Today’s focus was the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway gondola ride which begins outside of town. The gondola is elevated above the rainforest canopy, providing a birds-eye view of the depths of the jungle and the many variety of unique trees in the area.

After soaring above the trees for a while the gondola stopped and we were given a guided tour of some of the rainforest flora and fauna. We saw a cobra hiding among some low branches and learned about the amazing Kauri tree which repels water and rainforest vines and lives hundreds of years. Unfortunately many/most were used by settlers for cabins and boats but there are young ones now growing in this huge rainforest – the Barron Gorge National Park.

After a short wait our next gondola ride took us to the Barron Falls outlook. The waterfall drop is about 870 feet but the volume of water cascading over the walls was even more impressive.

The gondola ride ends in the town of Kuranda – a mountain town catering to tourists during the day. We walked through the town and enjoyed the sites and some sorbet (me again). There are wild Cassowaries living in the rain forest and are important to the town’s identity.

When we booked the trip we were disappointed that the Kuranda Scenic Railway train that usually returns tourists to Cairns was unavailable because of the recent cyclone. However it turned out it was running for the weekend so we exchanged our gondola tickets and returned on the historic train that runs very high up the mountain.

The railway began construction in 1887 to provide a link from the rich mountainous mining area to the sea. As we rode above the gorge on the narrow gauge tracks we were educated on the amazing efforts it took to build the railroad. For example, 15 tunnels were built by hand! There were a couple of stops along the way including seeing Barron Falls from the other side!

Another cool spot was at the Stony Creek falls. The falls go under the railroad bridge! Also the train is on a curve so we were able to take picture of the our train’s engines as it slowly went around the curve.

Because of the high mountain, narrow rails and probably age of the train the ride was slow, providing great views but also not much of a breeze on this hot day. It was a little scary too, when the there wasn’t a shoulder between the train and the drop below!

We returned to Cairns after taking an Uber to get our car with new Danish friends and were happy to enjoy AC for a while.