Cairns, Day 2 (for Feb. 27)

The day started relaxed enough. We slept in a little, had some breakfast, and then I sat down to plan our activities for the next couple of days. I thought we would do something in town today, allowing me the morning to work out the next two days. We decided we would do a package that included an aboriginal cultural park, a gondola ride for 7.5 km over the rainforest, and a return train ride. We went to the front desk to book that with the intention of returning to our room for more planning. We found that the last train left at 3:30 and, if we wanted to fit in the whole package, we had to leave right away. We flew into panic mode and were on our way before 11 to catch the start of the 11:15 aboriginal show.

The Tjapukai Cultural Park was very good. We started with a video presentation of the history of the local tribe – very sad. Aboriginal relations here and in New Zealand were a little more confrontational than in Canada. Next was a dramatic multimedia presentation about some of their legends, then a music and dance performance. (Camera battery troubles for me again. You will have to wait until we develop pictures from Celeste’s camera.) Then a young lady gave a presentation on bush foods and medicines and a young man gave a didgeridoo demonstration. From there we went to a boomerang and spear throwing demonstration, but had to rush through to catch our gondola ride.



The panoramic view leaving the coast and the ride in general was quite spectacular. (I picked up some new batteries.) We rode much higher above the ground than your average gondola ride. They provided a printed guide describing what to look for. It was very helpful, but we were moving along so quickly that it was hard to keep up with what they were describing. There were two transfer stations en route where we got off and looked around. One of them was at Barron Falls on the Barron River. The other had an interpretive centre. The whole trip took an hour and a half. We had 45 minutes at the top in the village of Kuranda. We had been there by car the day before and the time was pretty short, so we just browsed the gift shop and waited for the train.


We hadn’t been on a train since we rode from Winnipeg to Regina before 1983, so it was a pleasant novelty. There was interesting commentary en route, a stop at Barron Falls for pictures, and it slowed down on several other occasions for picture-taking opportunities. With the bus transfer back to our car and the drive back, we reached the hotel at 5:30.

We went out for supper and I tried the Aussie Bush BBQ – barramindi (fish), crocodile, kangaroo, and emu sausage with a selection of 3 dipping sauces. The barramundi was very good, comparable to our walleye. The croc was a pale yellow, and a little bit chewy or rubbery, kind of like squid, but not so much. The kangaroo was like very tender beef, but with a lighter flavour. The emu sausage was quite dry, kind of like a deer sausage, but very good, especially with some sauce. Celeste had a steak. She wanted to see if she could taste any difference from the steaks at home, but these were grain fed Angus beef, so we couldn’t detect any difference.

After supper we toured around downtown. What a ‘happening’ place. The streets were full of people for several blocks. The height of the action was on the Esplanade along the beach. We were there around 8:30 and it was like one huge outdoor restaurant for about two blocks. Across the street they have a beautiful seaside park, including a huge saltwater pool due to the problems with jellyfish for so much of the year. We will have to check all of that out tomorrow in the daylight.

When we got back to the hotel, Celeste was feeling the heat, so we took a refreshing dip in the hotel pool. Then, it was time to get to work and tell the day’s story.