Day 53

DAY 53 – Tuesday

The boys were up early, pestering Rich for more pig shooting stories, while we slept in.  When we got up, we had breakfast and packed the van before saying goodbye and getting back on the road.

We made a quick stop at Mareeba to buy some supplies, and then headed across the mountains to Karumba.  When we got to Karumba, we found a place to park the car and van for the day, and then made some sandwiches for lunch.  Once we were organised, we bought our tickets and boarded Sky Rail.

We rode the cable car along the first leg of the journey, and were awestruck by the amazing view.  Down below us was the Barron River, weaving its way through the rainforest.  Our first stop was Barron Falls.  We got off the cable car and followed the path to the lookout points.  They both gave us a view of the falls, but we were a bit disappointed that the rainforest prevented us from having an uninterrupted view.  We took a couple of photos and then headed back to the station.  As part of the station, there was a Rainforest Information Centre.  We went in and looked at all the information and interactive exhibits about the flora and fauna of the rainforest.  We also watched a video about the rainforest. 

Barron Falls

We couldn’t find anywhere at this station to sit and have lunch, so we decided to head to the next stop.  The next stop was 15 minutes ride, so we ate our lunch along the way.  The ride to the next stop gave us an amazing view of Barron Falls.  It is a really spectacular falls, below a dam.  We admired the view as we rode to the next stop.

The next stop was called Red Peak.  When we got off the cable car, we saw a sign saying that the next ranger tour was in 5 minutes time.  We sat and had a drink while we waited for the ranger.

The ranger was a koori, who told us that he was a descendant of the tribe that lived in this area.  His tour was really interesting, showing us some of the bush tucker, and telling us how the aborigines used the plants in the area.  We saw a 400 year old Kauri Pine tree, the “wait-a-while” plant with its prickly spikes, and a stinging nettle bush that has berries which are used to take out the nettles if you get them in your skin.  He then tried to find a red bellied black snake for us to look at, but there were none around.  He said that some days there are about 12 of them sunning themselves around the station.  When the tour was over, we got back into the cable car and headed to the Cairns station.

The cable car went steeply up to the top of the final hill and then over the other side.  Here the view was once again amazing.  We could see the ocean, Green Island, and the city.  Once at Cairns station we got off the cable car and had a look around.  The boys watched a movie showing how they used helicopters to build Sky Rail.  Then we got back in the cable car, and headed back to Kuranda.

On the way back we didn’t stop at any of the stations, but just enjoyed the view from the cable car.  Thomas kept yelling out “hello” to every group of people that passed us going the other way.

Once we got back to Kuranda, we got back in the car and headed for Cairns.  We made our way through the traffic, and found the Cairns Villa & Caravan Park, and set up the van, while the boys had a swim in the pool.

We decided to have a look around Cairns, so we got back into the car and headed toward the water front.  We found a park on the Esplanade went for a walk around the swimming lagoon.  Cairns doesn’t actually have a “beach” area, as it is built on mudflats.  If you look out toward the ocean, the view is metres of mud with the ocean lapping at its fringe.

After looking around the lagoon, we crossed the Esplanade to have a look at the shops.  We found a tourist information centre and picked up some information on Great Barrier Reef tours to help us decide which one to book.  Then we went into the Night Markets and had a look around, before grabbing some pizzas and heading back to the van for tea.