The day I returned from the Whitsunday Islands to Airlie Beach I ended up going out to Beaches for drinks with the group of people who were on my boat (SV Whitehaven.) Arriving at 7:30 I’d planned to stay for a short time, then retire to my room for some much needed shuteye. As I announced I was heading out at 11:30 I was grabbed and wisked off to the dance floor for “just one more dance” which turned into an all nighter that ended on a beach with a friend and a palm tree. Fun night, but waking up at 6am after partying til 3 was tough. Poor me ;-)
After a 10+ hr bus ride from Airlie Beach to Cairns, spent talking (not sleeping as I’d planned) to a really cool guy (farmer) from Cambria (near Scotland) I shuffled to the YHA and found a bunk and slept. Being a 10 person co-ed bunk room, I was awakend early by travelers who were making their way out for their days trips, dive trips, river rafting and sailing, so I got up and decided to figure out what to do with myself for three days. I ended up booking onto the Sky Rail and Kuranda railway. This was very fun, even though the day was (yet again) overcast and very misty or raining the entire day. The Sky Rail is a 4+ mile Gondala ride suspended 30-40 feet above the rainforest, and stretches up to Kuranda village high in the mountains. With two stops along the way offering visitors a way to walk through the wilderness on elevated walkways, Sky Rail is an excellent and very scenic way to experience this amazing place. I HIGHLY recommend the Sky Rail, the 500 year old giant pine trees are reason enough to go, but honestly there are too many things to see for me to try and do justice to them in words. You will need to wait for more photos.
BTW - I’m sorry the most recent photos have only come from my camera phone, I’m working on a business plan to help Autralia inmprove it’s Internet capabilities for travelers but it might take me a few years to get it going :-)
Once in Kuranda I was not surprised by the strictly commercial, touristical feel of the place. It’s a small village that must make 99% of it’s business from tourists who trek in. It was dumping buckets of water on me, so I ran for the only enclosed space I could see, the Butterfly house. Wow, there are some huge butterlys and moths in that place. Very interesting to see them up close, I got a few nice pictures, but overall the experience was overated for the $15 entrance fee. I spent 20 minutes there, then dashed off to the “markets” aka stalls with things for sale to tourists. The huge (hundreds) group of Japanese students made me smile (all in their proper school uniforms, without rainjackets, in the rain) and it was intriguing to see some unique Oz gifts, but I moved on rather quickly.
Getting a bite to eat (Oz cheeseburger with a slice of beet root - yummy) I was unfortunate to be sitting next to one of those typical widwest american families who are supersized. They complained about everything that was outside of their normal experience. They complained about the food, the bugs, the weather and the “funny” way people talked around Australia. It made me cringe, so I left as fast as possible.
The railroad journey down the mountain was on a historic train that was used to help build the local hydro electric plant in the 1930’s. It was quite boring, with only a few really astounding views of dramatic deep gorges, 15 tunnels and several sharp turns over high bridges. Overall it was a letdown after the Sky Rail. I’d recommend that you skip this and take the Gondala both up and down the mountains if you ever make it to Cairns and the Kuranda region.
I get back to Cairns, find the lady from Airlie Beach has caught up with me, so we hang out for dinner, then gather a bunch of other similar minded friends at our table and start a party that goes until they kick us out of the courtyard. Sleep, then up at 6am again to head off for a day trip to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree rainforest.
This day trip entailed another day in a bus, but was made much nicer because I made another new friend named Kelly. She’s originally from the States, but was raised by her missionary parents in the jungles of Venezuela and now lives outside Manila teaching kindergarten kids at a private school. We had a blast at every stop, seeing something new (for me it was new but apparently the daintree is a bit like the jungles of Venezuela.) Ended the day having dinner with her and her friend Lorna at The Woolshed in Cairns. Then bedtime for bonzo.
Slept in til 8:30, got up, packed, did some shopping, then headed to the airport to catch a flight to Melbourne.
Arrived in Mel yesterday evening and was really happy to see that the YHA here is like a 4 star hotel. VERY nice place, with comfy beds. mmmm deep sleep for me starts at 9pm and ends as I get up to explore the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne today.
I didn’t take many photos today, just wandered the market, a huge place with lot’s of veggies, fruits and what I would characterize as high quality flea market stuff. $10 Australian leather belts, imported asian made clothing and shoes, Kangaroo skin and fun made into all sorts of things and more of the same. I headed into the city center proper after that, and WOW, this city has shopping out the wazoo. If you ever want to spend a lot of money, this is a place to do it. I’ve never seen such dense shopping before, not in Manhatten, Chicago, London, Paris, Florence or elsewhere. I had little time for it though, as I had to meet Keith at 3pm. Had a nice chat, then headed back to the YHA for some food and to write this post. It’s 9:15 and I get to fly to Sydney tomorrow, so off to pack up again and get some reading done. No energy for going out tonight…maybe when in Sydney with Mick, Marty, Zak and Tim.
Chow for now.Sorry for the spelling, I pounded this out in time to beat the Internet cafe clock.
