Advertisement
Published: November 13th 2013
Edit Blog Post
So pick up at the hotel at 8.20 for a 9.50 train. The downside of these tours is the number of pickups you are dragged around and unfortunately our hotel was right at the end of the resort by the harbour. Our trip involved going up to Kuranda (an outback village) on the train and a return on the sky rail, a cable car.
So we started with the train. The track was built in the 19th century in response to the gold rush need to get supplies through the rainforest. It is an amazing feat of engineering. 15 tunnels dug by hand as well as a lot of bridges (I remember 44, Ian thinks it's 52). 1500 migrants worked on the line during the x years to build. It took 2 years just to dig the longest tunnel. There was only one passing place on the whole 34km track, at a station called Stoney Creek which was also used to pick up water.
However the most amazing thing to me was the fact that as they built it whole towns grew up around the railway line. As we travelled up on the train all you were aware of
Our first Instagram shot!
On the train. Do I look like a kardashian? was the steepness of the land around you and the denseness of the rainforest which looks like it would envelop the track if it was not checked daily. Yet at the stop called Baron falls where we stopped for a photo opportunity there had been 5 hotels including a ballroom as well as a thriving community where some workers had even taken their families!! It would have been interesting to see some photos of these communities as it was impossible (for me at least) to envisage anything when the whole thing seemed to be around 10 feet before proper mountainous dense forest. Check it out and see what you think in the pics.
It took about an hour and a half to get to the top. You travel in the original carriages or at least early 20th century versions. Whatever, before air con. We were lucky and got a seat by the window. Before the war you all travelled sideways facing the view out of the window looking out over the mountains. The carriages were used as ambulance carriages during the war and when they were converted back they were put in a conventional format, 4 seats across So
the poor couples on the outside were hotter and further away from the view. I did suggest when we got back on after the photo opportunity stop that we offered our seats to the couple sitting next to us but Ian didn't think this a necessity (he did have the window) and to be fair nobody else seemed very honourable either.
When we got to Kuranda we had a wander round the village. Quite nicely done but effectively a lot of gift shops and restaurants made for the tourists. There was also a set of dubious nature based activities - butterfly farm, serious poisonous things, bird park, crocodile park and a cuddle a koala (apparently Queensland is the only place left in Australia that it is still legal to cuddle a koala). Nothing that appealed to us. So we decided that for lunch we would try the Australian national dish - no not crocodile, emu or kangaroo but a steak and pea pie! Very tasty!
Luckily we had decided that we wouldn't want to spend a lot of time in Kuranda so after a quick pint and check of emails with some free wifi it was off to
A picture from somewhere nice
Can't remember where this on is but it must be in the rainforest somewhere get the sky rail.
This is a 7km cable car side down (and up) to Kuranda. Apparently it's the longest of its type in the world. Have to say that I am beginning to think that Australians have a Guinness book of world records fetish. You know, you make a world record out of everything! So not sure what record is held. Definitely not steepest,I've been on much steeper skiing. Maybe longest but it does cheat and at the lower of the stop off points you have to move onto another cable so not sure it can be that either? However the engineering feat quite impressive given that it only took one year to build. By the time this was built in the 1997 the Daintree rainforest was a world heritage sight. So the permission to do it took far longer than the time to build it. Everything that was dug up to make room for the pylons had to be transplanted elsewhere (apparently only 4 trees died during this process) and all staff had to be disinfected every day to avoid taking anything into the forest. No roads were allowed to be built so everything was helicoptered in!
Thirty minute queue to get on - again this is a tour bus issue I think as we were all given the same time even though it's a cable car where they leave every 30 seconds but can only take 6 maximum! Still the journey was spectacular as you crossed over the top of the forest. They have built two stop off points on the way down. The first is at Baron falls again, where there are a few lookouts for photo taking (assuming you can fight your way through the Japanese/Chinese). It also overlooks the railway line. The second stop is a short boardwalk around the forest.
So back for bus back to town for 3.15. Another tortuous trip back of over an hour while we picked up people from the train station (they are next to each other at top but not at the bottom) and also dropped off everyone. No such concept of first on first off!!!
So in précis from me - quite a nice trip with some lovely scenery. But too long a day for what it was.
Out for dinner to a restaurant called 'the Raw Prawn'. Barrumundi for me,
Swordfish for Ian. Much quieter tonight but still had to wait for a table.There are lots and lots of Asian groups around. And at night they love a good seafood platter!!!! Oysters, lobsters, crab, prawns....... Such an effort!!!!!!!! Too much for us!
Great Barrier Reef tomorrow.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.098s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 11; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0432s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb