That Cairns Do Attitude

View from the Skyrail, looking toward the sea.

Perhaps the most ironic thing about my stay in Cairns is that, as wet as I got while snorkeling the barrier reef, it was actually on my next day of stay that I felt truly soaked (at least that was how it felt.) I spent my second day in Cairns visiting the Kuranda Tropical Rainforest, and as the name suggests it was raining.

I started the day by taking the Skyrail, which is about a 5 mile gondola ride over the rainforest outside of Cairns. The forest itself was beautiful and filled with tropical trees and all sorts of plant life you would only expect to find in such places. I can of course give you no examples of this as I had no camera and did not memorize the Latin names I found on the plaques while I was wandering around the tropical forest. I can tell you there were palm tree-like-plants, and other sort-of-palm tree-like-plants. However, despite the natural beauty the higher the gondola rose over the forest the cloudier and wetter it got.

The gondola made two stops in the rain forest where you could disembark to explore the forest more closely. I enjoyed see a rainforest up close, but traveling above it was a true experience. Sitting suspended a mile or so above the forest you can't help but look down at the wonder around you. They make a lot of hooey about how plant life in the rainforest is always competing for sunlight and I could see how that would be so. At some points the canopy was so thick it looked more like I was riding above a green solid carpet not a forest. I also learned that many of the plants and vines have adapted, so that there are many species of plant that have learned to actually grow in the air, using other trees as support instead of soil. Also vines have a tricky way of surviving that entails wrapping themselves around larger trees to snake their way to sunlight.
According to the three minute video I was subjected to at the Rainforest Discovery Centre, at one point all of Australia was covered in such tropical forests, but as the continent fell away from the once great super-continent (it had heat vision), and slipped further toward the polar regions, much of the forest was destroyed by climate change and natural geological movements. The only remaining part of this ancient forest was the part I found myself walking through.

And I thought Emus were
scary. This is a Cassowary,
It is native to the
rainforest. 

The skyrail itself dropped me at a small little town called Kuranda, which was only important because it boasted a large amount of shops and tourist traps. Being rather tired and poor I did not partake in any shopping or trappings. Instead, I found the town's nature trails and explored the scenery of places like the Kuranda River and Barron Falls, as my scheduled train was not meant to take me home till 3:30 (I had more than four hours to kill.) So the falls were located 2 kilometers outside of town, which is well within my walking distance, at least it would have been on a normal day. What they don't tell you is that there are no sidewalks leading to the nature park where it located. So instead you spend 2 klicks worth of uphill walking on the side of the road. Even worse I picked the rainiest part of the day to make the journey. Thankfully, I was in a bathing suit already, because by the time I arrived it felt as if I had actually swam the damn falls. I cold and very very wet. The falls were... nice... but nothing to write home about (which is ironic because I suppose that is exactly what I am doing). Apparently, during the flooding season they are spectacular. It was not the flooding season (though you wouldn't have thought that.) So after checking out the falls I made my way back the 2 kilometers to town in the pouring rain.

Being hungry and still hours away from my train departure, I went to the local supermarket and bought some deli meets and a cheap roll and made myself a roast beef sandwich, along with some chips and Tim-Tams. (Love Tim-Tams.) As it was still raining I ate my makeshift lunch under a canopied area, and was promptly thrown out because apparently I was in a restaurant area. So after arguing with the waiter and giving him some dirty looks I moved on and finished my now soggy sandwich on the side of the road. With nothing left to do, I went and sat at the only place I wouldn't be kicked out of, the train station. As my train was a scenic train and part of my package it only departed at one time of the day. So I had to wait. while did I splurged and bought some hot chocolate to warm myself up and ate my tim-tams.

Karunda Railway

The train is the Kurunda Train and follows an old mining line that was used to transport miners to the gold mines. The railway was completed in 1891, mostly through Irish labor. Many lives were lost as numerous tunnels and bridges were built. The first operation of a tourist train from Cairns to Kuranda was in 1936. We rode over towering gorges, past mighty waterfalls, and through man-made tunnels of immense size and make. It was a spectacular view, so spectacular in fact that I fell asleep halfway through the trip. I was exhausted from two days of activity and the last of my strength was sapped out of me by my wet and cold condition.

However, even as I drifted in and out of consciousness, I did find myself marveling at the mile wide gorges, the waterfalls, and the appreciating the immense undertaking that it must be to carve miles of tunnel out of the side of sheer cliff face. It must have been a daunting task, not unlike the day I spent in the rainforest. All in all, I had a good day exploring this World Heritage Forest and all its trappings, but I was truly exhausted and I was certainly ready to move on.