Kuranda, Australia / Anika Claire / The Big Adventure Part 2 / Skyrail

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Skyrail

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Kuranda, Australia
16° 49' S 145° 38' E
Apr 19, 2007 02:02
Distance 17km

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Skyrail

Text written in: English

I was originally going to hire a car today, and go driving up towards Atherton, but I left my license in the UK so I had to find something else to do. I decided to try to get to the Kuranda skyrail, without taking a taxi or the pricey bus transfer. I walked into Cairns City Mall (about 1/2 hour from P&K's house) and found where a bus would leave for Kuranda. It ended up costing me $4, and the driver took me to Caravonica skyrail station at the bottom of the mountains rather than all the way up to Kuranda.

The return ticket cost me $56, and it wasn't very busy so I got a cable car to myself for the whole way to Kuranda and back again. The skyrail takes you high up into the mountains, soaring over the rainforest. The rainforest up there is so beautiful, lush and green and quite different to the sub-tropical rainforests of SE Queensland. There were two stations along the way, with about 15 mins of time inbetween each with beautiful views over the rainforest. You can get out at the stations and go for short walks in the rainforest.

It was a glorious day, very sunny with clear blue sky. Apparently it was the first day of winter because it wasn't raining and it had been under 20 degrees in the morning. And we were cheering in the UK the other week because the maximum was over 15!

Once at Kuranda, I walked around the markets and shops for a while. It's a lot like Montville, a laid-back hippy market town. I couldn't buy much because I left my credit card back at peter's so I only had cash on me, but I managed to get a couple of things before going for a walk through the beautiful rainforest down to the Barron River. Thankfully I didn't see any crocodiles!

The trip back on the skyrail was just as beautiful as the way there, with the slight hiccup of shutting down for a couple of mins when i was at Barron Gorge station! I was a bit annoyed at being stuck at a station when it stopped rather than looking out over the rainforest, but I guess it was better to be there where I could hear what was going on.

I got the Sunbus back into Cairns city for $4 and Peter picked me up from Cairns Central. I took he and Kirin out for dinner to Barnacle Bills, a seafood resturant on the Esplanade, to say thanks for letting me stay with them.