Sandra and Doug’s last day today, it was sad to see them go, but first we had a day of sightseeing.
After breakfast of, you guessed it, mackeral, we drove down the Captain Cook highway to Cairns. The drive was picturesque and windy taking us about an hour to drive the 70 kilometres. At Freshwater Station we boarded the Kuranda scenic railway train that winds its way to the village of Kuranda up on the tablelands.
Rising from sea level to 328m, the journey to Kuranda passes spectacular waterfalls and into the stunning Barron Gorge. The journey included a commentary on the history of the railways’ construction. Constructed between 1882 and 1891 it is considered an engineering feat of tremendous magnitude. Hundreds of men were employed to build the 15 hand-made tunnels and 37 bridges in extremely difficult conditions. Many lives were lost as the numerous tunnels and bridges were built if not from accident then from disease and illnesses.
The train chuffs through Far North Queensland’s World Heritage-Listed rainforest, The Wet Tropics, are amongst the oldest on earth and home to an incredible array of plants and animals.
Twelve hundred species of flowering plants, eight hundred different rainforest trees, spectacular orchids, strangler figs, exotic palms and hundreds of unique creatures inhabit this lush green world.
The views overlooking the gorge and Cairns were magnificent, especially when we pulled up at Barron Gorge station with a sweeping view of Barron Falls. All passengers disembarked for ten minutes and thousands of photos were taken.
We arrived at the lush tropical plant covered Kuranda station and headed into the village for a wander.
An assortment of shops, cafes, markets and interesting attractions greeted us and we spent a few hours enjoying the atmosphere.
The return journey was by the Skyrail rainforest cableway which was quite an experience especially for some of our group that weren’t fond of heights. (Doug and John).
John kept putting the wind up Sandra and Doug by rocking the gondola and telling them stories of cable cars falling off cables. I think he just did that to keep his mind off the height thing.
The Skyrail spans 7.5kms over pristine rainforest, at times gliding just metres above the rainforest canopy in six-person gondola cabins, and other times a long way above the treetops .
The trip took about 1.5 hours including the stops at two stations along the way. The two rainforest stations, Red Peak and Barron Falls Station, allowed us to explore the forest floor on boardwalks, and stroll to the viewing platforms overlooking the gorge. As it is the dry season not much water was flowing over the 250 metre drop yet it still was a spectacular sight
Arriving at the bottom ( much to Dougs relief) we caught the bus back to our car and drove out to Yorkeys knob marina for an afternoon thirst quencher and some oysters. The oysters were quite cheap, $12 a dozen but we returned some as they tasted and smelt suspect. As Pete Law would say ” you get what you pay for”.
John and I dropped Sandra and Doug off at the airport and drove back to Port Douglas to return the car and have a happy reunion with Morgan who had been by herself on the boat all day.
