Day 7 - Kuranda

On our final day in Cairns, we explored the rainforest. We woke up and packed our bags. After our adventure today, we were heading to the airport to fly to Sydney.

We drove our car and parked at the Skyrail. We planned to end at the Sky-rail. We left our car here so it would be there when we touched down. We caught a bus from the Sky-rail station to the Freshwater historic train station. We took a train up through the rainforest on a 90-minute journey to Kuranda. It was a beautiful ride. When we started it did not look much like a rainforest, but the more we climbed the thicker and greener everything became. We saw a couple of really nice waterfalls during the ride. As we rode a narrator explained the challenges that they faced when this railway was built. Originally, it was built to provide consistent access to the mines around Kuranda. The train made a stop at Barron Falls. We got off the train and enjoyed the view of these spectacular falls. The falls were flowing well, even though the rainy season had not really begun yet. I can’t imagine how they would look after heavy rainfall. We continued our train ride for about 10 minutes past the falls.

We arrived at the station in Kuranda. They really sold their world-famous fruit smoothies as we pulled into the station. Debbie, Blake, and I each ordered a mango smoothie from the station restaurant. Alison went for some ice cream. She made the right choice. The smoothie was interesting...we all took one sip and looked at each other to see if they were having the same reaction. Blake and I continued drinking them and they did grow on us. Debbie gave up on hers.

Blake and Debbie took a courtesy shuttle into town while Alison and I walked. There isn’t much to Kuranda. They have an animal reserve, a butterfly sanctuary, and some exhibits. They all seemed a little hokey so we passed. The rest of the town is primarily shops and restaurants. We wandered through the shops and bought some souvenirs. We also found a place to eat some fish and chips. In Australia, fish and chips are not necessarily fried. In most restaurants, they will ask us if we want it breaded or grilled. Today we went with grilled barramundi. We have seen this fish on many menus in Australia, but not really had it anywhere else.  It is a good fish.

After lunch, we continued wandering through the shops. Visiting Kuranda is much more about the journey to and from Kuranda than the destination. The best parts of this activity were the train ride up and the Sky-rail down. The Sky-rail was incredible. It was a lift that carried us for miles over the vast rainforest. We stopped twice. The first stop was at Barron’s Falls. This time we were on the same side of the gorge as the falls. We walked over to a nearby viewpoint and then I found a spot to fly my drone. I flew it up and down the canyon and all around the falls. There was a group that had climbed down and was swimming in the upper pool of the falls. They waved to the drone as it flew by. We boarded the Skyrail and continued on our journey. We had to disembark and change cars one more time before reaching the bottom. At the end of the Skyrail, there was a gift shop where Alison and I purchased a children’s bedtime book with pictures of many of the animals found in Australia.

By the time we reached the bottom we did not really have time for any other activities so we headed to the airport for our flight to Sydney. The flight between Cairns and Sydney is ~3 hours. We took off and flew over the ocean. Outside the window, we could see many reefs that are part of the Great Barrier Reef. They would be large, irregularly shaped aqua and topaz-colored splotches out in the ocean. After that, we cut across a portion of Australia. Here it was interesting to watch settlement turn into barrenness the further we got inland.

We touched down in Sydney a little after 9 p.m. and took a cab to our hotel. We are staying right downtown in a little boutique hotel called the West Hotel. It is walking distance to the Harbour which is where we plan to spend most of our day tomorrow.