16/17th November 2007 - Cairns, Australia - Arrival and Kuranda Visit
Arrived just after 9.00am after flying overnight from Darwin. Had nightmares trying to get
cash out of Aussie ATMs (so did Americans - what's the problem Oz, it doesn't happen
elsewhere). We went straight to town and spent the morning in an excellent Info agency who
booked us into a good-value hotel and arranged three enjoyable day trips for us. Went to
the hotel at noon for a snooze and then for a shop, but finished up pleading with a bank to
let us have some money against M's credit card. They said initially that she would need a
second ID to authorise this and that the ship Cruise card was not an approved, acceptable
source despite the first ID being her passport which contained, of course, not only her
photo but also the Australian Immigration Authority stamp approving her entry into Oz the
previous day. Where do they dream up these rules? and what's the point any national issuing
authority despatching passports and official ID cards if they're insufficient proof of ID.
We don't get it! Still, it put us in our place as we had been sniffy about most of our aged
fellow passengers still using travellers cheques and cash. But it wasn't funny being
potentially stuck three days before the boat's arrival with no means of getting cash from a
hole in the wall despite having both debit and credit cards with us!
Friday night we went out for Enchiladas at Montezuma's. A bit strange, but all the better
for that.
Saturday morning we were collected at the hotel at 10.00 - after a breakfast of soft eggs -
and bussed to the sky rail station for Kuranda. This comprises a 7.5km gondola ride in 6
seat Pommas. It's strange sitting in a Pomma with no snow around and being whisked over
rain forest instead of snowy pines. There were 2 intermediate stations, Red Peak where we
had a walk around and a ranger talk on the flora and fauna (redwoods as big as those in
California) and a second stop with views over the Barron Falls - which we were to see later
from the train.
Arriving at Kuranda about 1.10 we took a long walk along the river, then the jungle walk and
finally the creek walk to arrive at the bat sanctuary. We had seen bats in Darwin at
Lichfield but there were more in Kuranda. There were also options of a Koala place and
Butterfly farm etc but Kuranda had become a little too commercialised for our tastes. We
ambled down the main street and had a pint at the pub by the train station before taking the
tourist train back to Cairns. This took 1.5hrs and was most spectacular, going through 15
or 16 tunnels and round two or three 180 degree switchbacks. As well as Barron Falls - our
second siting - we got views of falls on a number of tributary rivers.
Had a fairly quiet evening and ended up at Montzumas again, but Chilli, tacos and refried
beans this time. The explanation is that all ethnic food on the boat, whether it be Indian,
Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian etc has been so totally bland we needed something with a bit of
bite.
