Day 5 - Atherton Tablelands and More Reminiscing

Tuesday, October 8th, 2013

Maps I've included here are for my future reference. Our trip today was especially exciting for me for several reasons.

First, the Atherton Tablelands is 40 hectares of of tropical rainforest and I have a special fondness for the lushness of rainforest. Here are some facts copied from a brochure: "This world heritage area is regarded as the 'jewel in the crown' of Australia's protected natural areas.  The rainforest has a great diversity of life, with more species of moths and beetles alone than all forms of life on the Great Barrier Reef. It has more than 200 species of birds and more than 60% of Australia's species of butterflies. The rainforest is home of the giant Amethystine Python, which grows to more than 7.5 meters." 

Second, our trip began at the Freshwater railway station. This gave me the opportunity to, once again, see Freshwater State School where I taught for 18 months. I only caught a glimpse of the school today while children were on the playground just prior to starting their first day back following the October holiday week. The school looks the same but the neighbourhood densified since the 'country school' environment I experienced 40 years ago.  Some of you may remember the story of the flying ant lost in my ear canal during school one day at Freshwater School.

Third, I was hoping to see the area of the last place we lived here - the Barron River Caravan Park. I could only guess at its location, though. All of the places we lived in Cairns have disappeared.

Our day trip began on the Kuranda scenic railway for an hour and a half climb through many tunnels and tight turns ending in Kuranda. This railway was built in the 1880's to facilitate transportation of supplies to the gold miners. 

Once we arrived at Kuranda station we walked into the village to browse, lunch and shop. It's a shopper's mecca of all sorts of local crafts and Australian products mostly made in China. Tina and I both managed to find things to buy.  

We also visited the Rainforestation area for a guided tour of the animal park where the koalas were unusually active. Among the animals we saw were a cassowary, various kangaroos and wallabies, dingos, a wombat, monitors and crocodiles.

                                

A ride through the rainforest in an army duck was next on our itinerary. An army duck is a WW2 vintage amphibious vehicle. 

                                  

Our very entertaining driver pointed out the various butterflies and water creatures as well as interesting and dangerous vegetation during this tour. We witnessed quite the interaction between a couple of water dragons (which I thought I'd captured on video, but not so!).

The last leg of our excursion was a 7.5 km trip in a cable gondola car over the forest canopy back to Freshwater near the train station where we began our day. What a fabulous trip!! We were able to disembark at 2 points during our journey - first for a walk through the forest and to view Barron Falls from a different perspective than we saw from the train, and secondly at Red Peak station, the highest point on the cableway where we saw a giant 500 year old kauri pine tree. I will be interested to compare its size and appearance with the giant kauris in New Zealand when we're there next month.

We returned to our hotel just in time for happy hour and to partake in the T-Bone Tuesday special in the hotel restaurant.  Mmmm....