Monday 25^th June – Lake Placid

We had an appointment with fear and terror. The cable car to Kuranda awaited with a smile on its face. We even got there early and there was no waiting to board the terror car. Some of the towers were 70metres high – I personally think some were 7km high or it seemed like that when viewed through clenched hands from the floor of the cable car.

We were all happy and expectant – till we set off and we reached the first of the towers. When it went bump-bump-bump-crunch, well we were not quite as confident. The trouble was that every tower produced the same sounds …….. and same reaction from me.

The Train with a waterfall just in the background

The Train on the curve

The drop into Kuranda

ALL cable cars were empty going the other way!!! Does this mean something?

Baron Falls in full flood

I can't look!!!!!!!!

The first way station on our cable ride

Theonly time we have seen a Cassowary

For Campbell - Pop's EvilTwin Brother with a Friend

No really it wasn’t that bad (yes it was). The views from the cable cars were spectacular as we cruised over the canopy. We took numerous photos but really they do not mean a thing compared to being there. They did not give the feeling of (fear) awe as we floated above the forest.

The trip was broken into 3 sections for the ascent by cable as it required 3 changes of (underwear) cable car. The first stop was Red Peak where we could wander through the upper reaches of the rain forest on an elevated walkway – something we had seen before.

The second stop was Barron Falls where we walked through a trail to the vistas of the falls and took numerous photos. We would love to see it in the wet season. We were also to see this with a different perspective in the afternoon when we came down the mountain via train.

The third was the final section into Kuranda village. This was spectacular as we could see the village laid out below us as we descended across the Baron River, even going over the top of the train that was doing the ascent via rail. We would catch that train in the afternoon. Two trains do the climb in the morning, then stay to do the descent in the afternoon.

We wandered around the village, through the markets (every town in QLD has markets) down to the park, where we had our lunch which we had made that morning.

Before we had lunch, during our wandering through the village, we had run into Deano and his wife and Mum and Dad, and then 10 minutes later we ran into the Ceccere’s, doing a walk and an ice cream stop.

We walked down along the river amongst a grove of paperbarks and ran into an English couple and we chatted with them till it was time to catch the 2pm train back down the mountain.

The return trip was not as (frightening) exhilarating as the morning climb, but we could manage to enjoy the views with a bit less height between us and terra firma. The train slowed and sometimes stopped at the places where the view was a bit special. It even stopped at a station for 10 minutes to allow for that Kodak moment (or is that now an XD Card moment) I managed to get some photos of the terrain, the dam, the river, Fay, the waterfalls and the train doing tight bends as we did the trip to the station at the bottom of the mountain. We then had to catch a shuttle bus back to the Cable Car Terminus, where we left Fanda in the morning.

We had to do a little shopping (at the suburb called Smithfield… there is a suburb of Cairns called Parramatta) then we returned to the park where we had prepaid for a Chinese meal in the morning.

A long day but an enjoyable one.

Tuesday 26^th June - Flying Fish Point

Quite a catchy name for an area – Flying Fish Point. I didn’t point out to them that the fish they have on the sign is a sail fish NOT a flying fish – but who cares?

We picked it out of the area map, but it had been recommended to us by someone along the way. The weather is beginning to go overcast on us.

We booked in and did a walk along the beach then down to the mouth of the river. Flying Fish Point is where the Johnson River meets the Ocean. Let me tell you that the Johnson River is quite a large and wide river. Once again a river we had never heard of.

We found the take-away just down the road, so I walked down to get the fish and chips take-away for tea. We managed to have tea in the camp lounge and got to see our first ABC news for a while. Where are we off to tomorrow? We have sent Emails to some people we met on the Canadian trip who live near Bundy (we will stay there early next week), and the fellow I flatted with 40 years ago when doing the ATC course, Steve (later in the week).

Wednesday 27^th June – Mission Beach

Overcast and misty rain was the order of the day. We had hoped to do the Tully Cane Processing Mill (they do tours) but maintenance/breakdown cut that short – they said we might be able to do it on Friday- I don’t think so.

We drove through Tully in the rain which should not be a surprise. Tully is the wettest place in Australia. They even have a largest gumboot as you drive into town. Apart from footwear too large to wear, there is very little to be said about Tully. To be fair we didn’t stop and walk around, we decided to go straight to Mission Beach. We found our park (the council run $20/night – what a bargain. The one across the road is 37.50 and that is the discounted rate). We chatted with the other park residents then had a spot of lunch. We started to do the beach walk but the rain started – it is still raining. I think we will walk down the road to the shops to buy something to eat (we have run out of morning tea/afternoon tea fare). The TV is non existent so we might do some reading a have a DVD. We head further south tomorrow.