Kuranda Adventure

Despite having a difficult first night thanks to not the ideal suite, we spent our first day in Cairns on a whole day trip to the Kuranda rainforest and it was fantastic, a real highlight and quite unexpectedly so.

It was a very full day that started at 8:30 when we were collected from our hotel. It was a fifteen minute trip to the start of our 7 mile cable car ride. Yes, you heard correctly a cable car, the Muse's absolutely least favourite method of transport. In fact getting her even near a cable car has been impossible up till now. However, this was one of the highlights of the day, as the cable car barely skims the treetops of the rainforest and provides an amazing view of this unique habitat. That's the second half of the cable car ride. But you have to get to that point and for the first couple of miles it climbs to the top of a mountain over forests and ravines and gets quite high. I'm not great with heights but for 'she who must be obeyed' they represent a challenge too far. With no Valium available it was a case of shut eyes, grip edge of seat, hold breath, sit completely motionless and above all make sure that nobody else in the car moves, speaks or breathes. As the only other person in the car was me, this wasn't too much of a challenge.

There are very few photographs of this part of the day. Taking a picture constitutes movement, albeit of only the right hand index finger, but movement nonetheless. However, after we changed cable cars and began the section that just floats above the forest canopy, we could both enjoy the view.

The return journey from Kuranda at the end of the day is a train ride that follows a completely different route through breath-taking gorges and a total of 16 tunnels. Although only an hour and a half in length, it is as wonderful in it's own way as our scenic rail trip across New Zealand. In particular the view of the Barron Falls was even more spectacular from the train than it was from the cable car.

In between these two glorious trips to and from the rainforest village of Kuranda, we just had a great day - up close and personal with the largest saltwater crocodile in captivity and hand-feeding kangaroos and wallabies at a wildlife centre, a walk through the heart of the rainforest and a short safari in an 'army duck', an amphibious people carrier that takes a tortuous four-wheel drive path through the forest and then takes to the river for a section of the tour. The variety of the plant, animal and insect life is quite astounding.


With all the different centres we have visited, we were always going to run into some form of aboriginal cultural encounter. Here it Kuranda it proved quite interesting. We were even shown how to play the didgeridoo and how to throw a boomerang. The most interesting display, however, was the spear throwing. The aboriginal hunters have an amazing throwing technique. By modifying one end of what looks like a 2ft long club and using it as an extension of their throwing arm, they can throw their spears with quite a high degree of accuracy over distances of 100yds or more. The demonstrations were quite impressive.

There was certainly plenty to see and do all day, but the most remarkable animal sightings were reserved for later that evening in the city streets of Cairns. Shortly after sunset and while there was still more than enough daylight left, two species of flying creature return to the trees in the city parks and green spaces. The first are literally thousands of pairs of delightful small green parrots slightly larger than budgerigars. The second are fruit bats. These are huge. They are true flying foxes. In waves they fly in looking for roosting sites in the trees and as many fly very low, you quickly appreciate just how big they are. Imagine a small pretty terrier with a 4ft wingspan! If you don't like bats these creatures are the stuff of your worst nightmares and there are hundreds and hundreds of them. Quite a sight. They come into the city to feed on the nectar and fruits on the trees in the parks. They are really vey beautiful creatures, if a bit scary, and their nearest relative is not as you might think, the bat, but the lemurs of Madagascar - well that's according to our taxi driver who talked without pause on our while journey from our hotel back to Cairns airport.


It's been a busy day. Tomorrow we're off to the Great Barrier Reef.

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