Day 2
The first full day in Cairns .. well in the Cairns area. We did
actually drive thru' Cairns, if that counts? Started off the day with a
walk down to the beach .. not far .. the resort has its own beach
access. Then spent 1/2 hour or so walking up and down the beach. Looked
much like any other sand beach I guess .. there's only so much you can
do with lots of sand on the shore after all. Still, with the palm trees
and other tropical plants it did look distinctly tropical .. no
surprise, since that's what it is. I did notice one unusual feature ...
or more to the point, my feet did. Beaches elsewhere that I've been to
have had fine sand, this one was made of rather coarse sand. Walking on
it with bare feet was not all that pleasant experience after a while ..
like walking on "pebblecrete" or something like that. Took a few hours
for the feeling in the soles of the feet to return to normal. Nice view
and it was pleasant to walk along just in the water. Carefully tho'
since this area is notorious for "stingers" - stingers are a
particularly nasty local jellyfish. Didn't see anything suspicious ..
well
apart from a few people ... and there was a dog that'd been swimming ..
uneventfully.
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Courtyard,
Sea Temple Resort,
Palm Cove
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Courtyard,
Sea Temple Resort,
Palm Cove
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Courtyard, Sea Temple Resort,
Palm Cove
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Palm
Cove Beach from Sea Temple, north
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Palm
Cove Beach from Sea Temple, north
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Palm Cove Beach from Sea Temple, south
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Palm
Cove Beach from Sea Temple, south
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Mangroves,
Palm Cove, near Sea Temple
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Mangroves, Palm Cove, near Sea Temple
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Red Lynch's Cottage, Freshwater
Image © David Powell,
2007
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Barron River & Redlynch,
from train at Red Bluff
Image © David Powell,
2007
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Freshwater Heritage Railway Station
Image © David Powell,
2007
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Train going over bridge,
Stoney Creek Falls
Image © David Powell,
2007
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Back to the apartment, brekkie and rang to see if we could book today's
activities ... we could and we did. Today's expedition was the Scenic
Railway & Skyrail trip to Kuranda and back. Kuranda is an old gold
mining town that's been resurrected as a tourist trap. But more on the
town later. The railway and Skyrail are strictly for the tourists, of
course. The railway is private, tho' I did notice a freight train on
the line at one point. Old early 20th century carriages .. with modern
diesel engines. Well better than a steam engine with all the smoke and
ashes. The train ride was slow but very spectacular, taking an hour and
half to get from the train station in the little village of Freshwater
up the mountains to Kuranda, at an altitude of around 329 metres. Most
of the route passed thru' the Barron Gorge National Park. While waiting
for the train I had a look at a little museum and an old wooden cabin.
As for the train trip ... lots of gorges, escarpments, tunnels, a few
waterfalls and pretty spectacular scenery ... some views all the way to
the coast. Saw a hydroelectric plant and lots of rainforest. The rail
line follows the mountain ridge in a very winding and back tracking
route. Once reaching the foot of the mountains, the first part of the
trip travels 34 kilometres thru' lots of tunnels (15 of them) .. all
hand-hewn with tools (no dynamite for some reason), 98 curves and over
40 bridges as it climbs 300 metres thru' the tropical rainforest for
the most part along the side of the Barron Gorge. The rail line from
Freshwater to Kuranda took 5 years to build and was opened in 1891.
Half-way up the train stops so you can catch a look at the beautiful
Stony Creek Falls. Not the power and majesty of the Barron Falls, these
falls much more delicate, but just as impressive in their own way. Near
the end the train stopped and we all poured out to have a look at the
Barron Falls. Since this is right at the end of the dry season (6
months of virtually no rain), the river was pretty sparse and the
waterfall a tiny fraction of its usual self .. normally it's a huge
torrent pouring over the end of the embankment and filling the gorge
below. But today it was a very sedate and rather small waterfall ...
relative, of course. It was still quite sizable. Great views of the
gorge and there were a couple of neat looking lakes at the base of the
falls as well as some unusual looking water-worn rock. Back on the
train for the short trip to Kuranda at the end of the line. The station
master at Kuranda station certainly likes his plants ... thousands of
pot plants scattered around the platform, along with garden beds and
small trees. A virtual rainforest in itself. More a botanic garden than
a train station! |
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Stony Creek Falls from Kuranda Scenic Train
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Freshwater Scenic Railway,
going around bend at Red Bluff
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Barron Falls, Kuranda
Scenic Train Railway
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Barron Falls (& Troll's Head),
Kuranda Scenic Train Railway
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Kuranda Railway Station
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Cynthia, Barron River Jetty, Kuranda
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Curtain Fig Tree, Coondoo St, Kuranda
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Birdwing Butterfly,
Butterfly Sanctuary, Kuranda
Image © David Powell,
2007
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Birdwing Butterflies,
Butterfly Sanctuary, Kuranda
Image © David Powell,
2007
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Kuranda ... the village is really one great big market. Walked down to
a little park next to the Barron River where you can go on river
cruises (e just had a look around). Then back to the main street for
some serious shopping! The town is full of hundreds of shops selling
almost anything you could imagine. From the usual tacky souvenirs
(stuffed koalas made in China & the like), even tackier tee shirts
(I wont repeat some of the messages), cafes, restaurants, jewellery
stores, art galleries, clothing stores, knick knack stores and much
much more. We had lunch in a German cafe staffed entirely by German's
.. backpackers most likely. Lots of lovely tropical plants and trees.
Quite colourful. After lunch we visited the Butterfly Sanctuary. It's
the largest in the country and has over a dozen different species,
which're all bred on-site. Very colourful. We did the guided tour.
Opened in 1987, the sanctuary encloses some 3666 cubic metres in the
aviary and is home to over 1500 tropical butterflies, all local to the
area, including the electric blue Ulysses butterfly and the largest
butterfly in Australia, the Cairns or Australian Birdwing. When it was
opened, it was the largest butterfly aviary in the world. Today it
still holds the record as the largest in the southern hemisphere.
Inside there's 3 acres cultivated with 'butterfly food' plants and a
further 4 acres of recreated rainforest. |
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Butterfly on Cynthia's hand
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Cruiser Butterfly, Butterfly Sanctuary
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Butterfly having lunch, Butterfly Sanctuary
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Butterfly, Butterfly Sanctuary, Kuranda
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Birdwing Butterfly, Butterfly Sanctuary
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Ulysses Butterfly, Butterfly Sanctuary
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Barron Falls, Barron Falls
Skyrail Station
Image © David Powell,
2007
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Crossing Barron River, Kuranda Skyrail
Image © David Powell,
2007
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Then to the Skyrail terminal for the cablecar trip back down to the
coast. The Skyrail Rainforest Cableway travels over the rainforest
canopy a distance of 7.5km, straight over the top of Red Peak, making
it the world's longest gondola cableway. Sometimes barely a metre above
the canopy, other times dozens of metres. A nice view and a bit of a
thrill especially when passing over valleys and the wind rocked the car
.. but personally I thought the rail trip was more interesting. After a
while one piece of rainforest canopy looks much the same as another.
The last leg, from Red Peak down to the end terminal, gave some pretty
impressive views of the coast, from Cairns to Port Douglas, and out
over the Coral Sea. There're two stations, along the way, where you can
get off and stretch your legs, walk thru' the rainforest and admire the
view at the scenic lookouts. The first is the Barron Falls station.
There's a small interpretative centre there along with several lookouts
over the falls. The second is the Red Peak station .. there you can
visit the Rainforest Interpretation Centre. |
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Over Barron Gorge National Park on Skyrail
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Approaching cablecars, Barron Falls Station
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Northern Beaches from Kuranda Skyrail
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Northern Beaches from Kuranda Skyrail
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Cairns from Kuranda Skyrail
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Approaching end of Skyrail line
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Took the scenic route back to the resort via Cairns. A bit of a rest
and got some takeaway at a local burger joint before having a quiet
evening. Weather's been hazy much of the day, which really killed the
long distance visibility. :( Temps and humidity much the same as
yesterday. And as with yesterday, after the sun set a strong breeze
blew up coming off the Coral Sea and blowing into Palm Cove .. and
prolly elsewhere in the region. Died down after an hour or so.
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