Today we booked on the 9:45 scenic train from Freshwater up to Kuranda. We need to drive to Smithfield and park the car and van, which is actually the end of the trip, from here we pick up a bus to take us to Freshwater to start the train journey. It took me a few goes to work out the plan.
The train ride up is great. The scenery is wonderful and the story of the origins of the railway line are really interesting, the carriages are pretty full, given it is school holidays that’s to be expected.
After about an hour and a half we arrive at Kuranda, and it is pretty much obvious this town has one objective – milking the tourist dollar. The markets may be hippy in origin but have evolved into something else. Part tourist trap, part hippy-dippy town, it’s interesting to say the least.
At our allotted time we arrive for the trip back on the skyrail, a cable way that takes is back to Smithfield. To be fair this is a pretty amazing cableway, at about 7km, it is pretty long.
As we glide over the rainforest, I am reminded what an engineering marvel this is – railway cut through steep terrain in the 1890’s, and the modern sky-rail going over the top of the rainforest. Fantastic!
Again it is reasonably late by the time we finish, so we need to make tracks. I had hoped to stay in Port Douglas (about 45 mins up the road), but the places I like where booked out. So we are a further 20min up the road at a place called Newell’s Beach. If you could find a van park any more different from the Big4 at Cairns, Newell’s Beach is probably it. Small, old, but oddly interesting. It has a pool, so the kids are sorted. Also the warmest pool so far.
Gotta say…having a bit of colour suits you!