Traveling with Michelle: Day 16: Crikey! It's a Rainforest

5 June 2017
Today we took an interesting trip. We took a gondola (like the kind that take you up mountains to ski or hike) up above and over an rainforest. There were two stops along the way to walk on boardwalks through the rainforest and take pictures. Then you alight in a small, very touristy town before boarding a small train back to near where you started, then a shuttle bus returns you to where you started. Then we went to the beach for our final night in Trinity Beach.

First, the gondolas. It is called the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. You ride up above the rainforest canopy. The wires are held up by towers. The towers were lowered down onto the ground by helicopter to cause less damage to the rainforest. We were discussing why they would be allowed to put in the cableway in a rainforest. I guess that Skyrail pays a lot of money to the groups that protect and maintain the rainforest and they use that money to, well, protect and maintain the rainforest which is good. Also, the more people know about the rainforests, they more likely they are to see them as a treasure to protect into the future. That's my guess.

As the gondolas got to each tower, it was a bit jarring because the gondola switches from the cable to a track and back again which makes the gondola lurch a bit! Very disconcerting--I gasped every time (there are 34 towers!). It starts as eucalypt woodlands before moving into the deep vine-clad rainforest. Around Tower 14, there is a stop at Red Peak Station. There is a short walk on boardwalk through the rainforest. We saw basket ferns and many other things. I was reminded of the short story, "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury. In this story, a man from the future was walking on a boardwalk in the past and was warned to NEVER stray off the path. Well, he does and steps on a butterfly, and when he returns to the future, it is all different. Different language, etc. I read that story in 9th grade and it has stayed with me all of these years (so has The Illustrated Man, also by Bradbury). I was reminded to not stray off the boardwalk or I may change the course of the future!

Kauri Pine Tree

Basket fern

Cassowary

After walking around the Red Peak Station, we heard a ranger talking about Cassowary. They are endangered birds that may attack, so stay away from them. We asked a question about why the Cassowary only gets a small amount of nutrition from each fruit he eats and the Ranger talked about how awful the Australian ground is for growing. He said that the Cassowary had to evolve to get what it could from the fruit that it could find. He said that is the same reason that the koalas sleep for 20 hours a day and the kangaroos are lazy. (!). He said that not enough good foods are created by such poor soil to provide enough energy such as the monkees and other animals in Africa where the fruits are plentiful (the ranger was quite funny talking about this). Since the Cassowary doesn't digest the entire fruit, it's job in the rainforest ecosystem is to spread the seeds. Anyway, back on the gondolas.

Around Tower 27, is the Barron Falls Station. Another boardwalk with views of the rainforest, lookouts of the Barron Falls, a small display of the old train system they used to build the old hydroelectric dam (which is still being used) and a small Interpretation Center (which is actually very well done).

Barron Falls

Joshua, Randy and me

Back on the gondolas to end at Kuranda Station (just after Tower 34). Kuranda is a small, very touristy village in the rainforest. It has many art and craft markets, as well as gift/souvenir shops and restaurants. We looked a lot and bought a few souvenirs and Marian and Kathi treated us all to ice cream cones. There was quite a bit of public art in Kuranda as well.

Joshua

Me, Joshua, and Randy

frog

Public Art

Boy, that's one OLD store!

They sell Didgeridoos

Then we boarded the scenic railway which was originally built in the 1880s to get the crops from beyond Kuranda where the ground is fertile to where they could be shipped (Cairns). It is a small gauge track and now mainly takes tourists to and from Kuranda for day trips or on holiday. We had the option to return by Skyrail, but opted for the rail route instead. It stopped once for us to get out and view the Barron Falls again and pointed out other points of interest along the way (and the train slowed way down for photographs). They also gave the history of the railway and stories of it being built and of areas nearby. It was very interesting.

Barron Falls (from the other side)

We stopped near Port Douglas and were moved onto large buses to go back to the Skyrial Station. The parking lot was filled with buses and it was hard finding out which bus you were supposed to go on. Some were going to Cairns and other locations.

Sugar Cane

Then we drove back to our house and rested a bit while Randy went to get groceries. We went to the beach one last time (we are leaving tomorrow to slowly make our way to our farmstay--with side trips along the way). I convinced Joshua to wear his swimsuit so that he could have fun in the water. The water was much warmer than last night and we were all wet up to our hips by the time we were done!