Day 15: Train, Kuranda, Skyrail & Tjapukai

Monday, Feb 20th

We were all up early for a hotel breakfast and soon thereafter were picked up for the day’s events. 

The driver brought us to the Freshwater Station of the Kuranda Scenic Railroad in Cairns. Our “Gold Class” upgrade provided a rail car with only about 12-14 people. We were served pastries, wine, soft drinks and coffee as we traversed the route from Cairns to the old mining (now tourist) town of Kuranda. Along the route the train made stops at scenic vantage points before continuing the climb into the hills.

Upon arrival in Kuranda we went several ways, some directly to shopping, one to a butterfly park and some to a local art museum and store. In a relatively short period of time we had joined up at the local Irish Pub. The pub was actually a U.S. Navy R&R site in the 70’s and 80’s; no free drinks now, not even a discount.

From Kuranda our trip back down the mountain was on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, basically a gondola ride just like those at big ski resorts. This ride took us down the mountain through (actually above) the rain forest. At transfer stations we were able to take brief walks to scenic viewpoints and also see several extremely large Golden Orb Spiders.

As we continued down the mountain, a Maxwell family bet was laid down related to clouds/fog along the mountain ridgeline; Greg won the bet but had no comment on the actual prize.

At the end of the cable car ride, we arrived at the Tjapukai Aboriginal Culture Park. The good news was air conditioning in selected venues and the opportunity to throw spears and boomerangs. It’s fortunate we have grocery stores as none of us actually mastered the art of the hunt with the selected weapons; though the ability to make the boomerang fly out and return was within our skill levels. As the term “cultural” would portend we did sit through several presentations learning of the culture from creation to present day life including a didgeridoo session.

So ten hours after leaving the hotel, we were back and by 7 PM were at Portabello Pizza Restaurant for dinner. The night ended early, I don’t think anyone was up past 10 PM.