High above the Rainforest Floor...

2008-10-01 - Wednesday

Before heading out to our next destination, Mission Beach, the majority of us opted to take in the Skyrail.

Skyrail is a gondola ride which takes you along a 7.5 km cableway above the canopy of the Barron Gorge National Park. The park is a protected site and is part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

The trip across the rainforest finishes up in the community of Kuranda and there are two transfer stations along the way offering two different experiences within the rain forest canopy. The first was Red Peak. At this station, there was a short boardwalk which guided you along the canopy floor pointing out different plants and their strategies for surviving in the canopy. For example, the strategy for many sun loving plants in the rain forest is to actually bind themselves to another taller plant and use them to stretch into the sunlight. From the Gondola we could easily see these ferns clinging to larger Pine and Silkwoods... They really looked out of place really.

The second station stop at Barron Falls gave us great views over the Barron River, the Gorge and the Falls themselves (where the river falls 280 meters as it travels towards the coast). We could also see remnants of the Barron Falls hydro-electric construction camp built in the 1930's. Finally, there was also an interpretive centre at this station which introduced us to some of the animals which could be found in the rainforest; as well, the sources for many of the sounds we were hearing while walking along the canopy's floor.

The community of Kuranda was very much developed with the tourist in mind. There were a smattering of restaurants, cafes, tourist shops and markets. We took a quick walk through the community and a couple of us did buy some wares. I took the opportunity to mail some postcards (finally), and took a moment to savour a delicious Iced coffee topped with real cream whipped cream.

We then all headed back to our starting point, back over the rain forest canopy via the gondolas... A ride that took us about 1/2 hour...this time we travelled straight through, making our switches at each transfer station.

Once we had arrived, it was back into the van and we began our short 160 km ride to Mission Beach.

Once in Mission Beach, the majority of the group headed to the beach (despite the gloomy skies); however, the rotation was back to Nick and I to create something for supper tonight... so we were off to the grocery market.

Upon our return, we had learned that both Martin and Paul had retrieved some coconut husks from the beach and were now attempting to open them by throwing them against the fire pit, smashing them with stones, and several other inventive ways with little success. Then they tried going at them with an axe and there was success! Fresh coconut juice and coconut meat for all!

Oh, and by the way, our choice for supper, pasta shells covered in a seafood sauce comprised of calamri rings, haddock, salmon, mussels, onions, garlic and red and green peppers all sauted and mixed in an Alfredo sauce. Neither one of us really knew what we were doing, but it did turn out pretty good!