AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND :- Cairns>>Kuranda>>Hartley’s Park>>Port Douglas
8th Day : 13.03.2016
So this will be
another tour day for me in Cairns. I had already booked for the Kuranda Scenic
Rail & Rainforest Tour including the Hartley’s Croc Farm for the whole day.
All these had been organized by Down Under Tours Company. I woke up early in the morning and went
downstairs for the “poor” breakfast in the lobby of the Hotel Queens Court (Do
not mix it with Queenslander Hotel).
The tour bus
should take me at 07:40 from the hotel but they came around 07:50 to the hotel.
I was the last
passenger and the bus driver took us directly to the Freshwater Station for the
Kuranda Train.
Scenic Rail to Kuranda :
Freshwater Station is the station on the lower end of the rail route.
This rail route to Kuranda had been built in the end of 19th
Century. The aim was to reach to the gold. During the gold rush, the people
came here in order to get rich. They built the rail route up to the Kuranda
which is a small town located on top within the rain forest. Most probably the
gold was there on top of the hills where there is also the Barron Falls. The
authentic rail route uses 15 tunnels and many bridges in order to overcome the
harsh land topography. There are steep hills, narrow passages and some sort of
forest barriers on the way. The people have done a big job with the
opportunities available at that time. Great job !
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| Freshwater Station |
surrounding.
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| Climbing train in the curvature |
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| Across many bridges |
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| Water falls around the rail way. |
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| Steep passages |
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| Unique and strange stones, believed to be sacred |
The train stopped
at a look out location over the Barron Falls. It is a wonderful view varying between
300 and 1500 meter downwards. Imagine a huge bowl with the sides out of rock
and flowing many water falls in different flow rate into this bowl. Far at the
bottom there is the main part of the river collecting all the water.
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| Barron Falls |
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| Barron Falls |
The locomotive
changed meanwhile its position and came to the other end of the coaches. I made
a few pictures at the Kuranda Station and of the train itself.
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| At the Kuranda Station |
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| Train is ready for departure, but this time to the valley |
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| Box office at the entrance of the Kuranda Station |
Skyrail which is
in Turkish “teleferik”. There is an easy climbing road going to the Marketplace
of Kuranda. Calm and easy walk and beautiful surrounding. There are a lot of
shops selling souvenirs. The authentic art work from the Aboriginal people are
covering the shelves of the shops mostly. Beautiful colored paintings, printed
clothes, the music instrument they call it “????????”.
I entered into a
tattoo shop where there was a nice looking and energetically smiling lady, half
reclined on the bench and the other lady doing a tattoo on the right shoulder
at the rear. They mentioned that it will be “Paradise bird” when it is
finished. I asked for permission for taking pictures but the one doing the
tattoo denied kindly. Maybe the principle of the artist?
I visited another
big shop selling articles of authentic artists. They are mostly Aboriginal
people behind the art works. As a habit the shops post a little informative
card just beside the works introducing the artist; his/her name, tribe, short
summary of his/her life etc. It is a smart approach, isn ‘t it. If you buy
something you know the artist shortly.
I bought two
T-shirts for my son and for a friend and started to walk down back to the
station.
Next time (if it
comes?) I will spend more time in Kuranda. My suggestion to you, too.
I took the Sky
Rail at 11:30. It travels all the way down above the rain forest. Securely
locked gondolas hanging at the steel ropes designed for 4-5 passengers are travelling
high above the forest. The rope is strained between the strongly structured
poles. All of them are numbered clearly and are constructed at every 300 meter
in average.
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| Rain Forest from the gondala |
They give a
colorful map at the boarding location and on this map, using the numbers of the
poles someone can understand what is explained and where is what. Everywhere is
covered with green tall trees of different kind adequate to this climate. Trees
are trying to reach to light; reason why they are such tall! Very tight and
wild looking forest. I should say there is no possibility walking in this
forest at all. Only animals, birds, snakes, lizards might live in harmony.
There are TWO
stations (Barron Falls and Red Peak) in between the end stations. The travel
time from one end to the other end is approx. 40 minutes. Someone may jump out
and get it again. There is a short walking wooden balcony around each station
in order to watch birds, snakes and to look out to the forest. I had used this
opportunity at the Red Peak Station where I took some pictures from.
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| The ranger and me from the balcony; backround Rain Forest |
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| Coming down to the valley |
I took a quick
lunch at the buffet and then started to visit certain locations in the park. There
are koalas, kanobies (kangaroos), lizards, snakes, and the bird cassowary. These are all exposed in the
proper fences or enclosures. Certainly, there are lots of crocs of various types
and sizes in or around the lagoon behind strong and secure enclosures.
(Remark :
Cassowary is a bird on the continent Australia. It is very old maybe on the
world since
4-5 Million year.
They do not flying and they are the biggest third bird not flying. I presume
that cassowary and kangaroo are two symbols for Australia.)
There are mainly
two types of Australian crocs. Saltwater (estuarine) and freshwater crocs.
Those in the first
group are categorically bigger in length, larger in beam and their head and
mouth is bigger. Since estuarine crocs have stronger jaws they attack bigger
animals like cows and buffalos sometimes. The freshwater crocs are usually
eating some small animals like frogs, bird eggs etc.
The force of the
jaws of an estuarine croc may reach to 4 to 5 tonnes. No joke! Do not even
think to play with them. There is no way to run away from the territory of a
crocodile if you are in.
At 14:30 I took
the boat tour on the lagoon as scheduled. Well protected boat on both sides
with transparent Plexiglas covers is travelling very slowly in the lagoon and
the boat man is feeding crocs with chicken heads at some locations. The people
can see how the crocs are attacking to the food and grasping the chickens. The
jumping croc cruise on the Adelaide River on the way to Jabiru was better and
attractive than this one on the lagoon.
There were shows
at the scheduled times in open air amphitheater. I watched also shows with an
attacking croc and an explanatory show with snakes. Snakes are very common reptiles
for Australia. The top 11-15 tocsins snakes are living in Australia. Python is
one of the famous ones.
Seeing shortly
feeding sessions of koalas, cassowary birds and kangaroos we came to the end of
our visit at the Hartley ‘s Croc Farm and the bus took us at 16:45 heading to
the city.
Port Douglas :
I arrived at my
Hotel Queens Court around 17:30. The weather is still hot, but a bit cooler
than the whole day. The humidity is also acting as a multiplier. At 18:05 I
drove with my rental car Suzuki Swift which I had taken from East Coast Car
Rental Company, to Port Douglas. Port Douglas is a small town approx. 120 km in
the Nord of Cairns. The road is perfect. It goes along the Ocean. Some sections
are just at the side of the coast. It is the same route up to the Hartley ‘s
Creek. Then I have got 30-35 more kms to drive. That part is also with curves.
I wish I had my bike. It would be great on these curves and nicely paved road.
Around 19:15 I
reached to the down town of Port Douglas. I stopped the car and walked a bit in
order to discover the town. It is not so “fabricated” like Cairns. There are
still some untouched beauties around. After a short walking in the town I sat
at a Thai Restaurant. Nice and friendly people are serving. They do not sell
beer or wine here. You are free to buy elsewhere and bring it to your table. I
do so. There is a bottle shop (liquor shop) 40 meters away. I went there and
bought
Two bottles of
beer including Crown beer which is my favorite from Jabiru.
After finishing the
dinner I went to the car and drove safely to Cairns. I wanted to avoid any
trouble on the way back to cairns because I have two bottles of beers flowing
in my blood.
It was a long day.
It could be better when I had allocate more time to Port Douglas. Life is
short, roads are long!
Being in Cairns
around 22:30 I drove to the Esplanade –the coastal strip and park of the city.
There I sat at “Rattle Hum” and bought a half pint
beer. A face time session with my son was good before going to sleep.
Good night Cairns!
Good night everybody!
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