Exploring Kuranda

30 Jan 2025

One last sunrise from my boat:

We took a group shot, but I didn’t get a copy of it; however, my boat posts all its trips on Instagram, so I stole this picture from them:

Unfortunately, as we were finishing packing up and loading the bus that’ll drop us back at our accommodations around Cairns, I checked my email and found out my flight home had been cancelled:

Shoot.

I’ve had domestic flights cancelled before, but this is the long leg, the flight that’ll get me back to the US… Then, a few minutes later, I got another email saying I’d been rebooked:

…they rebooked me for the same flight? Huh. Well, as long as I’ve got a flight home I guess? Will have to look into that more later.

Unlike my ride to the boat, I didn’t have to wait too long to be dropped back at my hotel. I intended on asking if I could just store my luggage, but they had a room ready and let my check in at like 830am!

So I hung up some still-damp gear:

I don’t have a lot of faith in these cardboard hangers- I maybe should have used 3… hopefully my wetsuit is still hanging when I get back. But one of the first things I came across when I was looking into Cairns is a train/skyrail trip up to Kuranda that looked like a lot of fun, so I took a chance (wasn’t even thinking about potential bad weather) and booked it! My train leaves at 0930 and the station is a 15 minute walk from my hotel so off we go!

Welcome to Cairns Station!

Not the easiest to find, it’s attached to a shopping center and a parking ramp, but I purposely left myself plenty of time (and packed a granola bar for an on-the-go breakfast). I got to the station about 10 minutes before my train arrived:

I ended up with a window seat and a whole row to myself!

Horseshoe bend: a 180° curve before the steep climb up to Kuranda:

My train is pulled by a Diesel engine, which provides plenty of power, but the exhaust builds up whenever we go through a tunnel:

(and there were like a dozen and half tunnels)

Stoney Creek Falls Bridge:

Stoney Creek Falls:

I was on the 3rd car and didn’t realize just how long my train was!

Barron Falls:

My train stopped here briefly so we could get out and take pictures:

Finally, welcome to Kuranda!

The trip was advertised as an hour and a half, but ended up being more like 2. My trip back (on the Skyrail) is also timed, so I have a little under 3 hours to explore. I had already scoped out a few things I wanted to do, but there’s all sorts of shops and restaurants to peruse:

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First on my to-visit list: the Butterfly Sanctuary!

These are currently 12 butterflies on display (all these guys, minus the Ulysses) and I intend to find them all!

The Orange Migrant:

Unfortunately, the only time he opened his wings is when he was flying:

A similar, yet different butterfly, the Grass yellow:

I didn’t even bother trying to get a shot of this guy with his wings open.

Since we have Monarchs at home, I only took one picture:

Lurcher butterfly:

Red lacewing:

This guy’s definitely seen better days 🙁 but despite his beat-up looking wings, I spotted him a few times in different locations, so he is able to get around yet:

Here’s a (slightly) more intact one:

There are two types of eggfly butterflies here, and I had a hard time telling them apart when they were closed up:

Some had thicker white bands, others were thinner:

But I have no idea who is who!

Blue-banded eggfly male:

Blue-banded eggfly female:

Common eggfly male:

Common eggfly female:

Orchard swallowtail male:

Orchard swallowtail female:

Cairns birdwing male:

This guy had the prettiest green wings, but rarely stayed still long enough for pictures:

Cairns birdwing female:

another flappy butterfly that didn’t want to stay still for pictures:

There were also some caterpillars on display, like this spiky guy who will one day become an Orchard swallowtail:

I ended up spending almost an hour and a half here, and honestly, probably could have spent more time (I never did find the moths and it occurred to me partway through that I probably should have tracked with butterflies I had found, and who I was still looking for because I ended up with a ton of pictures of some and only a couple of others), but I do want to check out Birdworld, so, onward!

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Birds here are free-range and they do offer the option of purchasing food with your admission, so you can feed the birds, but honestly, that sounds terrifying! There were, however, several birds hanging around near the entrance waiting to be fed, like this little Wandering Whistling duck:

This is as close as I was willing to get:

More Wandering Whistling ducks:

Wandering, but not really whistling, though that one in the middle was hissing at any duck who got too close:

Turtles!

Radjah shelduck:

Cattle egret:

White-faced heron:

Bush-stone curlew:

Glossy ibis:

Pied heron:

Eclectus parrot:

Alexandrine parakeet:

Helmeted friarbird:

Red-tailed black cockatoo:

A Scarlet macaw and a couple Blue & gold macaws:

Eventually the two Blue & gold macaws left their covered perch:

and the Scarlet macaw fell asleep:

Nicobar pigeon:

I love the dark rainbow feathers!

Galah (left) and Major Mitchell’s cockatoo (right):

Rainbow lorikeet:

I’m pretty sure I spotted one of these guys down in Cairns, but my picture didn’t really turn out 🙁

Musk lorikeet:

King parrot:

Eclectus parrot (male):

Eclectus parrot (female):

Blue-fronted Amazon:

Moluccan lories:

And adorable pair of Yellow-crowned Amazons:

White-headed pigeon:

Major Mitchell’s cockatoo:

Dusky lory + Black-capped lory (left) / Black-capped lory (right)

Indian Ringed-neck parakeet:

A pair of Red-tailed black cockatoos:

There were some smaller birds in their own enclosure:

Scarlet-chested parrot:

Gouldian finches:

These guys come in a wide range of colors

Scaly-breasted munia:

and finally, a Southern cassowary!

isn’t he just the prettiest!?

But, my Skyrail time is fast approaching and I’m getting hungry, so it’s time to start heading back.

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I grabbed this affogato along the way:

and arrived at the terminal:

just as thunder started rumbling and they announced the Skyrail was temporarily on hold due to the weather:

Shoot. I probably could have spent more time exploring!

But after a short 20 minute wait, operations started up again:

and I was on my way back down to Cairns:

I am a hot, sweaty mess!

Barron Falls, as seen from the other side:

Halfway down, we had to get off and switch lines- there’s actually 2 stops along the way, but the first one was closed due to the storms, so I was glad this boardwalk was still open:

Approaching storms:

Giant Kauri Pine, one of the tallest trees in the area:

It wasn’t until my skyrail started climbing and my ears popped that it occurred to me that I probably shouldn’t be up here… it’s been less than 24 hours since my last dive and I’m not supposed to be at elevation yet.

Shoot. Too late now!

Arriving at the station:

I still had to wait for a bus to take me back to the Cairns terminal, and by the time I got back into town, the rain was coming down pretty good.

Still didn’t stop me from wandering around town, taking some moody pictures while the tide was out:

finding some more gelato:

and stocking up on fun-flavored chocolates to bring home to share with Matt:

Surprisingly, the cardboard hangers held! but my gear still isn’t quite dry. It’s so crazy humid here, between the rain and the high temperatures, my room was reading 95% humidity and no combination of settings could bring that down. I made the mistake of leaving my suitcase open and the gear that was in there and dry is now damp.

Well, can’t fix that now. Just need to get a good nights sleep before my early flight out tomorrow!