Kuranda

June 20th, 2014

I got up early for a pancake breakfast that the hostel was putting on, but something was wrong with the grill so I had made my own breakfast instead. I made my peanut butter and jam lunch before heading to the bus stop outside the hostel. I talked to a couple from Ireland who were on there way to skydiving. They had been travelling for 10 months! Eventually their bus came and then mine. After 30 minutes of picking people up from other hostels and hotels were were at the skyrail station. 

The Skyrail went up and over the canopy of the rainforest. It was a great view of the surrounding area, but you couldn't see many animals. You could hear all the birds though. It was amazing!

There were two stops to get out and take pictures. It was fun to walk around the canopy of a rainforest!

 View of the train I would be riding back on

How they used to get to Kuranda

 People used to fit inside this... talk about being claustrophobic 

Final stop...

I headed straight for the Koala garden to redeem my tickets and see the animals!

 Freshwater crocs

 Merten's Water Monitor

 Eastern Water Dragon

Meet Hogan... He is a 8kg Koala. He was very sleepy when I was holding him. Koalas may look very cuddly but they aren't as cuddly as you think. Their fur is coarse and they are dense animals. They also have long claws, but are still cute!

Swamp wallaby

 Long- necked turtle

Red- bellied black snake

 Carpet snake

Next stop was Birdworld...

 Hello There!

Just talking...

No I did not take a picture of a random kid... look at the bird in the bag. I thought that was hilarious!

Loves the biscut

"My biscut!"

Cassowary 

The Butterfly Sanctuary

These butterflies will mate for up to 14 hours

The sanctuary also had a lab where you could see all the caterpillars. These caterpillars are of the Hercules Moth. They were bigger than my hands 

I was on a tight time frame so I went through the market quickly. I did find some interesting shops though...

I was told I needed to stop and get some lollies from...

 This was too funny not to share

Then I did some exotic fruit wine tasting

It was time to head or the train. It was an old train some cars were 100 years old. There was a stop at the falls then straight through to Cairns. 

I came back to the hostel and relaxed awhile before exploring. At the hostel there is a graffiti wall. There were some really elaborate ones!

Then I walked around Cairns...

I went to bed early to get ready for my big adventure to the Great Barrier Reef!