Kuranda

As briefly mentioned in the earlier “Cairns” post, we took the train to Kuranda and back. The train itself is an attraction for those that like vintage trains. The alternative public transport is a bus, at less convenient times than the train, or the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. Swaying in a gondola high above the trees is a nightmare to acrophobe Bill, so we took the train both ways.

The railway to Kuranda has been there for a long time, but we don't think the locomotive that took us into the hills was the original. Could be the same one that hauled the train Bill rode in 1971, though.

A colourful locomotive

More traditional carriages

The journey was pleasant, through bush-clad hills with occasional views towards the coast. There was a brief halt at Barron Falls so we could all get out and take photos.

Looking East

Barron Falls

For us, the big attractions in Kuranda itself are three places where (mostly) Australian wildlife can be seen up close.

Kuranda Koala Gardens

Despite the name, there is much more to see here than koalas. There are other species of marsupials, reptiles and amphibians.

Boyd's Forest Dragon

Freshwater Crocodiles 

A Koala in typical pose

A more alert Koala

Black-headed Python

A frog on the glass of its cage.

Birdworld Kuranda

A delightful place. It's a huge walk-through aviary so most of the birds can fly around you, and the visitor is allowed to pick up a bag of bird food and feed from the hand. Little difficulty here in getting within camera range of a colourful subject.

Alexandrine Parrots, native to Asia but very much at home in Birdworld.

Eclectus Parrot - female.  These live on the Cape York Peninsula but we never saw a wild one.

A male Eclectus Parrot.  We doubt whether there is any other bird species where the males and females are so different.

Indian Ring-necked Parakeet, blue morph.  Another attractive foreigner.

Major Mitchell's Cockatoo

Pied Heron

Another Major Mitchell's, erecting its crest.

An Alexandrine Parrot testing the decorations on Eve's hat for edibility and/or destructibility.

Bill's hat was not at all interesting.  The same bird perched on his hand until it realised that Bill had no food to offer.

Chattering Lory

Galah.  Australia's most widely found parrot.

Moluccan Lory

Torresian Imperial Pigeon

White-headed Pigeon

Even at the cafe, we encountered wildlife while eating our lunch.

This is an Australian Water Dragon.  It's on a dry shed roof.  Maybe it got lost?

Australian Butterfly Sanctuary

A quite different kind of delight. We have not yet sat down with a photograph of the identification board and tried to pin names on what we saw. We just gazed with great enjoyment.

What is so special about Eve's hat that attracts butterflies as well as parrots?

Birdworld Again

We had enough time before our return train to nip quickly round Birdworld a second time.

The Eclectus Parrots are so gorgeous.

An Emerald Dove

Another Pied Heron

Portrait of a Wandering Whistling-duck.

On the train ride back down to Cairns we photographed a different waterfall – the more eye-catching Stoney Creek Falls.

Michaelmas Cay

A cay is a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Michaelmas Cay has little vegetation, but is a nesting site for thousands of sea birds. Thousands of birds within camera range was an irresistible attraction for Bill.

Check-in was at the Reef Fleet Terminal, a large hall where the various cruise companies invite you to join their excursions. From there, we had to walk to the big catamaran, Ocean Spirit, in pouring rain. Most of the way we enjoyed the protection of a covered walkway, but we were still pretty wet by the time we got on board. The passenger cabin contained an industrial strength air conditioning unit that blasted dry and very cold air at us. Bill blames it for the runny nose he subsequently developed.

Fortunately the trip quickly left the rain behind, and we had brilliant sunshine for our 4 hours at the cay.

Eve decided she would not go snorkelling. Bill chose to go solo. He reckoned that he would see much more than with a guided group. The boat provided flippers and a lycra suit. The largest size they carry is just a little tight on Bill.

One of the more colourful corals

There were lots of small fish, but few of them came close enough for a decent photo

More nice corals

A giant clam inviting me to put an arm or leg in to see what would happen.  No, I didn't try it!

Back on shore there was a rectangle of beach marked out with rope. Visitors must stay within it, so the birds have free use of the other 99% of the cay. Bill shed his flippers and unzipped the lycra suit.

Puzzlement. The first few bird pics didn't look right. It seems that some moisture got into the lens during the wet bird-watching in the botanic gardens. Fortunately, the hot sun warmed the equipment and the fogginess disappeared. It has not returned!

A Brown Booby - a species of gannet.  Eve has warned me against saying I spent my holiday photographing Brown Boobies.  It could give quite the wrong impression.

A Common Noddy - a species of tern.  This one was within the humans-allowed area and did not move.  Was it sitting on an egg, perhaps?

A Brown Booby with its chick.  We saw only two, well-grown chicks.  They must have hatched late in the last breeding season.

A Great Frigatbird

Lots and lots of Sooty Terns

The Silver Gull must be Australia's commonest seabird.  We only saw a couple of them on the cay.  This one is surrounded by terns of various species.

Portrait of a Brown Booby

Our best picture of a Common Noddy.  It is carrying a small piece of coral in its beak, probably for a nest.

Surfeited with birds we took the last shuttle back out to Ocean Spirit for lunch.

Ocean Spirit with the little boat that shuttles passengers to and from the island.

It was then we discovered that Bill's front, exposed by unzipping his suit, and the tops of his feet were sunburned. Ouch.

Our afternoon activity was a trip on a 'semi-submersible', i.e. a vessel where the passengers sit below the water level to view the corals and the fishes. There is also a commentary to identify what we are looking at. We took photographs by placing the cameras against the window. The results were very disappointing, though.

Some coral

Soft coral

A fish with a yellow tail

The trip back to Cairns was sunshine all the way.