Because my dive course plans were canceled, I booked a day trip to Kuranda, a quaint village in the mountains. I travelled there by the Kuranda Skyrail, which once was the longest on the planet until they outdid it in China. It was kind of scary to be hanging from one bar attached to one cable so high above the canopy! At this point I giggled to myself that I was meant to be resting in bed, Never let it be said that a cold got the best of Melanie!

Oh, and a funny thing happened on the way to the Skyrail – I ran into my Austrian friend Sabine from my jackaroo week in September! We hadn’t met up since Byron, so imagine how surprised we were to run into each other all the way in Cairns, and on the same day tour . I joined up with her and her two girl friends (from Ireland) for the day of sightseeing.

Kuranda was cute and there was quite a bit of Indigenous art and crafts and souveneir shops, plus beautiful rainforest hikes, however we only required a few hours to see all there was to see. If you wanted to do all the bushwalks you could use the whole day.

The best part of the trip was the short train ride back on the Kuranda Scenic Train. Incredible views! We learned a lot about its history, which I’ll not bore you with, except that it wasn’t originally built as the tourist attraction it mainly is today. The relaxing rocking of the train, with the breeze from the open window and the countryside rolling by, was a perfect end to the day. The train even paused for 15 minutes by the Barron Falls to let all the passengers get out, stretch their legs and take photos of the beautiful sight.

Stay tuned! Next episode, more scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef.