Being Sunday, we decided to check out Kuranda which is a small town in the nearby rainforest. It can be reached by steam locomotive, cable car, tour bus or local bus. Because we left it too late to take the steam locomotive, we hopped on the local bus.
After a 45 minute bus ride through sugar cane fields and then the mountainous rainforest, we arrived at Kuranda. There is a butterfly, bird and koala sanctuary as well as markets and a number of shops and restuarants.
As we arrived around noon, we had lunch at Frogs where we shared the dining area with a large collection of water dragons. While they are not to be fed, any food that fell to the floor was quickly removed by the water dragons. Michael befriended one who would raise its leg with Micheal lifted his arm.
After lunch, I picked up some locally made souvenirs in the market as well as checking out the other shops. After checking out the town, we heading to the bus stop to wait for our bus when we had our FIRST rain shower since we arrived. While the rain fell, it was refreshing but once it stopped, the humidity went up.
After returning to Cairns, we walked around downtown to find a place for dinner. We ended up at a Greek restuarant across from the Cairns City Council building and where we found/saw the bat trees. The bats were squawking away and occasionally, one would fly around. As it became darker, more took flight.
It will be an early night as we need to be at the dock by 8:00 a.m. for our Great Barrier Reef tour. We found a bus stop near our place (yeah) which will get us downtown and to the pier in time. It beats a 40 minute morning walk. Goodnight.
Hopper Oz Adventure 