Scheww - I knew it was going to be a whirlwind travel week, but I've officially started recognizing flight attendants. We left Sydney for Brisbane. We were lucky enough to get a room in Brisbane that had a washer and dryer (which I was actually excited to see) so I spent the next day and half getting us re-organized. Derek flew out the very next morning to Roma for his last work trip. We had one hitch with our first domestic flight, in they wouldn't let Derek's carry-on rolling bag on the plane, so we had to check it with our two main bags. This of course put us over our allotted Kilo's (pounds) which would have been $150, luckily the lady assisting us felt bad for us so she knocked it down to $30. We knew we wouldn't be this lucky on our next 6 domestic flights so we decided to ship it home. The Australian post office looks like a freakin spaceship. It was beautiful, extremely modern looking and all of the women had on matching red polka dotted ruffly shirts! After waiting in line, of course nothing can be easy, the guy told me the suitcase must have a padlock on it. Next stop - Australian Wal-Mart. (better known as big W) With padlock in hand I sent our suitcase off and another package for the bargain price of $250. (still cheaper than paying $150 each time!)
After that I went to a park and called it a day.
The next morning I flew early to Carins (pronounced Cans). Derek was still in Roma and had a flight to Carins late that evening. When I arrived in Carins you could definitely feel it's tropical weather, plus it was the first time I saw rain since we've been here. I arrived at our hotel and 30 minutes later the tour busI had booked to the world famous SkyRail was picking me up. First stop on the tour apparently was a large tree around the corner in front of the grocery store which the driver pointed out the (at least) football sized BATS hanging from it. There were probably at least 50 in there and they were huge - yikes. I was definitely in the rainforest now.
The SkyRail Rainforest Cableway is a gondola that rides right above the tree-tops of the rainforest. It is just a little over 5 miles, and at it's highest it's 1,788 miles above sea level, or 133 miles up. It was awesome! I saw my first wild kangaroo (I think it was a Wallaby). I rode up with another guy that was on his own and we decided it sounded like the sound machines you buy that make "rainforest sounds" - this place sounded exactly like that, only naturally. I loved it!
There were a few stops during the ride, the first stop had a great boardwalk where you could actually experience the rainforest from the ground. During the first stop I saw a spider that was larger than if I put my middle finger's touching and my thumbs touching. It was GIANT! There were also a ton of beautiful colored butterflies. The second stop though was by far the best. We had our first close-up's of Barron Falls. This waterfall has to put a good fight with Niagara Falls - I've seen both and I think they are both mind boggling - I always wonder how ALL that water just continues to come down. They even use this falls to generate power for our next stop.
The next stop was a little village called Kuranda. It was a town at the very top of the rainforests, with the population around the same size as Algona, IA! It was really cute, with lots of shopping, some Koala experiences and some serious locals. I spent about an hour and a half there and then it was time to head back. I had the option of taking the SkyRail back down the mountain or taking their train down. I went for the train option (why not?). Mining (coal) is the main reason Australia's economy is so strong.
They've been mining forever, so often it seems like a lot of their attractions somehow came to fruition because of mining. The train was no different - the railway was originated to get the miners up to the mines of course - then during WWI it was used for medical services.
Now though of course, it's for tourists. It was such a fantastic ride down the mountain, and even a little scary. The rail basically goes on the edge of the cliffs the entire way down - you could look straight down out of the windows. We did have the chance to get an even better view of the Barron Falls though!
After I got back to the hotel and checked in, I decided to take a walk on their harbor. Everywhere here has such a beautiful harbor and every night I keep thinking I've seen the greatest sunset ever. I had dinner and then found the boat we would be boarding the next morning for our trip to the Great Barrier Reef!!
Derek arrived at the hotel around midnight which officially made him finished with "work" for the rest of the trip!
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