After our stay at Cooktown we stayed on the coast again in Cairns (though not a cairn to be seen let alone multiple). We have been spoilt with two very children friendly towns. We stayed at Lake Placid (nothing like the movie) which was quite large with very small and close sites, seemingly surrounded by rainforest not suburbia. Surprisingly though the park was quiet, shady, clean and orderly. Angela did get an unwelcome present when emptying the waste bucket when a drowned rat popped to the surface. The poor rat was more like the native kind than the European Black Plague type. Our camper was over shadowed one night when a bus towing a Toyota Prado and boat pulled in next door, so close our camper was almost under their wheel.
The Cairns esplanade offers so many activities for the whole family. At one end there is a huge swimming lagoon which the girls loved for a swim. The lagoon was patrolled by life guards, had expansive grassed areas, decks on one side and a sandy beach on another. Although it was a workday morning there were lots of people already around the lagoon, later we realised that these were international campervaners possibly down there for a wash after sleeping in their van on the esplanade overnight. Along the esplanade is a long boardwalk for people to enjoy the view as well bike paths and memorials. At the opposite end of the esplanade was Muddy's playground specially designed for children. Muddy's playground quickly became a favourite with the kids even with much closed for maintenance. There were water fountains to run through that periodically turned off and on and some amazing playground equipment. If you have looked at the 'playground hall of fame' Muddy's features. We spent a fantastic day at the esplanade with a picnic and the coffee from across the road was pretty good.
Wednesday we booked a ride up to Kuranda on sky rail and the return on the Kuranda Tourist railway. Sky rail stops at two stations on the way to the final stop at Kuranda. The first stop is at a rainforest boardwalk which we were timed well to pickup a free ranger guided informative tour. Although the ranger was European he knew a lot about the rainforest environment. He pointed out the elk and basket ferns, explained about the wait-a-while palm from which we harvest rattan for cane furniture. The wait-a-while palm has spines all over it which it uses to climb other plants to reach the sunlight, if it catches you, you wait-a-while to loosen yourself. He also pointed out some of the rainforest trees in particular a 400-500 year old Kauri Pine that must have had a girth of 10 or more metres. The Kauri Pine trees continually shed their bark so parasitic plants continually fall off the tree.
The second stop on Sky Rail had a loop walk to take in the views of the waterfall below Barron Dam that supplies water to Barron hydroelectric power station with a 68MW capacity. There is a guided tour at this station also by a member of the local tribe, but this is a paid tour and runs spasmodically through the day. We skipped this tour.
At the final station there is a bus to take us all to the middle of town, we took the bus but the ride only took a couple of minutes. We walked back. The markets at Kuranda are very tourist focused, whilst we are tourists we are not interested in that type of junk. After lunch, we went to the Butterfly Sanctuary. The Sanctuary was a little more than the butterfly house at Melbourne zoo. We could wander through the flight aviary, then go to the hatching room where the butterflies emerge from their cocoon. On the wall was a button which when pressed played the sound of 4000 caterpillars munching through 15kg of food each day. The employees collect eggs each day and hatch and raise the caterpillars in a sterile environment to improve success rate from less than 5% in the wild to almost 90%. We spent so long in the aviary that we needed to walk quite quickly to get back to the train on time.
The train down from Kuranda is an experience! An old Gulf Liner train and carriages down one of the steepest railways in the world. The track passes through 15 tunnels and was built by a Melbourne Engineer in the 1880s. The building of the line gave birth to the town of Redlynch, named after the foreman. The completion of the railway guaranteed supply of food and goods to the tablelands which were often cut off from Cairns by flood and impassable roads. Read more at http://www.ksr.com.au/History/Pages/Construction.aspx. Not long into the journey the smell of hot brakes was obvious and testament to the steep gradient.
Thursday we took a drive up the coast to Daintree, Mossman and Port Douglas. This is a drive that Angela and Nicholas took in June 2000 and little has changed. Daintree is still a very sleepy little town with a forgettable playground. We took a walk around town, didn't take long, and saw where in 1980 a man swam across the Daintree river to beat the ferry, the result is still disputed and the crocodile warning signs are still on the river bank. One of Angela's favourite things to do when travelling is to purchase fruit and veggies from roadside stalls. At Daintree we found a stall selling paw paw (from dog dogs) and pumpkin, yummy.
On the way back from Daintree we called in at Mossman and Mossman Gorge. Mossman is still the same, Mossman is so called because the locals move so slowly that the rainforest moss grows all over them. When last we were at Mossman Gorge there was a suspension bridge over the gorge and was quite picturesque. The bridge is still there but they have built a Discovery Centre 2km from the gorge and now charge each person to ride the 'Eco' bus to the start of the walking track. There is nothing to discover at the discovery centre other than over priced aboriginal pictures and the like. The gorge is still beautiful and there were plenty of people in swimming. Our girls found it a bit cold for more than a paddle, but someone still took an unscheduled swim!
Friday was another day for driving around looking at stuff. We drove up to Trinity beach and took a stroll along the white sand. The sea was so calm there was barely a wave beyond the shore break. We had been hearing on the radio about the white humpback whale that was visiting off Cairns. Couldn't see it from the beach. A truly perfect morning for a walk along the beach. The Cairns Botanic Gardens was our next stop. The CBG are not like Melbourne that showcase many exotic plants, the CBG shows off the natural environs that existed pre-settlement. We easily spent a couple of hours walking the trails and picking out the plants we had seen previous. The next stop was Rusty's Market, a smaller version of the Dandenong market back home. Lots of fruit stalls, some clothes and the odd trinket, but no nuts or dried fruit. The girls took full advantage of the samples offered by stall holders. Samples of paw paw, orange, apple, pineapple and banana aplenty. We restocked on fruit and vege, now we need to work out how to get it into the fridge. Rusty's market is just around the corner from the esplanade, convenient?.? The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming and playing and expending the last of the girls energy.
Tomorrow is a packup and move on the Savannah Way.
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