Down Under, Karunda!

There was no lingering over tea and coffee this morning! Brekkie was a quick ten minutes as we had to catch the bus at 7:30am, so we resorted to shoveling in some spaghetti, croissants and honey and lots of fresh fruit. We were headed to the rainforest! We took the bus to Freshwater Railway Station which would take us through a windy pathway up to Karunda village. Before boarding, we toured the museum for some historical edification and found that because of the tin mining they needed a railway to make sure to get food. Later with the gold rush, a railway was a must and so the pathway by Monk was chosen with a series of many turns and 15 tunnels. Tunnels were dug by hand and the last and longest of the tunnels took 7 lives! Along the pathway up to Karunda, we passed by Barron Falls and had to get some of our shots by dogging the Italians that were sitting closest to the window, but they were nice and offered us some fresh cherries. Thankfully we knew we could get some great shots of the same scenery later on, or else a bitter Kristin may have been trying to pass herself off as an Italian pre-teen to capture that view!

“Welcome to Karunda!” signs greeted us at the top and we leapt off the train to take in the beautiful surroundings. Karunda is a small village that has many flea markets, small cafes with amazing food, art galleries and opal stores. There were some interesting things for sale including aborigine designs, boomerangs, kangaroo scrotum lighters – (goodness gracious, talk about great balls of fire!), kangaroo fur everything; postcards, keychains, wallets, vests, ties, you name it! They also had butterfly, bird and wildlife sanctuaries.

Kristin and I decided to hit up the Wildlife one as we could get a picture with a koala, feed and pet kangaroos and wallabies! One of the wallabies was set loose by a silly tourist (no, not me!) and I tried to lure it back with some food, however it was off for its morning stroll and apparently that was okay with the park rangers.

We’ve been averaging two meals a day because it’s pretty expensive, but totally worth every penny! Today, because it is a feast day, I decided to get a little extra somethin’ somethin’. As suggested by our bus driver, we had a mango smoothie as a snack as we strolled through the village onto Rainforest Station.

We had another tour of the wildlife when we got up the Rainforest Station seeing the famous Cane Toad that was introduced about 25 km from Karunda in 1935 to control cane beetles, but was not successful as the beetles are near the top of the plant and toads towards the earth floor. Instead, the toads established themselves and became pests and not only that, they are poisonous! We saw a sanctuary for soon-to-be mother koalas and learned that the babies stay in their pouches for about 6 months. We saw this ginromous saltwater crocodile named Jack the Ripper. The story goes that 12 different female crocodiles were introduced to Jack the Ripper and instead of mating, he killed each and every one!

We then went in an army duck, really spelled DUKW, which is basically half truck, half boat, to tour the rainforest and learn about the vegetation. Upon entering the canopy covered road, the oxygen content level skyrocketed and I felt like with each breath I was breathing a thousand! The guide pointed out the various ferns that independently grow on the palms and trees. I loved how everything he pointed out seemed to work together for the rainforest as a whole. “Anything that dies is just food for the rainforest!”

One plant he pointed out as we were water bound was the “gimpy gimpy” which translates as bad bad plant. The stingy tree basically attacks your nervous system making it feel like “your mate just punched you.” Our guide had been stung by it and he said the best way to get out the fibers is to wax it off as the sting can last up to 6 months! Apparently in WWII a soldier used the leaf after he went to the bathroom and his buddies had to hold him down so he wouldn’t kill himself because of the terrible pain. Youch! There were also lots of termites and ant nests, wait-a-while palms and huge canopy trees/emergents. Wait-a-while palms were hilarious: they have these thorny vines poking out that get caught on your clothes or skin, and so what do you do but wait a while!

We took the Skyrail back down the mountains and had two stops along the way, seeing the Barron Falls from a different point of view and the aerial viewpoint of the rainforest! It was so lush and the plants really DO have to fight for the light!

As we arrived back to the Mercure, we got some Tropical Paradise drinks, and split some fish n’ chips and a lamb wrap. We went for a walk by the beach and said good-bye to the perfect paradise of Cairns and are ready for our next adventure in Brisbane! We head off tomorrow bright and early and excited for what lies ahead!