Australia - Part 2

Kuranda

On our second day in Australia I woke up feeling kind of woozy. We had a delightful breakfast in the open air hotel dining area surrounded by tropical vegetation. Wooziness was banished by a view of the ocean, gentle warm breezes, and pleasing bird calls.

Our agenda today included a trip to Kuranda which began with a ride up mountains on the antique Kuranda Scenic Railway. 

While waiting for the train we noticed a small bird nest in an unlikely location - between two signs attached to the fence.

The train cars were nice but more than 100 years old. Our bus driver effectively warned us beforehand not to use toilets within the train because they were, "squishy"! The long, slow journey up the mountain included 93 curves, 15 tunnels, and waterfalls. 

The locomotives were decorated with aboriginal art.

The rail line brought us to the interesting small town of Kuranda. As we walked up the main street one side was filled with beckoning shops while the opposite side had several buildings devoted to aboriginal concerns, including this beautiful mural.

We wasted no time heading for the Kuranda Koala Gardens because C was hoping to "cuddle a koala". Apparently, we arrived at the right time because C was first in line for koala cuddling.

The word lethargic doesn't begin to describe these animals who can sleep up to 22 hours a day. It seemed like a major accomplishment for them to slowly extend one foot. C was thrilled to actually hold one for a few moments.

C loves to pet furry animals, including this somewhat reluctant wallaby who turned his head away from well meaning affection.

Koala Gardens had lots of other animals to see at close quarters. It was possible to get incredibly close to seemingly tolerant creatures. We saw a sleeping wombat hiding in a hollowed out log, and, pictured below, agile wallabies, a quokka, and a green tree python.

After Koala Gardens we visited the fantastic Australian Butterfly Sanctuary. I give this place 5 stars plus! We entered a somewhat steamy enclosure filled with fluttering butterflies and tropical vegetation. Butterflies were everywhere! They flew overhead and all around, often landing and spreading their colorful wings. The first butterfly below is called an australian lurcher. The second butterfly below is an orange lacewing.

All these butterflies were new to me. The next one is a red lacewing.

This next one is a female cruiser butterfly.

Unlike many wildlife exhibitions, the subjects weren't hiding, or asleep. They were out in the open and easy to see.

I found this common eggfly particularly beautiful.

Look closely underneath the black and white winged butterfly in the picture above. There, near center, you can see a gorgeous green butterfly with wings partially spread. This is a cairns birdwing, probably the biggest butterfly I've ever seen. It rarely spread its wings in a resting position.

I was able to capture green cairns birdwings flapping by on several videos, but when they landed, wings were closed. The next two pictures show a resting cairns birdwing and its colorful wing undersides.

I could have stayed here longer watching the endlessly changing display of beauty.

Butterflies landed everywhere, even on heads and water bottles!

The Butterfly Sanctuary's brochure encouraged visitors to "...watch freshly emerged butterflies from our laboratory ...". C joked this made them sound like "frankenbutterflies"!

After leaving the enclosed area we exited through a hall lined with mounted butterflies from around the world. Below are only two of the many dazzling displays.

Still shaking my head in amazement after butterfly splendor, it was time for lunch. We bought the last two available Cornish pasties (meat pies) at Annabel's Takeaway Pie Shop.

After lunch we strolled through Kuranda and browsed in shops. I was sorely tempted to buy some boulder opal to add to my rock collection. Now I wish I had given in to the temptation.

I bought a wind spinner with zodiac signs around a central yellow glass "sun". We came across an odd shop where everything was Scottish. There was an exhibit of Scottish culture and history. Braveheart was playing on a video screen. In the background bagpipe music was playing. I suddenly realized the bagpipe was playing Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child! That may be one of the strangest things I've ever heard!

Eventually, too soon, it was time to leave the village and return to the mountain base on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.

We rode above the rainforest canopy watching white cockatoos flying below us.

At several station stops along the way we walked through the rainforest on boardwalks.

Here's one view into the rainforest itself. It wasn't damp and steamy as I've always imagined rainforests to be. Instead, it was quite dry due to the current Australian drought.

We passed an enormous Queensland Kauri tree. It was more than 400 years old and towered into the sky.

Many trees were supporting brown growths that looked like large bird nests. We learned they were dried out remnants of epiphytic plants, possibly called staghorn ferns.

We later found a smaller version of this plant growing on one of the palm trees right outside our hotel room.

Cablecar stations along the way contained several exhibits about rainforest wildlife, including this realistic life-sized cassowary. Our tour guide said she had actually encountered wild cassowaries while hiking. We saw a few roadside signs warning of cassowary crossings. This is a BIG bird - a scary dinosaur-like bird with a head casque looking like a pterodactyl's crest.

After our Kuranda tour we headed back to Palm Cove for an outdoor pizza dinner in perfect evening weather.