Day 20 Cairns by Caro

Today was a bit more structured than usual, and Paddy arrived from the float looking like this.

We were booked in for the sky rail and scenic train ride.

We caught the sky rail late in the morning, along with about a million other people.

I realised within the first 5 minutes that I still don’t really like heights, but the view was pretty special.

We rode over the top of the rainforest, I don’t know exactly how high we were, but it was high.  

There were 3 stops along the way, the first was to listen to a talk about the rainforest.  It was interesting, and full of facts, most of which I have already forgotten.

One thing I do remember is that when dinosaurs were around, the earth was mostly rainforests, not like the landscape at home.

The second stop was to see Barron falls.  It was very pretty, and again very big.

There is a hydroelectric scheme among these falls as well.

Once we finished here, we got back in the cable car and it took us to a village called Kuranda. We had lunch here, then walked around the shops and markets.  The place was full of hippies and tourists and smelt a bit funny.  The locals all looked like they were from their own planet, but didn’t look like they had a worry in the world.

The markets were good…..if you are into rocks, astrology and wind chimes.

We then caught the train back down the hill.  The kids ( and Danny) were horrified when they realised the train took 1 1/2 hours, and gave a history lesson along the way.  It also turns out that we were in cattle class… right at the back,  which didn’t go down very well when we saw what the other carriages were like.  I thought Danny was joking when he said 2 Brahmans were about to get on board beside us, but after the first few minutes, I thought he might be right. Lucky for Danny he had bought 2 bottles of mango port in Kuranda, so that helped him cope.



Once we settled in, it was a good trip, and a pretty cool day.

Now we are back at the caravan park, and I am hiding in the car, doing this blog.  Danny had to take Paddy to the toilet, and has now re-enacted the whole “giving birth to a submarine” episode.  Raising toddlers still surprises him!

Caro.