Rhonda Bracey: At Random

We did the Kuranda Skyrail today. This is a cable car that goes for about 7.5kms over the top of the rainforest and the Great Dividing Range to the town of Kuranda, inland from Cairns. One option is to take the train (up or back) then the cable car in the reverse direction. But recent heavy rains created a landslide somewhere on or near the railway track, so we could only take the cable car both ways.

It was a terrific trip. Now that I seem to be over my fear of these beasts, I had no problem at all – except coming in to the stations when I scrunched my eyes shut.

The day was gorgeous – no rain, some cloud, some blue skies. The rainforest was as green as. And the views back to Cairns and the ocean were fantastic. On the way up we stopped and walked the rainforest boardwalk at Red Peak Station, and went to the Barron Falls at the next station. The Barron River is in full flow with the recent rains, so the falls were just thundering. We also went to the Butterly world in Kuranda, which was interesting though a little disappointing because there were only about 8 species flitting about. Again, we felt we were ripped off at $14 a head. The tropical butterfly place on Vancouver Island in Canada is better, in my opinion.

Kuranda itself was a bit disappointing. Being a Sunday, it was pretty packed (I suspect all the locals get the hell out if they can!), and there were Japanese tour groups everywhere. The markets and little shops are all catering for the tourist market and as a result, the prices are quite steep. Either that or the goods are cheap – cheaply made, but not necessarily selling at a cheap price. Except for lunch, we didn't buy anything. We had lunch at Banjo's Bar and Grill… well, "cafe where you could buy a beer" was more like it. Hubby and I had the $12.90 Cajun Chicken Burgers (but the Cajun bit seemed to be missing) and Dave had Prawn and Barramundi skewers (nearly $25 for two skewers + salad – as I said, it was a rip-off). Dave raved about his meal, but the quantity was severely lacking even if the quality was there.

This evening my sister, brother-in-law and nephew came over for a BBQ. It was good to see them and spend time with them all.

Tomorrow is the reef trip – the water has been really calm the last couple of days and there's been little to no wind, so here's hoping…