Week 510 · Kuranda · Skyrail Gondola · Koalas · Scenic Railway
We took a trip to the rainforest town of Kuranda with the primary objective of holding a Koala. Kuranda is an old logging town that has been converted to essentially a large gift shop with some wildlife venues — but the transport is half the fun.
Part of the highlight of going to Kuranda is the transport — one way on a gondola and back on a scenic train. The gondola passes over a roaring waterfall in the rainy season. It wasn't the rainy season. The gondola trip was great with a couple of opportunities to get off for short hikes around the waterfall.
Skyrail Rainforest Cableway stretches 7.5 kilometres from Caravonica (just north of Cairns) to Kuranda, passing over the Barron Gorge National Park — a UNESCO World Heritage listed rainforest. Opened in 1995, it operates over 114 gondola cabins and is one of the longest gondola cableways in the world. The gorge below contains the Barron Falls, which runs at full dramatic flow only during the November–April wet season. During the dry season the flow is largely diverted to the Barron Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station, built in 1963, which supplies power to Cairns.
Upon arrival, we went directly to the Koala reserve only to find out you had to have a long-standing reservation to hold the Koala during a 30-minute window. Makes sense to reduce the stress on the animals. We did see a few Koalas in the reserve — they just sleep all day and we got some pictures. And when you see the "holding Koala" — he looks pretty tired.
"In the rainy season, that is a major waterfall behind Anish" — and in the dry season, the only thing falling is your expectation of holding a Koala without a reservation. Makes sense to reduce the stress on the animals. The Koala you pose with looks like he is tired of posing. He probably is.
We were looking for a place to eat and a young lady tempted us with some bratwurst from a German restaurant — so we went in to find no bratwurst was left, a stalker shrine to Nena (of 99 Luftballons) and the only place I have had to use cash in Australia since I arrived. The other wurst was pretty good but overall sketchy.
The return train trip was not near as good as the gondola trip over. We did pass through some beautiful valley scenery but the gondola was clearly the better direction. I headed from the train station to the airport on return to Cairns while Sharon, Steph, and Anish went to Fitzroy Island and Green Island — both highly recommended.
On an administrative note, I am applying for a longer-term visa — one of the requirements is a police clearance from anywhere you lived more than 365 days in the past 10 years. So in addition to providing records of my daily travels for the last 10 years, I have to obtain police clearance for South Korea, USA, and Maryland. The visa consultant said they'd handle the USA/Maryland and I was on my own for South Korea. After a bit, I have received the South Korean clearance, obtained the forms for the FBI to complete (which require fingerprinting in a police station in Sydney), but still haven't received the forms for Maryland — they only mail stuff around, nothing electronic. So much for the local things being easier to handle.
I would be remiss to note that Sharon, Steph, and Anish became big fans of "Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia" instead of picking an Australian Rules Football team.