Day 6
Another bits and pieces day. An early morning trip to the beach and
then we headed back up into the mountains for a longer visit to
Kuranda. More sights ... and more shopping. By car this time. The road
up the mountains to Kuranda is quite winding - not exactly for the weak
of stomach. Think roller coaster. Well ok, maybe not that bad. Ross
Lookout, maybe half way up, gives great views over Cairns and north to
Palm Cove. Mind you, the lookout car park is 100
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Coondoo St (main street), Kuranda
Image © David Powell, 2007
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The Ark - Doongal Arts & Crafts
Centre, Kuranda
Image © David Powell, 2007
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Gardens, Coondoo St, Kuranda
Image © David Powell, 2007
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View from Rainforest Restaurant
verandah, Kuranda
Image © David Powell, 2007
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metres downhill ..
there is a turning lane into the lookout, but nowhere to drive.
Strange. The car park is just before the "lookout 100m ahead" sign,
heading uphill.
Spent the day in Kuranda. Shopping, window shopping and, well, more
shopping. With a bit of sightseeing. But mostly shopping since that's
what Kuranda is all about. When the last scenic train and Skyrail leave
at 3pm, the town shuts down for the day .. only a few stragglers who
drove up are left. By 4pm a couple of cafe's are open .. and that's it.
Had lunch at the Rainforest View Restaurant. Lovely 270' views over the
balcony of rainforest .. so close you could touch it if you wanted to.
Literally. More a cafe than a restaurant ... but definitely worth it
for the view. For the warmer months of the year there's an inside area
that's air conditioned. There're quite a few Aborigines in the area
(and several settlements and reservations), so there're naturally a few
native craft shops - including one called "The Ark" which is built in
the shape of an ark .. Noah's, that is. Sadly reinforcing the racial
stereotype there was a grog shop nearby .. with over a dozen or so
loitering out the front (and no "whites"). Sometimes stereotypes may
sadly have a bit of truth to them or they'd not exist. Plenty of opal
shops - actually plenty of them in the whole region (and a lot of the
jewellery is locally made). Must've been for the Japanese trade
(they're crazy about opals), even if that trade has tapered off lately.
Mind you, there's no locally mined opal .. it all comes from interstate.
If you're in the Cairns area and interested in the shopping, then
Kuranda is a must! Not that much in fashion clothing, but lots of
accessories, knick knacks, "dust collectors", jewellery and so forth.
Most pretty good quality and well priced. Cairns, on the other hand,
seems to be full of trash stores .. and more expensive. Still, there is
some good stuff in Cairns .. you just have to look harder. Then
there're places like Palm Cove and Port Douglas .. lots of decent
stuff, but oh the prices! So Kuranda it is! The town is quite well laid
out with streets full of tropical trees and plants (the main street has
a whole string of Curtain Fig trees .. quite photogenic). And it
manages to retain a mountain village atmosphere despite the hordes. The
climate's also a lot milder - the altitude of 400m certainly makes a
difference.
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The town of Kuranda dates back to 1885. Shortly after the town was
established the railway came thru'. Kuranda was ideally sited as a
way-station on the line - to the west was the Atherton Tableland and
all its mineral and agricultural wealth waiting to be tapped, to the
east was the trip down the mountainsides to the coast and the sea
ports. Kuranda itself was a coffee town for many years until in the
early 1900's severe frosts wiped out the crops. Reinventing itself
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Forest kingfisher, Birdworld, Kuranda
Image © David Powell, 2007
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Scarlet honey-eater, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007
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Kuranda became a holiday destination for locals, especially as word
spread of the magnificent Barron Falls and the lushness of the
rainforest. Since then the town has continued to grow as a tourist
mecca. In the 1960's there was a flourishing hippie community in the
area and by the late 70's this had evolved into a flourishing community
of artists and musicians pursuing an alternative lifestyle, whilst at
the same time selling home grown produce and hand crafts to the
visitors. Today the hippie community has faded away but the flourishing
cottage craft community it gave birth to remains, stronger than ever.
The town even has its own 3500-seat amphitheater, carved out of the
hills in 1979.
We ended the day in Kuranda with a visit to the Bird Sanctuary,
"Birdworld Kuranda". We'd already seen the Butterfly Sanctuary, seen
plenty of Koala's, so gave them the miss. That left the Venomous
Animals Zoo and the bird place. Time to do only one so ended up doing
the birds since that was closer. A nicely landscaped interior full of
waterfalls, lush vegetation, tall trees, ponds and so forth. It was one
huge aviary - all the birds were free flying and quite used to human
company. Lots of photo opportunities. parrots, doves, finches,
waterfowl etc from all over the world. Even some breeding cassowaries.
The Scarlet macaw that lived right near the entrance seemed to be just
as interested in the tourists as the tourists were in him. He certainly
liked having his photograph taken and would try to get himself in the
best pose! That's one animal Cecil B. DeMille was wrong about when he
said ".. never work with children or animals..." or something like
that. Over 500 birds in the sanctuary, some of them quite tame.
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Buff Banded Rail, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
King Parrot, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 | Mandarin Duck, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Scarlet Macaw
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Emerald Dove, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 | Alexandrine Parrot
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Pied Heron, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Chesnut Mannikin, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Fig Bird, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 | Zebra Finch, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Sun Conures', Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
White-headed pigeons necking
Image © David Powell, 2007 | White-headed pigeons, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Red-winged Parrot, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Lewins Honeyeater, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 | Nesting Sun Conure, Birdworld
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
On the way back down the mountains we stopped at the Henry Ross Lookout
on the Kuranda Road. Great views north and south of Cairns and the
Northern beaches. Alas the view was somewhat hazy - actually it was
hazy the entire holiday. Stopped at the Outback Opal Mine, just on the
outskirts of Palm Cove. A nice selection of opal specimens, even a few
uncut pieces .. including one such piece on sale for $75,000. The shop
is owned and run by two retired opal miners from Cooper Pedy, Joe and
Susan Clyde.
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View from Henry Ross Lookout,
Smithfield-Kuranda Road
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
View from Henry Ross Lookout,
Smithfield-Kuranda Road
Image © David Powell, 2007 | View from Henry Ross Lookout,
Smithfield-Kuranda Road
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Back to Palm Cove.. more shops, more shopping, more photo's ..
including some of the beach just before sunset. A delicate hint of pink
in the sky.
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Seagull in the surf, Palm Cove Beach
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Sunset, Palm Cove Beach
Image © David Powell, 2007 | Sunset, Palm Cove Beach
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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Williams Esplanade, Palm Cove
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
Sunset, Palm Cove Beach
Image © David Powell, 2007 | Sunset, Palm Cove Beach
Image © David Powell, 2007 |
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