Kuranda

14th December

Part of my booking in Cairns is that I get to head off out into the rainforest, well sort of! I had to do the tourist thing and joined a Vietnamese family and New Zealand man on a trip out to Kuranda and various other parts in the surrounding area.

Kuranda is situated up in the Tablelands behind Cairns and is accessible either via a scenic railway or cable car. I was going to be using both modes of transport (get me!) but that was about as much as I knew about my impending trip.

We collected at the station and was pushed out of the way when the train arrived and so didn't get a great seat which would allow for great scenery. Nevermind, I'm sure I'll get my own back at some point. Thankfully, I was sat by an English couple who were quite happy to let me steal a spot when there were some exceptional viewpoints.

Arriving in Kuranda I'm told I only have an hour to take a look at the shops - how rude! So rush round to look at all the craft market stalls and see if there is anything that takes my fancy... not really (am I sickening for something?).

We head back to meet our tour guide who then whisks us off to a coffee plantation (what exactly have I booked myself on??). Whilst the vietnamese are intent on learning the process from start to finish of making coffee, I'm happy to sit and relax in the heat (its much hotter inland!!) with an iced coffee thank you very much and marvel at the beauty of its cooling abilities rather than tasting mouldy coffee beans... what I did find amusing is that they export to Sainsburys!! Bless them!

From there we head on to the Granite Gorge - one of the highlights of my day! Despite the gorge itself being quite amazing - imagine huge boulders stuck out in the middle of nowhere with streams running through... its the gorge's inhabitants - the tame rock wallabies - who steal the charm! We're given food and I sit feeding a couple of wallabies for a while - as you do! One even has a little joey in its pouch who pops out every now and then to say hello! How cute!!

We head on back to Kuranda via a fruit shop (the Vietnamese go mad for the fresh lychees and tell me of all the places in Australia where I need to buy good fresh produce from....) and then jump on the skyrail cable car back towards Cairns. This is definitely a better way to travel - high over the rainforest (although not for those with vertigo problems!!). I'm relieved that we reach our destination before the storm that has been threatening most of the afternoon rolls in - they stop running it in electrical storms so you get stuck! - time to go back to the hostel.

They don't make storms like this at home!