Day 13:
Due to restrictions about flying and diving, we scheduled our final day in Cairns to be focused on the rainforest. Initially some of this was going to be done separately over a couple of days, but it sounded so cool that we wedged it all into one day so that we could do it together.
The morning started early (when else?) with a walk to the Cairns train station. From there we caught the Kuranda Scenic Railway for a trip to the historic town of Kuranda. The train car was mostly empty which was nice, but it also wasn’t air conditioned, which wasn’t. Cairns was at about 32C and 85% humidity that morning and the train wasn’t moving fast enough to make a real difference. I think we would have enjoyed the trip quite a bit more if the weather had been more cooperative. At any rate, the train had very nice views and was a diverting couple of hours in the morning.
Kuranda exists as nothing more than a tourist town. One of the guides joked that the town wakes up at 10.00 and goes to sleep at 16.00 (the train’s in and out). There are a couple of nature parks, but mostly it’s shops. We got a couple of post cards and I managed to find a slouch hat for the trip to Uluru.
The trip home was along the Skyrail which is a massively long cable car. The route goes along the mountain tops just above the rainforest canopy and was very cool (both temperature and style). Jill and I were able to see all sorts of things including flying cockatoos right nearby.
The evening though, was even better. We had scheduled a tour of the rainforest at night. When we were picked up at the hotel, we got the great news that the tour which had a maximum of 16 people was going to just be us that night! It was a great time that started with wallaby and platypus (damn faux-mammals!) spotting before dinner and dark, and ended with night-spotting for possums. Interestingly, possums in Australia are nothing like Possums in North America.
We learned many important things about the rainforest. Some of the ones that come back to me now are that there is a plant in the rainforest that if you touch it, will cause permanent nerve damage. Also, there is a bush called the Wait-a-While which had recently killed a dirt-biker by slashing his throat with it's wicked serrated vines. In fact during the rainstorm, both Jill and I picked up leaches on our legs. I love this place!
Jill and I both were able to spot many of the animals and both enjoyed ourselves immensely. That night I personally loved seeing the blatantly luminescent fungi at night as well as the cute little bandicoots skittering all over roads.
The night ended around 23.00 and we fell straight into bed because of our long day and an early morning flight the next morning.
Jill Update:
During our 10 minute walk to the train station we were a bit lost and there was some tension. But after a day of sweating together and a night of Jill being frightened by every animal (real and imaginary), things were good again.
The night ended around 23.00 and we fell straight into bed because of our long day and an early morning flight the next morning.
Jill Update:
During our 10 minute walk to the train station we were a bit lost and there was some tension. But after a day of sweating together and a night of Jill being frightened by every animal (real and imaginary), things were good again.
2 comments:
*blatantly* luminescent? Do these fungi have no shame?
Indeed they don't. You've seen things that glow faintly (like the luminescent hands of a watch)? Nothing like this. You'd think they had a light bulb somewhere in them. They stuck out like little light-houses on the ground.
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