Our Kuranda experience in Cairns

There are three things I would like to accomplish in this posting.   Tell you about our stop in Cairns, Tell you a little bit about the Great Barrier Reef (because I only know a little bit about it) and then to tell you about the Torres Strait which we just finished traversing our way to our final Australian stop in Darwin.

I bring up the Reef because we entered into it between our stops in Townsville and Cairns.   It is almost considered sacred ground due to its importance to so much.   The health of the reef these days is not good.  It is dying in several places and due to several reasons.   Most of it is man made problems in some way or fashion.   Rising water temperatures, tourism issues, pollution are all problematic when it comes to the health of the reef.   Big deal you say,  but it really is a growing problem that will have far reaching implications if it continues on the current path.   Luckily, steps are being taken as quickly as possible to at least limit the effects of some of the issues.  Success has been achieved in acute areas but a much larger picture needs to be looked at to obtain lasting benefits. 

Along with us entering this protected water way we had to take on a Reef Pilot.   This is someone who comes on board and lends his expertise of the reef and the passable routes we need to take to navigate the shallow waters here.. shallow like 27 feet or so.   That is the most shallow I have seen on the many screens we have that track our trip.   That is a far cry from the deepest I have seen yet which was 22,240 feet deep.   The reef is located in the Coral Sea off the area of Queensland, Australia.   It encompasses 344,400 square kilometers or 133,000 square miles.   It is  about 1400 miles long and is made up of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands.   See the path we had to take thru the reef.  It looks like the path that PAC MAN game piece takes while it tries to eat those dots while you play the game.   There is no straight line thru it.  At times we would slow way down to allow traffic to pass or to allow for no mistakes as we made our way thru shallow parts.   When we made our stop in Cairns, some folks did tours out to the areas of the reefs where it was safe but like I said earlier, they are beginning to lessen those tours in order to lessen the effects they have on the reefs.

So we get to Cairns, which is pronounced "cans", like tin cans.   That's how the locals call it.  They don't pronounce the R.  Cairns has some unofficial symbols like sugar cane, mangroves, and fruit bats.  All of these were immediately noticeable in Cairns.  95% of Australia's sugar cane is produced in Queensland.  The fields of sugar cane are as prevalent as corn fields in Indiana.  At nightfall, the bats who roost in mango fruit trees, migrate to the mangroves. 

Sugar Cane fields everywhere

Mangroves in salty marsh in Cairns Port

Can you see the fruit bats hanging in the trees in the city?

Epiphyte

Kauri

Vialula and I had a tour today that took us up to Kuranda.  Kuranda is the village in the rain forest, and it was this very rain forest that served as inspiration for James Cameron's incredible movie, "Avatar" ... the tree in avatar is based on the Queensland Kauri tree.  It's huge! We also saw these cool things called "epiphites".  They are basket like ferns, and they are their own little ecosystem.  They don't harm the trees either. Jackaranda trees are everywhere, and they have these red beads on them.  They are a cousin to the mimosa tree.  This rain forest is in the rugged Barron Gorge National Park. Lush and green are the words we will use one more time!

Jackaranda

We boarded a train down in Freshwater Station and began our journey up the tracks.   It is a steep incline and rises up to 328 meters.   It is unbelievable but this rail line was built way back.  It was started in 1882 and completed in 1891.  Most unbelievable is that it was all dug out and laid by hand,   That includes 15 tunnels and the 37 bridges.   It is still considered an engineering feat of tremendous magnitude.  It also proved to be very important during the second world war.  So up the incline we go.   The views are fantastic even though it is a rainy, foggy day.  Afterall, it is called a "rain forest" not a "sun forest"! Waterfalls, vistas, gorges all present opportunities to wear your camera out, and you can imagine how many pictures Vialula took.   The train makes one stop on the way up.   The original reason the stop was created was that the steam engines of old would need to fill there water tanks in order to proceed. 

Kuranda Express

LeRoy and his didji

We made it up and there up on top is the village of Kuranda.   It is very quaint.  It has a butterfly sanctuary, a colorful bird aviary and a wonderful market community that has succumbed to the call of the tourist, so now the town is pretty much a mecca for souvenir seekers.   Alas, we fell victim to its pull and made our own contribution to the local community.   LeRoy got himself an Aussie hat and shirt.  Vialula found a dress, a scarf, a belt, and a hat.   All good things but then LeRoy ventured into a local art shop where the beautiful art and instruments of the aboriginal was for sale.  Lo and behold ... he heard the call ... the call of the didgeridoo! They say that you don't pick your didgeridoo, it picks you. 

Vi and I looked at several but we kept coming back to one particular didj. Thus, while it wasn't the favorite one of the the shop person, (that one was much more expensive)  it must have called to me cause it is now on it's way to the States and to Tennessee in particular.  Tickets to the first didj concert will go on sale once we get back home.   I am expecting a full sell out so don't delay!  I will have a special guest appearance of Vialula on her magical ukulele that you won't want to miss. 


It was a great trip up on the train, and it was now time to go back down on a cable car called the SkyRail.   This is the world's longest cable car system covering 7.5 kilometers.   It has two rain forest stops where you can get off and take some incredible pictures.  Each cable car can hold up to 6 people but for the most part Vi and I were the only two in our car.   That allowed us to hang out the open windows and experience the rain and fog first hand (and I stole a kiss!)   On a clear day it must be stunning, but we cannot complain.  It was a great experience and trip down.   Our bus was waiting down at the bottom and once again, we were about the last ones back on board.   There was a lot to do down at the base so the stares of the the early birds weren't quite as harsh this time.  We take the short trip back to the city and to our awaiting boat.   This turned out to be one of our favorite tours so far. We like Cairns.   So far it has been 7 our of 8 great stops between New Zealand and Australia.
We hop on the boat and look forward to number 8 in Darwin.

Before we get to Darwin, we have to sail all the way up the east coast of Australia and over the Cape York Peninsula and thru the dangerous Torres Strait.   This is a very important navigational passage but it is very shallow.   It can be as shallow as 7 to 15 meters.   That is not conducive to easy passage of these monstrous ships of today.  The strait goes between Australia and the Melanesian Islands of New Guinea.  Fortunately, the day was very calm for us, the seas were as flat as I have seen them, and our travel was uneventful.   It was surreal to look out one side and see Australia,  and then go to the other side and see New Guinea. 

Passing Wednesday Island on Tuesday morning
while it's Monday at home!

So that accomplishes what I want to do.  Hope it didn't bore.  I am still getting my thoughts together so that I can give you a post about the ship and its treasures.   I will try to do that right after Darwin as we have a couple of sea days before we go see the dragons on Komodo Island.   I am still trying to figure out if I can get a dragon home and how much the cat will enjoy it!  See you soon and as always, a big thank you goes out to all at home who help make this possible and to all who have been enjoying riding along with us thru our blog. 

LeRoy and Vialula