Cairns Day Four and Five

In Queensland you can get almost anything, but the Queensland state is home to XXXX beer.  If it's cold, it tastes good.  And the can is kind of interesting:

It was cold, tasted pretty good

A little story on the back

No, we didn't drink this in the morning of day three, I just like taking photos of beer.

So, we started last Saturday on the Kuranda Scenic Railway from Freshwater station at 8:50am.  This historic train goes up through the Macalister Range, via Barron Falls, and clearly ends up in Kuranda.  I won't link to the KSR official site, however on their home page they show some photos of people leaning out of the windows of the train with what look like alcoholic drinks.  Well - number one, you can't buy alcoholic drinks on the train, and number two, if you were to lean out the window, you would likely lose your arm or possibly your head. Nevertheless, there are some cool views of the Cairns outskirts from the ranges, and the ranges themselves:

On the way up

The ranges, we're getting high up now.

This is all part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.  It's rainforest.

After a while, we stopped at the Barron Falls Station, which is not a station at all, but a lookout.

Just a trickle but in the wet season these falls are huge

Rocks

It really is beautiful

We got to Kuranda, but I didn't take any photos really.  It was very pretty and laid back.  We wandered around the markets, ran into a guy we met in Sydney who plays ukelele, ate Bratwurst with sauerkraut and german potato salad.  I quite liked the idea of this sign, although I didn't try the chilli.

Didn't try it, so don't know if the claim is true

After a few hours, we took the Skyrail back to Cairns. This travels by cable car over just a fraction of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area,  they say it is the oldest continuing surviving rainforest in the world.

The Skyrail at Kuranda

Barron River

Getting into the rainforest canopy

Barron Falls from the other side

Barron Falls

I love these falls

Couldn't resist another photo of those pools

Look forward to seeing them in the wet season

Canopy

400 year old Kauri Pine

Roots

Everything is very big

 

These ferns are living in symbiosis

On the way down

Civilisation emerges

Well, that was a good day!  In the middle of the night I had to get up to go to the bathroom.  We were staying at my cousin's place below the ranges.  Outside our bedroom window I could see stars.  Millions of stars.  I love stars. It was fantastic, I saw the milky way and constellations I hadn't seen for years.  My eyes were wide open.  Later I dreamt that a watermelon fell out of the sky.

The next morning, we went for breakast in Palm Cove, which is pretty close by.  The first thing I noticed was this sign on the beach.  Stingers? Crocs?  Well, only in summer apparently. That is the stingers are only in summer.  The crocs are always around.

Scary wildlife sign

On the top floor this hotel has rooms with their own plunge pools.  One way to avoid the stingers and crocs I guess.

Palm Cove

Mmmm, Palm Cove

The larger of "Double Island" off Palm Cove

We were well nourished by eggs and all that breakfast stuff.  So we set off for Port Douglas, which is maybe 40 minutes up the road along the coast.  A really cool drive.  I thought I was in Hawaii, but I was in my home country.  We had to cross the Mowbray River.  My cousin told us that crocs had been seen there, and we actually saw one sunning itself on the banks of the river as we crossed the bridge. Later, I'll post a newspaper article to prove that.  We couldn't get a photo because we didn't want to get killed on the Cook Highway, but some other idiot did.  Anyway, Port Douglas.

My cousin reckons it's a good place to go if all you want to do is eat.  I have to say the main street didn't really inspire and there were plenty of condos and hotels and restaurants and tourist stuff.  But I was happy to be there, and either way it is a gateway to the reef, the Daintree and other beautiful spots.  And it was hot.

We went to the markets.  My throat was feeling bad and I had a craving for pineapple juice.  I couldn't find that first off, but I did have a very cold and refreshing watermelon juice that made me feel good. Five minutes later, I found the pineapple crush stand and wow, was that good for my throat.  Kills all illness I reckon.  At the water's edge of the market was this:

Later I found out this is a classic picture for both photographers and painters

There was also this sign....

Crikey, they're everywhere

Is that a croc in the water below?  I reckon it's driftwood or else the whole town would have been there...

Probably just driftwood, but would you risk it?

Then there is the non-denominational church St Mary's By the Sea where there is a two year waiting list for weddings.  It does look very peaceful.

St Mary's By the Sea

It's very pretty

After the markets, we walked over to the Marina, which is a working one, not just for luxury boats.

Port Douglas Marina

There's a public bar there so we bought a cold Stella Artois and sat at the public outdoor tables.

Stella

So, what's in the box behind the Stella?  I noticed a prawn trawler selling that morning's catch straight from the boat.

Prawns fresh from the morning's catch

So I went and bought a kilo for $14, and then we ate them and drank the Stella Artois.  They were the freshest prawns I ever had.

Straight from the trawler

Well, that was pretty good.  On the way back to Cairns we stopped at Four Mile Beach.

Rainforest meets the sea

Four Mile Beach Kite Surfers

Palms on the beach

A log

Seems there are crocs here too.

Rex Lookout, Cook Highway

After all this, we got home, tired and maybe a bit sunburned.  We slept well.  The next day we went to Fitzroy Island, but that's another story.