March 15 -- Kuranda

Rolled out early on Thursday morning to go to the rainforest and Kuranda as part of our pre-paid tour with Down Under.  The tour features a ride on a skyrail -- six passenger ski-lift type gondola -- that's over 7 km long which is one of the longest in the world apparently.   The skyrail takes you over the top of the rainforest and offers two stopping points along the way to get out and walk on wooden walkways amongst the trees and plants.  One stopping point provides views of the Barron River and gorge and falls -- well, more of a cascade.

Kuranda is a combination of Aboriginal village, tourism shops, restaurants and San Diego Wild Animal Park.  That's overstating it a bit...there were only butterflies, birds and koala available for viewing.  The best part was the Butterfly Sanctuary and Birdworld.  Both were reasonably large, enclosed facilities that you entered through secure double doors and featured both native and non-native species.  The butterflies were a delight to watch and try to capture on film (on digital?).  Wish I'd had access to this place when I was making my insect collection in 9th grade.  The birds too were spectacular with more than 60 varieties from tiny finches to the huge, and very strange looking Cassowary which looks like...words fail me...see the pics when they get posted.

After a couple of hours in Kuranda, we headed back down to the bottom of the skyrail to have lunch at Tjapukai and get an intro to Aborigine culture, history, and experiences.  We watched dances, heard songs and stories and a talented didgeredoo player, saw a movie about the local Aboriginal history, and took our turn at throwing a boomerang and a spear.  It was a fun and enlightening and a very genuine experience.