads holding miniature Jack Daniels or Toad Rum bottles. I mean, who would you buy one of those for? Yuk!! Anyway, the cute clay frogs are appealing but no, we really can’t think of anyone we can send one too so we wander on. We find ourselves back in the Night Markets but it’s still early so not many of them are open, but the Aussie Hat one is. Darryl’s been hankering for a ‘Crocodile Dundee’ hat since we got here and the weather is hotting up now so he does need one to keep the sun off. I don’t do hats but I should get one really so Darryl strikes up a deal for a good discount if we buy two! Ripper!

We thought we’d better leave before we spend any more money, North Queensland is by far the most expensive area we’ve been too mainly because there’s no permit or free camping here so we’re not saving the money we normally would! Another band were playing as we came past the Esplanade so we listened for a while and then went back to get the car. There’s a group of lads desperately trying to bump start a very tired looking van but they’re having no luck so are asking for jump leads. Dar offers to help and is soon on board with our jump-starter but their battery is so dead it’s having none of it. We decide the best course of action is to push start the van with the jump-starter still attached so Dar gets in the driving seat, the boys get behind to push and I hold their sunglasses at the same time as offering encouragement! Dar’s soon driving round the block and they’re able to get on their way! Funnily enough the reg on their van was FED (Front Engined Dragster?!) so maybe it was just meant to be!

Another full day ends and the weather didn’t turn out so bad afterall which was good. A quick check on the laptop finds a great email from Lisa (Rumble), ace to hear from you Lisa and we’re so glad that you and the rugrats are all well! Give them big hugs from us and we’ll be in touch soon. Cheers to Ed for the Skype update, we’re looking forward to our 4am wake up call tomorrow so we can catch up with the gang!

Good to see the cricket is going well back home, that should be keeping Baxy occupied and happy! Nice one!

Love to all
Dar and Sar

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