The Rainforest

I’ll just pick up where my lovely bride left off. I’m actually glad Nichole was the one to write about the Great Barrier Reef, because to me the only thing I could think was how my mate Stuey described it: "same planet… different world". As for the golf she spoke of. It was quite nice, but we lost a few balls. The guy that dropped us off at the course was very explicit in saying that if the ball runs off in the trees just let it go. The golf courses up here are populated with crocs and 7 of the 10 deadliest snakes of the world. Although the course we played didn’t have any crocs the snakes are regularly seen. Aside from the animal life the plant life was pretty amazing. Imagine golfing through the rain forest. That evening Nichole and I took a stroll along the beach, and along a trail on a hill beside the beach.
Today we did the Kuranda rain forest tour. It was a bit of a dichotomy. We took an old train up the mountain that seemed to cut through a nightmare, sheer cliffs on one side and impenetrable jungle on the other. But it was a bit slow and there were a lot of tunnels (I think 14). Then we did some breathtaking strolls through the rainforest. It was like being in a discovery show special on the rainforest or maybe a rainforest theme park, just way too extreme to be real. This is where Nikki Marie stopped to take a picture of every mushroom along the way, and exclaiming: “this will be great for my biology II class!” Now at the top of the mountain there is a small town called Kuranda. I’m sure at one point in time this town had an actual purpose outside of fleecing tourists for their money, but that time has long passed. And Nick and I were trapped there for 5 long hours. I’ll say there were some cool shops, probably 30-45 minutes worth. Nikki and Cara loved it though, and since we were stuck there we endured. Certainly the highlight of the day was heading back down the mountain. Not just to get away from the endless rows of tourist shops, but because we took a huge sky rail down. This thing was built using helicopters if that gives you any idea of its location. You just floated along above the trees and all you could hear was the birds and all you could smell was the eucalyptus off the trees.

Up next is the Daintree rain forest, Mossman Gorge, and Cape Tribulation.