Cairns: visits to two worlds that are worlds apart…

We overnighted in Cairns in the north of Queensland State. Before we go any further, I need to tell you the proper way to pronounce Cairns. It is not pronounced kai-rns. It is correctly pronounced, by the locals, as a nasal kaaaaa-ns. If you do not get that nasal “aaa” just right it actually sounds funny to the ear. OK, now on to the real reason for our stop in Cairns: the rain forest and the Great Barrier Reef (GBR).

Most people immediately think of the GBR as the only reason to be in this part of Australia. They would be wrong. We spent two action-packed days in Cairns and we were able to see and experience both of these seemingly opposite phenomena. Until we took this trip, we always thought that the area around Cairns was noted only for the GBR. However, the primeval rain forest which begins in the Great Dividing Range, Australia’s only true mountain range (from Cairns in the north all the way to near Melbourne in the south), is also one of the great wonders of the world. It is almost eerie how you can look ashore from the ship and see the great green expanse roll down the mountainside to hit the shallow sandy beach and then immediately turn into the bluest, clearest water you might ever see.

On the first day we took the Kuranda Scenic Railway from Cairns up to the small village of Kuranda. The railway was built after gold was discovered in the area in 1873. Imagine carving a railroad by hand – literally – in those days. They did have explosives to break up the rock, but they had no tunneling gear, they had no large earthmovers. They had no heavy machinery to move easily in the mountains. Here are some interesting statistics about the building of the railway:

Distance = 37 km (about 22 miles)

Ascent – 327 M above sea level (about 1030’)

Earth removed = 2,300,000 cubic meters of earth (over 3,000,000 cubic yards)

Individual open cuts = 106

Hand-carved tunnels = 15 with a total length of 1746 M (about 5500’)

Bridges – 55 with 244 M (about 770’) of steel spans and 1894 M (about 6000’) of timber spans

Curves = 98 including two 180 degree switchbacks

All of the above was accomplished between March 1884 and April 1890! Quite a feat for the times considering the climatic conditions as well as the terrain and local ecology of the area – think crocs, flies, and other rather nasty stuff that crawls, swims, bites, etc.

We rode up in one of the “heritage”rail cars that was built in the 1890s and is over 100 years old. The railway has been designated a National Engineering Landmark by the Australian government and it seems that by doing so, enough funds have been allocated to assure both upkeep and safety.

The ride up the mountain was spectacular! We rode through the rain forest and in many places they have cleared just enough so that the branches of the trees don’t touch the cars, but it seems that you are in a green tunnel. Every time we went over a bridge, the land dropped away precipitously and you wanted to hold your breath for a few until you realize that you are not dropping.

We had a couple of opportunities to stop for photo ops and we could see from the front of the train to the rear at the 180-degree bends. We also came within a few feet of a spectacular waterfall.
 

 

Here are two views of our train as it rounds the first 180-degree bend. Note the steel trestle is from the late 19th century.

 






















The falls from our train car window. The water was only a few hundred feet away.

 

















Typical view from the train as we ascended the mountainside into Kuranda.

After a journey of about an hour and a half we reached the small town of Kuranda. Kuranda was, at one time, the jumping off point for gold miners. Later on, it served as a marshaling point for troops assigned to look out for invading Japanese during WWII. They never came.

Kuranda is now the quintessential tourist town. The population of about 3000 is almost entirely devoted to tourist attractions, souvenir shops, craft shops, artists' shops, and restaurants, cafes, and other places to eat or drink. We had about an hour to wander the town before the next part of our adventure. Since it was near noon and since we had not had a feeding since breakfast four or five hours earlier, we opted to spend the first part of our hour in a restaurant famous for its “meat pies” and “rolls.” Meat pies and savory-filled pastry rolls are to the Australians what hamburgers and hot dogs are to “Staties” (those of us from the US).

The meat pies range from the relatively mundane – chicken, lamb, beef – to the exotic – emu, roo (kangaroo), ostrich, but no Koala… They are about 5-6” across and about 1’1.5” thick. They can be eaten with a knife and fork, but that takes all the fun out of it. The pastry rolls consist of a flaky sort of puff pastry filled with a ground sausage mix, a feta and spinach mix, or whatever the local vendor deems right…They are about 2-3” in diameter and about 6-7” long. Each is a mini-meal in itself and when paired with an ice-cream or gelato for dessert makes a great light lunch.

One of the first things we eat when we get to Australia are sausage rolls. For about $3-$4 you get a pastry roll filled to the brim with a savory sausage mix. You sit on a curb, at a small table, or just stroll along the walk, and eat it right out of the paper sack it is served in. You also go through several napkins…

After a short recon of the crafts, souvenirs, and other stuff on offer in the markets, we went back to our meeting point and were taken to the Kuranda Skyrail station for the trip back to Cairns.
 

Does anyone have any idea why a rational person would want a kangaroo scrotum keychain or bottle opener for a souvenir?

The Kuranda Skyrail Rainforest Cableway (the Skyrail) was built in 1994-1995 after almost eight years of preliminary planning, environmental studies, public hearings, and construction review. It runs from the small village of Smithfield at the foot of the Great Dividing Range of mountains (through which the Kuranda Scenic Railway runs) to the summit at Kuranda. It Skyrail is 7.5 km (about 4.7 miles) long. There are 115 gondola cars (103 seating six each, 11 with glass bottoms – Diamond cars – and one with an open top seating four for those who have absolutely no fear of heights…

There are 32 towers supporting the cableway which runs at about 5 m/sec (about 11 MPH). The highest tower is 133’ high and the steepest slope of the cable is 19 degrees. There are four stations – one at each end in Kuranda and Smithfield – and one about one-third of the way up at Red Peak that requires getting out of one car and changing to another. The fourth station is an optional midway stop above the Barron river for a view station.

Now that you know more than you really needed to know, let me tell you that the ride was unbelievable! The day was clear and we could see all the way to the coast and to the city of Cairns. As we floated above the rain forest, we could hear birds, but not see them. We could see down into the rain forest, much of which has probably existed untouched and untrodden by man or several thousand years. 

The Skyrail station as we waited to board.

One of the cars as we passed in the sky.

  















Above are two views from our car. On the top is a view overlooking the primeval rain forest and on the bottom we are looking out to the Coral Sea and the city of Cairns.

Our guide told us that we were very fortunate that day because there was no rain – after all it is a rain forest and it can’t have grown that way without rain – a lot of it. Another beautiful day in paradise…

The ride down to Smithfield took about 45 minutes and then it was on the bus and back to the ship. We were exhausted, but we have another big day ahead tomorrow: we will be snorkeling on the GBR!

We awoke the next morning to another bright, sunny, HOT day. Our trek to the GBR was a little easier than our visit to Kuranda yesterday. We only had to walk about 1000’ down the quay to our new boat (for a day). The dive boat that was described to us in the shore excursion blurb as a “…catamaran with full toilet facilities and will serve a light buffet lunch…” It was indeed a catamaran, but was built specifically for GBR diving and carried about 150 passengers on two decks.

The catamaran was very comfortable.

We had exclusive use of this vessel for our group of about 60 people. There were modern separate toilet and changing facilities, air-conditioned indoor seating – either theater-style or with small tables between seat rows. They also had lockers for valuables. The buffet lunch turned out to be almost as good as what the ship served: hot and cold appetizers and salads; cold cuts for sandwiches and hot entrees – including cocktail shrimp; desserts; afternoon snacks of fruit and assorted antipasti.

Once underway we had our safety briefing and were told what the day’s program would consist of: about an hour and a half ride out to our exclusive spot on the reef for snorkeling, SCUBA diving, guided underwater and surface water tours, a ship’s photog for souvenir pix, and a marine biologist on board to show pix of some of the corals and fish we might encounter.

When we got to the reef, it was glorious! We both got in the water. It was like swimming in a bottle of gin – the water was so clear that you could see all the way down to the sandy bottom some 30-40’ below. In areas where it was shallow (3’ to 10’), one can see even the smallest and most colorful of the fish and corals.

 























We were advised to wear “stinger” suits because of the jellyfish in the water. The suits are a very lightweight lycra and fit skin-tight. The red thing by my head is the hood and the sleeves have built-in gloves. It is really full-body protection. I may look as though I managed to slip mine on easily, but what you see is the result of Bonnie, our friend on the left, and me struggling for about ten minutes to get all the parts where they belong. Having had the experience of putting me in a suit, we only took about two or three minutes to get Bonnie suited up.

We had brought our own mask, fins, and snorkel from home so we knew they would fit well and had no problem seeing everything. The good news is that we both snorkeled the GBR!

We had about four to four and one-half hours on the reef and then another hour and half back to the dock. Although I did not have an underwater camera, one of our friends kindly gave me a few shots they had:

 















We are currently on the way to Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, one of the northernmost points of Australian land. Stay tuned…