Inland from Cairns is the Great Dividing Range and the Atherton Tablelands. Kuranda is a small town of 650 people in the middle of the world heritage rainforest at the top of the range. It was the scene of a mining boom in the 19th century, and of massive American military hospitals and staging areas during the Pacific War. The town appears to have been re-populated by hippies (now aged) for many years. The signs are still evident: the small market stalls feature hand made items one could have found at Woodstock! The best way to get to Kuranda is Kuranda's Historic Scenic Railway which meanders through Barron Gorge National Park.
All aboard
Two onboard
Up the hill
Over the bridge
Through 1 of 15 tunnels
Coming down we took the Kuranda Skyrail, which spans 7.5K over the rainforest canopy. Not quite as thrilling as a zip-line ride we took over a tropical rainforest canopy in Costa Rica, but still up there. Great views all the way out to the Coral Sea. At one stop, we encountered a tree species we thought was unique to New Zealand: the kauri. It seems this variety of evergreen can also be found in various parts of South-East Asia and Melanesia.
Queensland Kauri
The descent
An artificial lake for water-skiing without boats!
The bus trip from Cairns to Port Douglas at midnight gave us great views of the Coral Sea with the moon reflecting off the water. Rather than rest the first day, we set out to explore. First stop: the Wildlife Habitat where we lunched with the Loorikets, then accompanied the naturalist on his rounds to feed the birds and lizards. Our favorite was the Cassowary. According to our bible, Wikipedia, the cassowary is "the third tallest and second heaviest living bird, smaller only than the ostrich and emu." Some plants rely on the cassowary to eat their fruit so that the seeds pass through ready to germinate. Ah, the wonders of nature!
Feed me some more, I'm hungry!
No visit to an Australian wildlife collection is complete without the iconic marsupial. Between naps, he chews leaves from the gum trees, of which there are over 800 varieties in Australia. Unfortunately, though he eats almost the entire time he is awake, he dines on eucalyptus leaves. In addition to having very little nutritional value, the leaves are toxic. So the poor thing eats until his toxicity threshold is reached, rather than eating until he is full. The result: he sleeps and sleep and sleeps. Wish, though, that we could achieve the level of relaxation that the Koala reaches!
I'm stoned, let me sleep!
Then, off to explore the wildlife in the wild on the Lady Douglas for a sunset cruise. This picture of a croc cost us $80. Or it cost us $20 a croc sighting, as we saw only three others! (Ashley and Roger did much better on their Uganda safari in June.)
Go away if you know what is good for you.
One last bit of wildlife for the day:
Roger objects to including this one, but Amy does the final edit.
On the 28th, we did a lightening visit to Brisbane. The last trip to Brisbane was for Malcolm's graduation (PhD) in 2004. This time, Roger spoke at lunchtime to the staff of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (the federal prosecutors). It rained cats and dogs, as we drove to the highest part of the lovely city to get a photograph for you. The pictures below were taken between the raindrops. Late in the evening, we flew to Cairns in northern Queensland for our assault on the Great Barrier Reef.
Jacarandas are everywhere in Spring in this part of Queensland
Dwarfed by modern buildings in the middle of Brisbane
