Riding high

The next day we headed to the rainforest. Specifically, to the Skyrail--a gondola ride that first gives you a great view of the rainforest from above, and then stops at a couple locations for a closer look. At the first stop, a ranger leads a tour around showing what the locals used the various plants for.

At the top of the Skyway is Kuranda, a tourist type village filled with small cafes and souvenir shops. Also in Kuranda was our next stop: the Rainforestation Nature Park. The first part of the park is a small zoo, here we saw our first wombat of the trip.

The next part of the park we visited was a short Duck tour of the rainforest. Yes, the same Army Ducks that have graced the Wisconsin Dells for so long. For those who haven't had the experience, Ducks are amphibious vehicles made during WWII that can drive on land or in water. They're going on over sixty years old now and still operating, which is amazing in an of itself.

Next we entered the Aborigine part of the park. First there was some dancing, followed by some demonstrations: the spear-thrower, the didgeridoo, and the ever popular boomerang. They let us throw one: I'm happy to say that mine came back, but I couldn't quite catch it. Not a good idea to just hold up your hand--instead you slap your hands together as is whizzes through. Mine was headed to fast for me, maybe next time.

By this time we were exhausted, but still managed to haul ourselves back to Cairns and Barnacle Bill's for the seafood platter. A guy's got to eat!