Had one or two too many last night ????

Wake up to make coffee and realise we’ve purchased whole coffee beans, rather than grounds…

This, however, doesn’t deter Dave and he saves us by crushing them with a spoon – safe to say there’s a bit of disaster this morning ????

Coffee, in one form or another, and a hot cross bun later, we get ready and head out, just in time, to the Rydges Esplanade Resort nextdoor

We’re being collected here for a tour via multiple transport routes – first by bus

As we drive by, we see little Lapwing chicks and their parents around a roundabout – which they call their home – as well as some Black Cockatoos feeding on some Beach Almonds by the road

In 2011, there was a huge cyclone in South Cairns that blew 200 Black Cockatoos into the city – first time they have been here for over 50 years and they stuck around!

The bus drops us at Smithfield where we get our next transport of the day, a Skyrail cable car

We make sure to download the audio guide app before embarking and then we’re loaded into our own gondola

Beautiful to see and be amongst the greenery

The audio guide points out the various levels of the rainforest – e.g. it tells us about the ferns around the forest floor and that they don’t grow too tall as they grow wide to get as much exposure to natural resources, i.e. light and water, as possible

We get off at the first stop, Red Peak

This is the highest point we’ll be at today and we get to wonder around before grabbing the next cable car to the following stop

One of the trees around us is a Strangler Fig that grows from the top down, rather than the ground up – this is because it’s a parasitic plant that engulfs a tree and uses it as a host

There’s a lovely view point and we learn that epiphyte plants, such as Basket Ferns above us, are available for juvenile Amethystine Pythons!

The cable station has a timeline of creation: the Hodgkinson Formation (the geological foundation of the Wet Tropics) was laid down 460-360 million years ago

On the next gondola, we dangle in the trees and hover over the Barron Falls

We get out at Din Din (aboriginee term) to get a closer look

The Barron River cascades 125m here, having travelled from the Atherton Tablelands to the coastal plains of Cairns, and are known as Din Din by the traditional rainforest Aboriginee people

On a sunny day, we’d be treated to rainbows galore as we’re in the wet season, flooding the falls, but it’s, thankfully, cloudy

The rainforest we’re strolling through has been part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage list since 1988 and can take 8 metres of rain annually

The hydro electric power station connected to the Barron River, not far from this area, was Australia’s first underground power station

Back to the cable car station for the last ride

We arrive in Kuranda, after going over the Barron Gorge, for the end of the Skyrail trip

It’s a short walk to find the central street where there’s cafes one side and craft markets on the other

Scouring all the restaurants, we settle for Frogs which is famous here for its curry constructions

One Crocodile & apple curry and a chicken & mushroom curry – fun to try a local delicacy

The restaurant is within the heritage markets so we take a look around before finding the plane crash

After service, based in Mareeba and Brisbane in 1944, “Geronimo” was part of a film called Sky Pirates and is here today (for no connecting reason to Kuranda)

Next, we go to Kuranda Original Rainforest Markets which was founded in 1978

It’s a market filled with hippie styled crafts, knick knacks and even a mini golf course

We have a gelato each before meandering down the main street again

Our transport back nearer Cairns isn’t for another hour so we go to see about a riverside trail we spotted from the Skyrail – it’s unfortunately closed at the moment due to extreme weather and floods

We go back towards town and find a bridge to look over the Jumrum Creek at

No Crocodiles for us to spot here, but we do see a Snake

Back to the train station we go to board the Kuranda Scenic Railway

We’ve gone for the “heritage” over “gold class” to save some pennies and it’s perfectly fine – even a slight reminder of the Kalka-Shimla toy train!

First stop isn’t far down the line where we get another view of Barron Falls

Lots of space to get some photos and even a view point as well as a bridge to get a view of the train

The train gives a really loud toot to remind us to get back on

We ride back and get off at Freshwater where we’re transferred back to our hotel to freshen up

We do a load of washing too before getting back out to Cairns centre

IMM Thai Cafe sorts us a yummy dinner of “chicken nibbles”, chicken Singapore noodles and chicken green curry

A gentle stroll, via the promonade to see Curlews and other birds, to walk off dinner and make it back to our stay

Sleep asap as we have an early morning!