A view from the tree tops. (Kuranda (Cairns, Australia))

Member Name: stayleyvegas

Product:	Kuranda (Cairns, Australia)
Date:	02/04/08 (263 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: plenty to see and do, great history, interesting flora & fauna

Disadvantages: remote

No trip to Cairns is complete without a trip to Kuranda. Situated 25 kms from Cairns it is perhaps a trip best taken via an official tour which also takes in the journey to and from Kuranda. The journey to and from is undoubtedly part of the destination.

We booked the "Kuranda" tour with Tropical Wings (can be viewed at www.tropicalwings.com.au) via the hotel. This cost around £50 each (£25 child) but was a full day tour starting at 7:30 when we were picked up by coach at the hotel. There were four parts to this tour starting with a short journey to the Skyrail terminal which is a ski lift up the mountain and over the Rainforest, a world heritage site. At this stage the coach driver left us and the itinerary advised that he would pick us up in just over two hours time in front of the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary. "Where is it" someone asks. "Don't worry - you will find it" was the reply in the typical Australian laid back way.

The Skyrail is a wonderful, unique experience that has few equals anywhere in the world. Before we got on it though the coach driver injected a little bit of typical Australian humour into the moment when telling us about it's history. It was completed in 1995 and the construction was beset by environmental protesters trying to stop it saying it would harm the local environment and one woman glued herself to a tree (obviously in her mind gluing herself to a tree was deemed environmentally friendly). Unfortunately for her, it was the wrong tree and was not to be removed as part of the construction so they started building it around her. This typifies Australia for me and you can picture the workers having a laugh, working around her and leaving her to it.

We had a car to ourselves and it takes you off into the Rainforest with Kurunda "The Village in the Rainforest" awaiting you at the other end. However, on this amazing journey there are 36 stop off (towers) points with plenty of photo opportunities and every where there are plaques detailing the history and the flora & fauna in that area. You are provided with brochures detailing the plant life at the various towers and can then get off at any stop to have a look. In addition to the towers there are two stations along the way. Qualified rangers provide regular guided tours along the boardwalks at Red Peak Station whilst Barron Falls Station provides an interactive experience.

It is a holiday and history lesson at the same time and kids will love it. The stop offs are high in the rain forest canopy so you are actually stood near the top of it although views are restricted by the trees. You can get on/off as many times as you like but given we had a strict timetable wanted to get to Kuranda to have a walk round. The Skyrail covers 4.5 miles through the Barron Gorge National Park on it's amazing journey brushing the tree tops on the way.

Kuranda is a sleepy village catering exclusively to tourists. It has little history although found an audience with the hippies in the 60s and with musicians and artists in the 70s no doubt that the fertile soils and lush climate helped tremendously in the growing of their own plants.

It is quite small but packed with gift shops, cafes, Aboriginal artifact shops, the Rainforestation Wildlife sanctuary and various other attractions (including a huge reverse bungee jump when we were there). It is laid out like a model village with big, comical street signs pointing the way to the various attractions and there is also a visitor information centre that you really cannot miss and large scale maps of the village everywhere. After a simple snack at a roadside café we met up with the rest of the party for the next stage of the trip which was to Rainforestation Nature Park a couple of minutes away.

This is a nature/animal reserve and the first thing we did was take a trip on an Army Duck which went through the reserve both on land and water. This gave us a fascinating insight into seeing the wildlife and plant life up close, especially turtles and water dragons. It was then straight on to a tour of Aborigine traditions with Aborigines leading the tour and showing us a little of their customs and explaining what each tool was for and how they were used. You could participate in this in terms of spear throwing and also boomerang throwing and my over-riding memory is a demonstration on how they throw several boomerangs at once so that they can take out several birds in a flock with one throw as it could be the difference whether they eat or not. From there it was a trip around their animal reserve meeting the kangaroos, koalas (you can have your photo taken cuddling a koala), a cassowary (a large bird that is known to attack humans and which I had never seen before) and other native Australian species. Especially fascinating was an up close and personal meet with "Jack the Ripper" - a 17 foot long saltwater crocodile, so named as he had killed twelve of his previous girlfriends!

Just when we thought the trip was coming to an end we were treated to an added extra purely by chance. The Crocodile Bike race was coming to an end in Kuranda. This race is from Adelaide to Kuranda and covers many thousands of kilometers and the finish just happened to be the day we were there.

The final bit of the trip was a near two hour train journey from Kuranda back to Cairns. This was a very special trip meandering through the rain forest and stopping off at selective points for photo opportunities. You would need to book this in advance to be sure of a seat although our ticket was part of the itinerary. It was great that this train was purely for tourists and if the driver spotted something then it would stop so everyone could have a look.

By the time we got to Cairns station the coach driver was waiting for us to drop everyone back to their hotels.

Overall, for £50 a head I feel this was a complete bargain. We saw many things we wouldn't normally experience (or think about seeing) and if you did all the activities individually under your own steam it would cost a lot more.

Also posted on Ciao with pictures.

Summary: A review of Kuranda, Cairns, Australia