After an very enjoyable stay on the Atherton Tablelands we moved on to Cairns. We stayed in the Lake Placid Caravan Park which was at the base of the Kuranda Cable Car run on the edge of the rainforest.
We really
enjoyed our trip up to Kuranda, in the highlands above Cairns. We got a
package which took us up through the rainforest on a 1 1/2 hour train
ride and and returned to Cairns by cable car. The cable car ride covered
a distance of 7.5 ks over the rainforest. Quite spectacular. We had a
few hours to explore Kuranda village. Kuranda was full of arts and craft
shops wildlife exhibits, restaurants and cafes. We visited the Bird
Park, Reptile House and Butterfly house.
We met
Coral and Brian while we were in Milaa Milaa and they also m
oved on to
Lake Placid. We decided to leave our caravans at the park and drive up
to the Daintree and stay in a motel for a couple of nights. On the way
up we stopped in at Port Douglas which was a lovely spot. The whole area
was very Pacific Island like with palm trees lining the beaches. Very
pretty. We crossed the Daintree River by car ferry then called in to the
Forest Discovery Centre and did the forest board walk. A visit to
a tropical fruit farm was interesting. We had a guided tour and sampled
lots of different tropical fruits that are been experimentally grown in
the area. There are quite a few walking tracks in the Daintree, several
of which led us to some lovely little beaches and mangrove boardwalks.
Cape Tribulation was a popular spot and quite a nice beach. It is a
shame that you are unable to swim at a lot of the beaches in the
north. This is due to either crocodiles or jellyfish (or both). Most of
the beaches have stinger nets or cages which gives you a safe area in
which to swim but it is not the same. on the way back to Cairns we
stopped in at Mossman Gorge, one of the safe places to swim in the area,
and the pools were full of both tourists and locals enjoying a dip in
the cool fresh water.
Tree
Kangaroos and Cassowarys have proved to be very elusive and we hadn't
managed to see any in the wild so Paj and I decided to got to the Port
Douglas Wildlife Park we we were able to see both. .
The landscape up in this area is quite different to what we have travelled through so far. It is very lush and green with rainforest, sugarcane plantations and banana plantations every where you look. It is certainly a welcome change from the dust that we have had up until now.
Heading East 2009
Part Seven - Cairns and the Daintree
