Day 12 and 13 - Kuranda

As most of our time in Cairns was spent on day trips we decided to keep Sunday 1st July to relax. After our buffet brekkie we headed into town to get our reef photo's developed and to attend our Vacation Club presentation, which was a requirement of receiving our holiday package. We then went for a walk and had lunch on the way back to the hotel, then spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool, during which time I had a couple of cosmopolitans and chatted with some lovely Californians (who were quick to assure me that they voted for neither Schwarzenegger nor Bush). In the evening we went out to a lovely restaurant called Tamarind, at the Casino to use the dining voucher that was part of our holiday package. I strongly recommend this restaurant; the food, service and atmosphere were all wonderful. We then spent some time (and money) at the casino and went for a walk before returning to the hotel.

On our final day in Cairns we took the Skyrail to Kuranda, a village deep in the rainforest. The skyrail is a cableway system comprised of gondolas which carry you above the rainforest canopy to Kuranda, stopping at two stations along the way, one to walk through a section of rainforest on a boardwalk, the next containing lookouts to Barron falls. Once in Kuranda we unfortunetly did not have enough time to really relax and enjoy the town, we walked through the heritage market and bought some funky agate candles, then stopped for lunch before returning. Had we had more time there were more markets to view, walking tracks, and a butterfly sanctuary.

We returned to Cairns on the Scenic Railway, which offered some stunning views, and also included information about the history of the area and the railway during pioneering days and war time.

Once back in Cairns we wet for a walk along the boardwalk, which offered charming views of the swamp that in Cairns at low tide (just does not compare with Townsville's main beach), then went through the market, before getting dinner at the Irish pub and heading back to the hotel to collect our stuff and taxi it to the airport.

We arrived in Melbourne at 11.45pm, and made it home in the wee hours of the morning.