Day 52 Cairns (Kuranda)

 We had a pickup scheduled early this morning, so for the first time in a long time, the car will see no km's today.  Early brekky and a quick walk down to the office to wait for the bus to take us to the Skyrail.

We spent just over an hour on the bus going to various hotels, collecting passengers for the Kuranda Skyrail and the Kuranda Railway.  Our bus driver gave us plenty of information on the history of Cairns, and the people and places as we travelled around.

At around 0900 we arrived at the Skyrail station, and after a short wait, we were on our way.  The first section climbs steeply out of the coastal plain up to the summit of Red Peak.  The floor changes from clear pastoral lands, to Eucalypt Woodland, to Vine Clad Rainforest to Moist, Well Developed Rainforest at the peak.  There is a board walk through the canopy at this station, but as we have seen so much rainforest recently, we didn't linger long here. 




The second section of the Skyrail descends from the peak and heads through the Barron Gorge.  At times, it seemed like we were 100m above the ground, and then we were only meters from the canopy of the rainforest.  This is the longest section of the Skyrail, and I did my best not to look worried.  The weather was much clearer today, so we had good views all around us.  The second station is at Barron Falls with two really good viewing platforms.  There was also an interpretive display here, which the kids really enjoyed.

The third section is a quick hop across the Barron River and into Kuranda. We braved the walk up the hill, and went in search of something to do and see. 

First stop was the Butterfly Sanctuary which had an amazing aviary full of colourful butterflies.  The temperature inside is controlled to keep the butterflies active, so they whole place was alive with movement.  We were able to see both the male and female Birdwing Butterflies which are the largest butterflies in Australia, and native to this rainforest, as well as the Ulyses Butterflies which are about the size of a tea saucer, and have vivid electric blue markings on their wings. 


Emma had an inquisitive Ulyses Butterfly come down and land on her back pack...we told her it was good luck, and she doesn't appear to be too freaked out by the experience. They showed us how they harvest the eggs, and then incubate and hatch their own stock in the laboratory...quite fascinating. 

At one point, I was watching butterflies feeding, and a Ulyses Butterfly came down to a nearby leaf and laid an egg.  The nearest I can explain this action is picture the Blackhawk helicopter swooping down to drop troops off under fire in a war zone.  The whole act took about 2 seconds and she was away again.  Must be a nervous defence mechanism to being so delicious looking to birds.  Ashley had the creeps from all the squiggly little butterflies, and was right out of his comfort zone, so we let him choose the second activity for the day.

We wandered back to the marketplace for something to eat and had amazing home made pies at Annabel's Pantry.  There was also a rogue piece of blueberry cheesecake that got mixed up with our order...don't know where that came from :D

After lunch, remembering that Ashley was freaked out by the wriggly caterpillars and butterflies, we went to the Australian Venom Zoo.  So what's in a name?  Unfortunately not a lot.  Ashley really enjoyed it, and was interested in the 5 deadly snakes at the bottom of a winding walkway.  The kids also got to hold a bob tail (Shingleback) lizard.  I think we are overly spoilt for this type of activity in Perth with our reptile house in Armadale putting this place to shame...and it was half the price to get in. 

I guess if you're a foreigner, and wanted to see deadly Australian reptiles and spiders, it would have been great, but most of the exhibits can be found in suburban back yards.  It was cool to see the tarantulas and the one scorpion though.  To my mind though, the entry fee was a little steep for the exhibits available.  After the walk through, we were able to take a picture of the kids holding this carpet python.

From the Venom Zoo, we walked back through Kuranda and bought the kids some ice cream just in case they weren't hyper for the train ride home. 

The Kuranda railway is a very historic piece of engineering from the turn of the century.  It was constructed over 3 years, and cost over 1 million pounds at the turn of the century. 

There are 15 tunnels totalling approx 2km of underground rail, and over 2km of trestle and bridges that link Cairns with Kuranda on this 3'6" Gauge railway.  Originally the railway was serviced by steam engines, but today they are using more efficient diesel electric locomotives which produce well over 1000HP per locomotive. 

The carriages that are being used today can trace  their origin in many cases back to the turn of the century when they were manufactured for the original railway.  Lisa didn't enjoy this as much as the Skyrail.  Maybe a combination of diesel fumes, lateral motion and the fear of plummeting to the bottom of Barron Gorge every time we went over a trestle.

There were some amazing waterfalls along the way, and all were flowing due to the recent rainfall that has graced the region. 

We were able to stop at Barron Falls again on the trip back, but from the railway side of the river.  The falls are almost at the maximum flow rate with the recent rains.  Whilst taking pictures at the falls, old mate Mr Sun came to say hello.  Haven't seen him for a few days now, so there is still hope for our Barrier Reef Cruise at the end of the week.

As we descended, we came to an opening in the tree line, and were afforded spectacular views all the way out to the coral sea over the outer lying suburbs of Cairns.

All up, a very enjoyable and quite relaxing way to spend the day.  The bus ride home was a bit painful as we were the last to get dropped off, so perhaps the self drive option would have been better, but it's a small thing in an otherwise great day.

At the caravan, we broke out some cheese and biscuits and a really nice mango wine.  I got some practice in on the didge, and then played guitar for an hour or so whilst Lisa read her book.  This is as close as we have come to relaxing in a while.  Ashley and Emma went down to the playground to play on the big chess board, and Rowan was happy to play monster trucks on the iphone and left us in peace.