3 August 2011

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We'd arranged the previous night for Chris to pick Tux and I up at 9am to take us to the airport to pick up the hire car. Chris arrived early at about 8.35, which in the end was fortuitous.

The booking sheet via Carhire3000 said the car was being hired from National and to pick up from International Airport not domestic. Having gone round the International Airport a number of times and not being able to see any sign of National or anyone to speak to (aparently very few international flights that day) we drove over to the domestic terminal where we bumped into a Eurocars man. He said National brand had died many years ago but was now part of Eurocars. He directed us into the terminal where we finally found someone who knew about our booking. We said goodbye to Chris and drove back to apartment to pick the others up for Skyrail at 11am.

We managed to get their in plenty of time and climbed aboard our gondala for the first of 3 rides up to the peak. As you know I don't like hights but the views were breathtaking as we went over the rainforest below and could see Cairns below. At the first stop we go off to walk through the rainforest and take some more pictures, before getting on the gondolas for the next ride. At the next stop we walked to views of a waterfall, before getting the final ride into Ruranda. Here we had lunch in an Irish themed pub and there were loads of little shops.

However, the highlight was undoubtedly the Koala Centre where you could stroke kangaroos and cuddle Koalas. Stephanie had a professional picture taken cuddling a koala and it was immediately all over the internet!!

It was at this point that I realised that I had a battery crisis! I'd been very good in making sure that I always had a battery fully charged up, but I'd forgotten to take it with me. To my horror I was therefore severly restricted in the number of pictures I could take during the return trip on the Scenic Railway - one of the highlights of the trip for me. Tux was therefore tasked to ensure that he took loads of photos, including our equivalent of the one on the front of the latest postcard that will probably arrive in 2 weeks time!

We got back to the apartment around 5.45pm to give the ladies just enough time to get themselves ready before we went out for our Aboriginal Cultural Evening. This was brilliant but not everyone's cup of tea. We got shown how to try and make a sound out of a digiridoo. There was much ceromony and dancing contected with lighting a fire, which involved us all going out side and standing in a large circle to have our faces painted! Then an excellent buffet supper, followed by more dancing, which towards the end also involved Stephanie on the stage!

A long but brilliant day.

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