March 15 - Karanda

Today was one of the few free days in this tour, where we get to do what we want, when we want.  The schedule has been hectic, and we are getting tired.

The news on our return flight is still very muddled.  It appears we need to modify our flight plan because we won’t be able to stop in Auckland New Zealand.  There are a couple options, but with countries closing their borders and flights being cancelled, it is useless to plan into next week, which is our original departure date.  We’ll have to make a final decision in a couple of days though.  I hope my Mastercard travel insurance covers this addition expense or at least gives us a refund on the cancelled trips and hotels.

Today we went to the village of Karanda, which is north west of Cairns.  It is surrounded by a thick rain forest and mountains.  To get there you can either take a scenic cable car that goes over top of the mountains or an equally scenic train which winds around the mountains along the Karanda Gorge and through the rain forests.

In the morning we took the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.  It was a quick and efficient mode of transportation.  We stopped at two locations for fantastic views of the rainforest and the Barren River.  The entire trip only took about an hour and we had the gondola to our selves.

When we got to village of Karanda, we went shopping at one of the two local flea markets.  Marg got Australian Opel earrings and we also bought some souvenirs.  

During lunch we had a guest lizard. It looked angry because we didn't feed it.

After lunch we decided to go into the Wild Bird exhibit.  Marg had the birdfeed and she was immediately attacked.  One parrot seemed to really like Marg’s braids and just wouldn’t let go of them.  Eventually Marg was able to get rid of the bird and she handed me the birdseed.  In a repeat of Hobart, I had one of the birds perch itself on top of my head.  As we were leaving, one of the parrots decide to take a chunk out of my hand.  It doesn’t look infected, so I guess I’m OK.

We returned on the Karanda Scenic Railway. It is a spectacular journey with unparalleled views of the dense rainforest, deep ravines and grand waterfalls within the World Heritage listed Barron Gorge National Park. The train passes through 15 hand carved tunnels, 37 bridges and runs along some very steep embarkments.

All in all it was a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon.


For dinner we went down to the Cairns docks for some seafood.  We wanted lobster and didn't know that in Australia they are known as Bugs.  So we passed on several restaurants not knowing that bugs were not bugs, but were in fact local rock lobsters. Instead we had Golden Snapper.  It was very good.

On the way to the restaurant, the sky was filled with noisy starlings.  There must have been a thousand birds in the sky, each of them screeching like crazy.  Later on we found out that they weren't starlings but were bats.