Stayed in the middle of Cairns for one night and there was a completely different vibe. Heaps of young foreign travellers camping in tents
all using Cairns as their hopping off point for reef tours and other activities.
Went to the Cairns Lagoon on the front it was lovely. Nice clean pool right on the ocean front. Great to be able to get into the water and
have a swim.
Our friends Ed & Julie have arrived from Cornwall so will be travelling in convoy for the next three weeks.
Stopped off at the Botanical Gardens which were very impressive. Was only there for an hour or so with Simon but I went back the next day to do the hike up Lumley Hill. It was a very difficult hike I had not imagined it would be so steep and so many steps. It was a cruel hike, you thought you were nearly at the top a few times only for the path to go down again before climbing up the next hill. I felt as if I had climbed the same mountain 4 times. It is very near the airport so you could hear all the planes taking off but only a few glimpses of the aircraft through the trees. What I thought would be a nice bit of exercise turned into a mammoth hike I was absolutely exhausted by the end. If I could have turned around I would have but it was a circular route.
What a great day out. We went up on the Skyrail and I thought it just went to the top of the hill that you could see but no, it goes to two different stations. First stop is Red Peak at 545m where we got off and walked along a boardwalk through the rainforest canopy. You then get back on the gondola and descend to Barron Falls elevation 340m. At Barron Falls you can walk onto a glass floored lookout to get this amazing view of the falls. Then it’s back on the gondola to Kuranda. Amazing views and so good to see totally unspoilt rainforest. Skyrail concept was conceived in 1987, pre-construction and feasibility studies took place 1987-1994 however things got complicated when the rainforest became a UNESCO heritage listed site in 1988. There were strict regulations on how they could build. Before the construction the top soil and leaf litter were collected and reintroduced after construction. Plant seedlings were removed and replanted in their original locations once the towers were in place. There are 32 towers and all the room they had to work in was a 10m x 10m clearing. They had to build the towers completely in Cairns and then helicopter them into place. The workers had to sterilise equipment and footwear before entering the sites. Helicopters carried 900 tonnes of steel, cement and building materials to the Barron Falls station alone. No roads were built during construction so workers walked to the tower sites each day carrying their equipment. Skyrail opened in August 1995 and is still considered one of the most environmentally conscious tourist attractions in the world.
Kuranda is very much a tourist town with lots of souvenir shops and markets and cafes and pubs. Had a brief walk through the town before
heading down to the Barron River where we went on a boat cruise. This was a lovely trip with a great guide and we saw our first freshwater crocodile sunning itself on a log. There are no freshwater crocodiles up here as it is too high plus they have built a dam. A very pleasant way to spend an hour.
We came back down on the Kuranda Scenic Railway which takes 1.5 hours as it goes very slowly as it winds its way down the slopes. The
railway construction started in 1886 as a reliable supply route for the gold fields. This whole railway was hand dug with picks and shovels by 1500 men mostly Irish and Italian. and they manually dug 15 tunnels, built 55 bridges, 98 curves and ascended 328m. An amazing achievement. It was opened 1891 after 5 years of construction.
