Day Five - Into the Rainforest

We woke up around 4 am again, and though being slightly off schedule isn’t ideal usually, we’re going to need it for tomorrow when we have to be at the airport by 5:30…

We got ready and I started packing things away that we weren’t going to need for the day, leaving out my clothes for the plane tomorrow. We headed to find some breakfast around 7 am and had a relaxing morning (I had tea and a smashed avo, while mom had a deconstructed breakie sans bbq).

We stopped by the little store on the way back and got some snacks for the day, before returning to the hotel to make sure we had everything we needed for the morning.

Our Uber arrived a few minutes early (always better than late!) and we got on the road to Kuranda. The road was really rough for me, lots of curving roads at high speed, so by the time we made it, I was a bit nauseous and very glad to get out of the car by the end. We got to Kuranda Koala Garden right before they opened and we were able to take our time going through the open air cages and looking at all the local animals. There were lots of koalas, quokka, and kangaroos. The kangaroos and wallabies were just…out. At first I was unsure but we asked and the keepers said we could just pet them if we wanted. If they were bothered by it, they’d just get up and leave. So, we got to chill with some kangaroos and pet them.

We looked around at their nocturnal animals (lots of gliders!) and an entire pool of crocodiles. I did not realize they got 7 meters / 23 feet long, but that is…horrifying. We finished our loop around and got in line for our appointment to pat a koala. Before you come at me: It funds conservation. We didn’t hold them or disturb them overly much. They’re rescues from places that did koala cuddling, and now they’re in a quieter place. Where we can give them respectful pats. On their extremely soft and fluffy bottoms.

High on our koala contact, we decided to do a bit of exploring in Kuranda and found several local shops selling handmade items. I found several souvenirs and gifts. Mom found herself a beautifully made kimono.

Our uber driver arrived a few minutes early (ideal!) and we headed back to Cairns for a short break before our next adventure. I was getting a bit of a scratchy throat so I let mom go up to the room and did a quick detour to a pharmacy to pick up some cold/sore throat drops and some blister pads for mom’s toe. On the way back I decided to get us a steak pie and a sausage roll for lunch. We split each of them (the steak pie was to die for. The sausage roll…not as good as Greggs :( ). We did a quick reset of the bags for the rainforest and headed downstairs to meet our group.

We picked up the rest of our group and then did a quick stop in a neighborhood to see the honestly insane number of wallabies just roaming through peoples’ yards, and learn how to sight in our binoculars. Today we’re going to see the Atherton Rainforest, a UNESCO world heritage site, which means we will have seen two (!) just in Cairns, since the Great Barrier Reef is also a UNESCO heritage site.

Apparently they just wander through people’s yards eating their plants and flowers. Like tiny hopping deer.

We got on the road in our little minibus and headed into the Atherton Tablelands. 263 turns in 16 km. F#@%. It’s a good thing we ate a light lunch. We made it through a rough ride up the mountain into Atherton Rainforest and went on a walk through the rainforest near Lake Barrine. We saw some brush turkey (not real turkeys) and a bunch of lizards and birds, but spent most of the time looking at the many varieties of trees in the forest, including a pair of enormous cowry pines with huge nest ferns growing in them.

This dude…

These cowry pines might end up being larger than the redwoods.

We got back in the bus and went for a short drive to Yungaburra to Peterson Creek to look for platypus. We walked around for a while and saw turtles, wallabies, and SO MANY fruit bats, but no luck on the platypus. The fruit bats were so cool! They’re huge, loud, and were covering so many trees in the park.

Sound on for this insanity. These are all BATS.

We kept on the search for platypus and went to stake out one of their nesting spots under a bridge. We waited for half an hour in the cool shade, but no platypus. It was time for dinner so we headed to the Yungaburra Hotel for a pub dinner to recharge for the next leg.

After a nice dinner (I had schnitzel and mom had parmi) we headed back to the park to look for platypus. We walked as it was getting dark and though the bats and cicadas were screaming louder than I ever thought possible, no platypus to be found. Not deterred, our guide took us back to the bridge (it was fully pitch dark by then) and we searched for a platypus with a spotlight.

And finally saw one. She was tiny and ended up being quite shy, but I got a video of her surfacing and diving before we headed off to our next stop, a secluded road.

We donned our reflective bands and lights and mom and I had to hold hands as we walked in the middle of the road, looking for white tailed rats, pademelons, and tree possums. We got to see several, including a tree possum with a baby munching on leaves. 

After we walked back to the van (So. Dark.) someone requested that we see the curtain fig tree, so before heading back we made another stop to see it.

The largest curtain fig tree in the world inYungaburra

The curtain fig tree in Yungaburra is the largest in the world and was created when a fig plant took over a tree, knocked it into another tree, took over the second tree, and formed an enormous root system that looks like a giant curtain all the way to the ground. It was massive and very cool. Back in the van we started the drive back to Cairns, fully exhausted and ready for a shower and bed.

But not before we took 263 turns all the way back down going 20-30 kmh over the posted limit. I got a little sick on the way up; so this time I counted the turns to see if that helped.

Dear reader, it did not.

My wrist was hurting from hanging onto the “oh s&%#” handles so tightly, and by turn 200 I was fully preparing to die by falling off a cliff in a minibus. By the time he told us we were out of the hills I was drafting my cautionary warning about this tour to put on Viator.

Want to see some really cool animals and trees in between death defying speed runs of 260+ turns off the side of a mountain range? This is your tour.

If they had told me the driving was this bad, I would have suggested we take a cable car over the forest and called it good. We finally made it (safely) back to the hotel and got packed up for our early start tomorrow.