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American Spirit II - Day 217; The Kuranda Scenic Train Ride and Skyrail Trip Thru a Rainforest; Sunday, August 10, 2014



Up at 6:20 AM as we have a train to catch at 8:30 AM.

Coffee and tea, followed by breakfast: scrambled eggs, cut up potato and raisin bread.

We departed the boat at 7:35 AM for a 3/4 mile walk to the railway station, to board an old fashioned train called the Kuranda Train, to Barron Gorge National Park about 30 minutes away by car, but much longer by on old fashioned train thru the mountains.

The train itself had rows of upholstered seats where each alternating row faced each other, so that each 'seating compartment' could seat 8 people. We were lucky in that it was only the 3 of us in our section of 8 seats. Every other set of 8 seats had more people in it. And we were the only non-Chinese people in our car, car #12, the last car in the train.

As the train pulled out of the station, information was broadcast throughout the trip about the history of building the rail line, and the sights we saw along the way. The rail line itself was built starting in 1886 and its terminal point at Kuranda station was opened in 1915. 1,500 men labored to build it, 31 died in its construction and they were buried on railway property in a cemetery we passed by along the track, 15 hand carved tunnels were dug out, 55 bridges were built, and the route consisted of 98 curves. The purpose of constructing the rail line was to construct a reliable route to the gold fields in the Kuranda area. The track is 37 kilometers in length.

One of the sights we saw along the route included Barron Falls, at 853 feet in height. Much of the two hour train ride was thru terrain where the rocks and soil were a mere 3 feet from each side of the train.

We arrived at Kuranda Station at 10:30 AM and after buying some souvenirs in the station, we started our walk thru Kuranda Village. The village was loaded with all sorts of souvenir shops and restaurants. It rained on and of throughout the day, so wearing a jacket and using an umbrella were necessary.

At 2:20 PM we boarded the Skyrail, a gondola, for a trip down to the next stop, Barron Falls. There, besides getting a closer look at the falls, we had a 40 minutes tour given by a Djabugay Aboriginal guide named Aaron. Aaron was 25 years old and of limited education - 9th grade was his highest level. But he knew everything about the rain forest that one could know. The walk thru the rain forest with him was very information and a highlight of today's trip. One tree he talked about, the name of which currently escapes me, had 200 uses by the Aboriginal peoples. We visited a typical living accommodation, and learned all about the weapons they used to hunt and fight. For example, they used 3 different types of boomerangs: one that was returnable (it flew back to you), thrown into flocks of birds; one that was not returnable (it was used to hunt land game, like a kangaroo; and one that was in the shape of the number 7, which was used close up to dispatch prey that had already been wounded by a weapon. Aaron showed us the type of trees that each of these boomerangs was harvested from. All were cut out from the base of a tree, with no permanent harm to the tree. He also pointed out a tree that had a leaf on it that was used to take the oxygen out of a water hole, so the fish would float to the surface and could be harvested. Some of the fruits he showed us were poisonous if eaten raw, but OK if properly prepared and cooked. We also saw two types of spears, one for hunting fish (three pronged); and one for hunting animals (it had barbs on the end so the spear wouldn't slide out once it had hit an animal).

The Skyrail gondola we took was an upgrade from the regular car, in that the floor of the gondola was see thru glass or plastic, so we could see the rain forest tree tops as we glided over them a couple of hundred feet above the fort floor.

We arrive back at the boat at 5:58 PM, and after a Captain Morgan had dinner: grilled cheeseburger patties; some sort of round potato called 'pom poms' that I cooked in a skillet; and green beans.

After dinner Joel uploaded today's pictures to his computer to send to our WCC web site tomorrow. During that time period I typed today's log, and Jeanine took a nap before tonight's movie.

Tonight's movie was the Life of Pi; 9:30 PM to 11:30 PM. Very good movie. A number of Oscar nominations, including Best Picture I think.

Lights out 11:45 PM for Joel. Jeanine's still up on my computer #2. I'm going to bed after making a phone call to the US. 11:50 PM Sunday night here is 9:50 AM Sunday back home.

Brian Fox




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