We drove through to Port Douglas for their Sunday market. Expecting something of a concrete jungle we found a very tasteful town steeped in lush tropical gardens and trees, set at the end of a small peninsula to give it an island feel. Adding to the vistas across the sea were the ever present mountains of the Great Divide. When our feet were sore from all the walking we found respite on 4 Mile Beach and had our picnic. Interesting to find a stinger barrier net in place for the cautious!
That night we watched the film “Seabiscuit” on TV. Afterwards, we found the full moon out in all her glory. All thoughts of bed fell by the wayside as we stepped onto our beach and took a long walk in its silvery light. On our return, a documentary on Grace Kelly caught our attention and we were immediately engrossed as it covered all the places we went to while in Monaco last year. Awaking next morning we knew we couldn’t leave here and stayed just one more night.
On Melbourne Cup Day when the whole of Australia comes to a standstill for a horse race we rolled out of Wonga Beach for Cairns. The Captain Cook Highway turned out to be most scenic route particularly over a 28km stretch that hugged the coastline south of Port Douglas as it cut through a section of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. Nearing the outskirts of Cairns we turned towards the Barron Gorge National Park and booked into Lake Placid Caravan Park. After an early lunch we shot into the city to find Sea Swift, the shipping company that offers trips to Cape York aboard a working cargo vessel, the MV Trinity Bay. We asked directions at the Visitor’s Information centre and gained the impression it was “just down the road”. We walked! We walked and walked in the hottest time of the day, with the sun eating into our skin, no shady side to the road, through industrial dockside areas with nothing even to look at en route, arrived as red as beetroots only to find they were fully booked to the end of the month. At least going we had anticipation, returning we had nothing but sore feet. Disappointed that we weren’t going to make the top of Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands we decided we’d travel the legendary rail route to Kuranda and come back on the Skyrail and made our booking for the next day. On our homeward journey the breathalyser teams were out in force checking Melbourne Cup revellers.
“FORTITUDE, SWEAT AND BARE HANDS … our journey didn’t come easy!” This rail line is an incredible feat considering the terrain traversed. Constructed by hand with basic tools and dynamite over the period 1886 - 1891 through dense jungle, over deep ravines, narrowly skirting cliffs with drops of hundreds of metres and across 45° slopes, these pioneers formed 15 tunnels, dozens of bridges and kilometres of track. From the moment we stepped into the charming past of Freshwater Station to await the arrival of the train we knew we were in for something good. The brightly coloured diesel engine seemed almost alien on arrival, but climbing into the carriage returned us to those early days of Puffing Billies. Once we set off the clickety-clack and swaying motion transported us back to the years of train travel we did in our youth. No time to reminisce as the cane-fields of the coastal lowlands rapidly dropped away and we began a slow spectacular climb up to the Tablelands we’d left two weeks ago. We have seen many faces to the Barron River from its source to the sea, including its impoundment at Lake Tinaroo. Now we were threading our way around the side of the Barron Gorge, sneaking past the Stony Creek falls on an iron lattice bridge (the most outstanding feature of the rail line) and, as we neared Kuranda, the train stopped to allow us all to stretch legs and look down from view points at the 265m high Barron Falls. This height is put to good use for hydropower.
Scenic Railway to Kuranda. Stony creek falls in background
Heritage listed for its Federation style Kuranda station was not only a perfect ending to the journey but also a fine introduction to a showcase village in the rain forest. Shady ramps through landscaped surrounds eased the gradient up to the main street lined with markets, shops and al fresco dining outlets provide for the thousands of tourists that pass through here annually. Banyan figs festooned with roots added to the picturesque street scene and we were impressed by the attention to detail with a sculpted look given to rubbish bins, bollards and direction signs. Unless you were looking it was easy to miss the leaves, frogs, praying mantis or lizards that had been subtly added.
Banyan figs - Kuranda street scene
By the afternoon with our feet feeling the effects of yesterday we’d had enough walking and sauntered down to the Skyrail Cableway only to be stopped in our tracks by an electric blue flash and a simultaneous yell of delight from George – a Ulysses swallowtail made a brief appearance before our eyes. As a lad George had been a mad keen butterfly collector and despite the years, the excitement of seeing this beauty, was still exhilarating. He saw another two before the afternoon was out. Man oh man! For another perspective of rain forest there is nothing to beat being suspended in a gondola. We had the most stunning panoramic views gliding (with some juddering) just metres above the rain forest canopy for 7.5km. The Skyrail stops twice on its way to the bottom providing an opportunity to visit their Interpretation Centre, lookouts onto the Barron Falls from the opposite side to the rail line and boardwalks through the lush surroundings.
Skyrail cableway
Our bird’s eye view of the rugged mountains, steep ravines and tumbling waterfalls with tropical forests stretching as far as the eye could see was unbelievable. Finally, as we dropped over sea facing slope of the Great Divide came a mosaic made up of the coastal flats, the satellite suburbs of Cairns and the Coral Sea. This day’s experience surpassed all expectations and we very nearly missed it in favour of a trip on a cargo vessel.
On the doorstep of our caravan park the Barron River flows past. Further up it forms a large natural pool known as Lake Placid. Escaping from Getaway’s hot, shade-less surrounds we packed a picnic intending to spend the morning alongside this popular croc/stinger free swimming spot. Although an attractive place we found it a little too cramped for our liking and drove up the gorge hoping to find a suitable spot but ended up at the hydro station. Here we spent an informative hour chatting to the old chap running the visitors centre. He had been involved in this scheme and others in Queensland for a good twenty years. Acting on his advice we drove to Lake Morris, the water supply dam for the city of Cairns. To our confusion it was sign posted as Copperlode Dam. Nevertheless we took the steep, narrow, winding road all the way up to a beautiful artificial lake, surrounded by rain forest, in the mountains 20km from Cairns. In a thoughtfully laid out picnic site overlooking the dam, with a likeness to a Scottish loch, we were able to have our lunch watching a grey cloud come over the mountain, darken the waters and shower the valley with rain. We weren’t affected thanks to the roof over each picnic table which allowed us to enjoy the welcome coolness, the smell of damp earth and the contrasting play of sunlight as the clouds rolled around the mountain tops.
Lake Morris - Copperlode dam
Two plaques attached to a rock near us declared Lake Morris had been named after the City Engineer who’d identified the suitability of the site for water storage (1935-37), and the other gave the name Copperlode Falls dam (1976) so we were no wiser as to the distinction.
Saturday, we leave Cairns to follow The Great Green Way down to Townsville. We will no doubt spend the best part of next week at the many little places en route. The Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, incorporating 733 separate parcels of land continues to spread South of Cairns providing us with plenty more to see.
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