Cairns, Queensland, Australia

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Arrived just after 9.00am after flying overnight from Darwin. Had nightmares trying to get cash out of Aussie ATMs (so did Americans) - turns out you have to say you are using a credit card even when your'e not - but we didn't find that out till much later!. We went straight into downtown Cairns and spent the morning in an excellent Info agency who booked us into a good-value hotel and arranged three enjoyable day trips for us.

We went to the hotel at noon for a snooze and then for a shop, but finished up pleading with a bank to let us have some money against M's credit card. They said initially that she would need a second ID to authorize this and that the ship Cruise card was not an approved, acceptable source, despite the first ID being her passport which contained, of course, not only her photo but also the Australian Immigration Authority stamp approving her entry into Oz the previous day. Where do they dream up these rules? and what's the point any national issuing authority dispatching passports and official ID cards if they're insufficient proof of ID. We don't get it! Still, it put us in our place as we had been sniffy about most of our aged fellow passengers still using traveller's cheques and cash. But it wasn't funny being potentially stuck three days before the boat's arrival with no means of getting cash from a "hole in the wall" despite having both debit and credit cards with us! Friday night we went out for enchiladas at Montezuma's Mexican.

Saturday morning we were collected at the hotel at 10.00 - after a breakfast of SOFT eggs -and taken by minibus to the Skyrail Forest Cableway for Kuranda . This comprises a 7.5 km gondola ride in 6 seater Pommas. It's strange sitting in a Pomma with no snow around and being whisked over rain forest instead of snowy pines. There were two intermediate stations, Red Peak where we had a walk around and a ranger talk on the flora and fauna (redwoods as big as those in California) and a second stop with views over the Barron Falls - which we would also see later from the train.

We arrived at Kuranda Station at about 1.10 pm. Kuranda is a town and locality on the Atherton Tableland in the shire of Mareeba in the far north of Queensland. There are several short walks around the village. We decided to start with the Jum Rum Creek Environmental Park which includes a "long" walk along the Barron River. We followed this with the jungle walk and finally the creek walk to arrive at the bat sanctuary. We had seen bats in at Lichfield National park, but there were more in Kuranda. There were also options of a Koala place, Butterfly Sanctuary, Aviary etc but Kuranda had become a little too commercialized for our tastes.

We ambled down the main street and had a pint at the pub by the train station before taking the Kuranda Scenic Railway back to Cairns. The railway snaked its way down through the Macalister Range. This took one and a half hours and was spectacular, going through 15 or 16 tunnels and round two or three 180 degree switchbacks. We alighted at the Barron Falls lookout where well maintained boardwalks lead us through the rain forest to 3 separate lookouts; that afforded different views of the 260 metre high waterfall that tumbles down into Barron Gorge. We were lucky to be here in the wet season as the tropical rains help feed the water's dramatic descent. As well as Barron Falls (our second sighting) we got views of some other waterfalls on a number of tributary rivers.

Had a fairly quiet evening and ended up at Montzumas again, but chili, tacos and re-fried beans this time. The explanation is that all ethnic food on the boat, whether it be Indian,Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian etc has been so totally bland we needed something with a bit of bite.

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