Tourist in Australia - Day 12 - Cairns - Aboriginal Cultural Tribe and Rainforest Experiences

Monday, 31 October 2016
Tjapukai and Kuranda

After our morning breakfast at our hotel, we were picked up by a shuttle bus (who had also picked up other members from other nearby hotels) to take us all to the Tjapukai Aboriginal Experience. It was an organized living hands on tour of the local tribe in Cairns. 

We attended different stations where we learned:

-how to throw boomerangs - they even had a left handed one for me

-how to throw spears and shoot arrows

-about bush foods, medicines, and hunting

-about the didgeridoo on how it is made and played

 -from videos and dance on their creation story

-about their dance in which Eileen and I  participated as we were sitting in the front row. l have no pictures of this as we were asked NOT to take pictures. This photo is from their website. See below.

Here is a video from their website telling of my fantastic experience. 

 http://www.tjapukai.com.au/tjapukai-by-day

We were to walk next door to the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway and Scenic Rail. As we did not have time for lunch, we grabbed some protein snack bars to hold us over to when we arrived in Kuranda, the small town at the other end of the cable ride.

Both photos depict the the pathway of the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. It took about an hour and a half with 2 stops at the Red Park and Barron Falls Stations going in one direction.

I was very impressed with the organization of this day tour. We were given detailed itinerary with our tickets to board both the sky rail from Smithfield to Kuranda and return from Kuranda to Freshwater Stations via the scenic railroad. 

Beautiful!!! Up we go. Looking down to the station we just left.

Our first stop was the Red Park Station in which we got off and did the short walk about.

  I am fascinated by the roots and trees. 

 We board the sky ride to our next destination of the Barron Falls Station.

We hear and see water down below...the great Barron Gorge and River.

We take a walk around the Barron Falls Station and learn here how the power of the Barron River/Falls was used for the area's hydro-electric power from the 1930s to the 1960s.

The falls have more water and fuller force starting in December.
We arrive in Kuranda, 
a darling small town with many wonderful sites to visit. We are limited with our time as we need to catch the railroad later in afternoon. 

We get a bite to eat. I want to visit the Butterfly Sanctuary. I was fascinated by the laboratory, pupae, and silkworm caterpillar areas. There were  over 2000 butterflies. They were landing on my arms and clothing. 

We walked through town back to the Railroad station.



The train ride was fascinating through the same rain forest this time on land.  

We exit at the Freshwater Station where we are met by our large tour buses to return us back to our hotels around 5:30.

We are told about a delicious Chinese restaurant in town. Our mouths start watering for our favorite dish. I found a Crispy Beef and Eileen enjoyed her Chicken and Broccoli. She ate all of her dish and I had "take away."

Tourist in Australia - Day 11 - Cairns - Great Barrier Reef

Sunday, 30 October  2016

After our hotel breakfast, we walked down to the pier to meet our boat with the Reef Magic Cruises. We had a 90 minute ride out to their platform in Moore Reef.

The cruise included the following activities of scuba diving, snorkeling, glass bottom boat, helicopter ride around area, and lunch including tea times. 

Unfortunately, I ended up with seasickness/dizziness. With my health issues, it was recommended that I not do scuba diving and snorkeling. That was fine with me as I totally enjoyed being out here and seeing everyone else enjoy themselves. There were many families with small children. 

I also discovered Aussie’s version of our ginger ale, which they call ginger beer. It had a lighter taste and color compared to ours. It was recommended to drink this and chew on ice to help with my ail.

Eileen and I went on the glass bottom boat to see the ocean life at the bottom of the reef.

Most of my underwater pictures were too bluish like the two here. This was the best with the camera I had. It cost extra money to rent an underwater camera for the actual diving. We had a delicious lunch after this adventure. At 1:15, it was fish feeding time by the marine biologist. 

The large fish, Wally, came right up to the swimmers feet. He is called a Maori Wrasse. He was like a pet dog swimming around wanting to be petted. Wally is the Great Barrier Reef mascot.

As I was clicking away on my camera, another group of black fish came called giant trevally to be fed.

We left around 3:30 to return back to the Cairns pier by 5:00 PM. We rested and freshened up for dinner at the Ochre Restaurant at Harbor Lights not far from our hotel. This place focused on local menus. I had the Morganbury Pork Fillet which I enjoyed immensely. Eileen loved her salmon dish.