Today we had a full day booked at the Skyrail rainforest which is more than 150 million years old and is the oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest on earth. We had booked to go up the Gondola which takes you over the top of the rainforest. The gondola has two stations where you can get off and look around. From the entrance to the first station is predominantly Eucalypt woodlands, Vine-clad forests finally moving into the Moist, well developed rainforest. We got off at the first station and there was a ranger guided walk which provided some additional information. For example at one time the whole of Australia was covered in rainforest but now there is just 900,000 hectares or 0.12% of the total land mass that is still forested. Despite this the Australian rainforests are home to over 2,260 plan species of which 678 are found nowhere else in the world as well as a number of animals including the most primitive Kangaroo which is the Musky Rat Kangaroo. We spent about 15 minutes walking round and learning about the different tree types then got back onto the Gondola to the second station which took you over Lush, complex rainforest and the gondola was at the lowest point to the canopy which made you feel like you were definitely in the treetops, finally we went over Barron falls which is a natural waterfall but has been moderated by building a dam at the top which seems to manage the flow. We got off at this stop and walked round to the waterfall lookout then back onto the gondola for the final ride to Kuranda village. This is an old village that is now full of tourist shops and restaurants but it is also where we will get onto the train. We walked up to the village and had a quick look round then found a nice spot and had our picnic lunch. We decided to go into Koala Gardens which was our second way of seeing the rainforest as it is home to a number of the mammals that live in the rainforest. Unfortunately all the animals have been raised in captivity but at least you get to see some of the native wildlife in a low risk environment. For example they had a lot of Crocodiles and we saw some Quokkas which are really cute and a Wombat who seem to be trying to burrow into the sandpit he was sleeping in! You can pay to have your photo taken holding a koala which I drew the line at, but you could also feed the Wallabies which we did, actually we did this a few times as it was really nice and there were quite a few of them so I had to make sure we did all of them! Finally it was time to walk to the train which was the third way we saw the rainforest. This railway was constructed as a result of the gold mines in the mountains. It was designed to be a more reliable way of transporting supplies to the gold mining communities that had set up in the table lands. It was started in 1886 to provide a route from the mountains to the sea, the railway to Kuranda was completed in 1891 although Kuranda railway staton wasn’t completed until 1915. Ultimately the track went even further into the mountains but it took another 14 years to get funding and build this section! Luckily the train wasn’t very full so we managed to move to a window seat each which gave fantastic views over the valley and the river below. The only downside of this is that it is a rainforest and actually there are a lot of trees so you don’t see a lot on the way down! At the bottom we were met by a coach that returned us to the car park and it was time to head back to Port Douglas. We got back to the apartment about 5:30 and after jumping in the shower we sat and relaxed for a bit before making something to eat.
