Travel to Australia

Day 14 Kuranda N.P.

Early in the morning we go to Cairns station to take the Kuranda Scenic Railway. This line of 34 km. was built just over 100 years ago based on pick and shovel. The journey time is approximately one hour and a half. In the middle of the tour, we make a stop at a viewpoint that allows us to contemplate the Barron falls (in the dry season hardly any water falls). Throughout the rest of the tour we can see some waterfall and views over the coast and the tropical forest.

The town of Kuranda is located on the banks of the Barron River. It is a tiny town basically dedicated to tourism. Its tourist attractions include the Birdworld (with a collection of animals such as the crocodile and Australian birds), the Noctarium and the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary. It also has a market where you can buy souvenirs and aboriginal products.

We leave the village of Kuranda through the Skyrail. The skyrail is a 7 and a half kilometer cable car that leads above the Barron Gorge National Park. This jungle is part of the World Heritage in the humid tropical zone. At one of the skyrail stops, in Red Peak, you can take a walk through the rainforest. The trails allows you to observe the ground covered with ferns, climbing palms and trees such as the Kauri Pine and the elegant Maple Silkwood. Another stop made by the skyrail is at Barron Falls station. At this point, in addition to offering good views of the waterfall, there is the Rainforest Interpretative Center, a place of interpretation of the rainforest, with interactive exhibits, videos and information about the rainforest.

The Atherton Tablelands region, located a few kilometers inland with respect to Cairns, is an area located about 900 meters high and where rains abound. This fact, together with that it has a rich volcanic soil, causes it to be a very fertile area where it is grown, for example, tobacco, macadamia nuts, peanuts, avocados, etc. The rains also cause the appearance of numerous waterfalls, among which those of Millaa Millaa or those of Mungalli.

We stop to see the Curtain Fig tree, a tree with a very special aerial root system. This plant fights for a space where to put its roots. Finding no place on the ground rests on another tree, which allows it to reach the low light that can penetrate into the forest. It grows by hanging its roots on the branches of its host until it strangles it so that it can no longer grow, leaving its trunk as a foothold. Before returning to Cairns we stop at Lake Barrine, located inside a crater and where you can take a boat trip to see the birds that inhabit the banks.