Kuranda

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Today I went on another free day tour - this time to Kuranda. Kuranda is a town tucked into the rainforest about an hour south and inland of Port Douglas. I was picked up by the Reef & Rainforest bus and driven down to the Sky Rail, where I hopped onto a gondola and flew over the rainforest canopy towards Kuranda. It was lovely being all alone above the rainforest, with the wind blowing gently through the open windows of the cable car and the sound of birds all around. You hop off twice and do little walks around the rainforest and then hop on another cable car that takes you further up the mountain range - it takes about an hour all up. We stopped at Barron Falls and I took some photos, although it wasn't that spectular as its not wet season now. At the top I hopped out at Kuranda, and went for a stroll down the main street, past all the tourst shops and markets, and headed straight for my favorite icecream shop called Sugarworks. They make the best icecream in the world, which is caramel with fudge bits, choc pieces and cruchie bits all through it. So fattening but delicious - I went once in the morning and again in the afternoon and got double scoops both times! So good. As part of the tour I had entry into Birdworld, Koala Gardens and the Butterfly Sanctuary, so I headed off to Birdworld first. You wander through some more markets then stumble across the entrance. A big parrot type bird jumped onto my shoulder at the entrance and it was a bit of a job to get him off. I wandered through and the noise of all the birds was intense. They seemed to be mostly of the parrot variety, which are pretty loud. It wasn't very large, so I was wandering through the one path when a very large very high parrot decided to poo on me. It went everywhere - although luckily mostly down one arm with a few splashes on my top and handbag. A nice couple stopped to help, and the husband found a hose and basically hosed me down in the middle of the path. It was kinda embarrassing, but luckily not too many people saw and the hose worked a treat in getting most of it off. I washed my hair under the hose too, so must have looked pretty horrific for the next 15 minutes till I dried out a bit. After that I got the hell outta there, because it looked like it could easily happen again at any time. I went into the Koala Gardens, which also had some fresh water crocs and lizards and snakes as well as koalas. It wasn't a very big place either and I was in and out in 15 minutes. I've never seen such active koalas though - some were eating and looking pretty cute. I then went to lunch before heading off to visit the Butterflys. Now this is a place I would recommend. It was really enchanting to see so many butterflys in one place. And no loud screeching or pooing either! I stayed ages with butterflies landing on my face and brushing against my cheeks - it was so magical. From there I did a bit more wandering and brought a new charm for my pandora bracelet - this time a turtle to represent my time up here and on the reef. Its very cute. From there it was back to the trainstation, where I caught the scenic railway back down to the pickup point. It was pretty amazing - an old train and the line was mostly hand carved through the mountains. There were something like 15 tunnels, and photos all over the place of the men with pick axes digging through the rock. Pretty amazing to imagine it really. And at the bottom I was picked up and driven back home to Port. Another lovely free day out. Sorry about not labelling all the photos - it got to hard and took too long.

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