Back On The Train Again

Thursday 16 November

We are back on tour again, so rise and shine was about 06.15, in order to pick up the coach at 08.00. Everyone was in the foyer early, obviously all raring to go, only to hear that the coach had a flat battery and we were waiting on another coach company to come along and give us a jump start. This actually only meant a five minute delay, but we could see Jenn panicing in the background, and she was very apologetic once on the coach.

Our tour today was to visit Kuranda, 344 metres up in the tropical rain forest, above Cairns. Jenn had managed to get train tickets for Fergus, Cynthia and Ruth to join this trip. To reach the town, we would be traveling on the Kuranda Scenic Railway. This railway was originally built to serve the nearby gold mines. Bids by the settlements of Cairns and Port Douglas were proposed, but after a two year survey, in March 1884, the decision favoured the Cairns proposals. The Range Railway, as it was first called, was designed in three sections, the first from Cairns to Redlynch, the second up the range, via Freshwater Valley and along the southern heights of the Barron Gorge, and the third a comparatively easy run to Granite Creek and the gold fields. The first section ran behind schedule because of design realignments, fever and the unsanitary living conditions of the labourers. It officially opened in October 1887, having taken eighteen months to complete just 16 kilometres. A Union was then established to improve the working conditions and increase the wages by a shilling a day for the labourers

In January 1887 John Robb was awarded the contract to complete the second stage of the railway and set up his headquarters at Barronville, soon to be renamed Kamerunga, and the town flourished for the next three years supporting five pubs, a brewery, school, jail, blacksmith, watchmaker, chemist, butcher, two bakers, three general stores, a hall and two wine and spirit merchants, as the railway track was laid down in this area.

Robb soon got his project underway, with over 700 ‘navvies’ working with picks, shovels and dynamite to dig out the track, with the danger of landslides, ever present. Sand from the Barron valley and concrete had been transported by wagons and transferred to mules, to reach the worksites. Over the next six years, there were twenty three deaths, and some 1,400 GBP of worker’s entitlements were never claimed on completion of this section. In January 1893 the lines for the third section were being laid, although the track did not reach the gold fields until 1910.

In 1911 two cyclones struck the district within the space of a month and over 22 kms of track was severely damaged and Tunnel 10, completely collapsed. It took ten weeks to repair and part of the first section was re-routed at this time to reduce the number of crossings over Lily Creek. Goods had to be transported over the old pack-tracks during the repairs.

Meanwhile we traveled on to Freshwater Station (named as it was the first point the construction teams could obtain fresh water) which is a small wooden station, with a narrow platform, but a large souvenir shop. One of our party (the Dutch husband of the deaf lady) walked out across the track to take photos, and a very irate railway employee came running up, shouting instructions to get back on the platform immediately or he would not be allowed to travel. Jenn calmed the situation down, explaining first to the official that the man understood very limited English, and making the man (I think his name is Arnold) understand that he could not walk out over the track – despite the fact that the line was very straight and a train could be seen approaching for about a mile or more. Give a man a uniform and a little bit of power and . . . . whoosh!

The track began its way gently up hill, twisting around across valleys. We passed through the Jungara region, which was the site of the largest field hospital in the southern hemisphere during the second World War. After rounding a 180 degree horseshoe bend the track became steeper and we reached the first of fifteen hand carved tunnels. The train chugged along, and we often glimpsed views of Freshwater Valley, down to Cairns through the trees. In 1973, at Tunnel 6, masked bandits held up a train here, to steal the wages being sent to the Tableland area further north. They escaped on trail bikes and have never been caught.

One of the most outstanding features of the railway is the Stanley Creek Falls bridge, an iron lattice construction, crossing high above the valley on three trestle piers. Two rock formations form distinctive landmarks on the way up – Glacier Rock, composed of grey granite, and Red Bluff, a huge red outcrop forming the steepest part of the Barrons Gorge mountainside. After Tunnel 14, there were some spectacular views back over Whitfield Mount to Cairns, and on to Green Island on the horizon (only visible when the weather is clear, as it was today). Tunnel 15 is the longest tunnel on the route at 490 metres, with three curves. Eleven people were killed during construction when this tunnel collapsed. At the end of the tunnel is an impressive rock column, about twenty feet high, that was left in tact as a monument to John Robb in recognition of his engineering skills. It also has significance for the local Aborigines in their “dream time (creation) stories.

Soon after passing the Barron Falls Hydro Electric Station, which began supplying power to the Queensland grid in 1935, we pulled into Barron Falls Station. We stopped here for ten minutes to take photos of the waterfalls on the opposite side of the valley. At present, we are at the end of the dry season, and although there seemed lots of water tumbling 265 metres down the cliffs to the deep green pools below, we later saw photos of these waterfalls after the cyclone earlier this year, and the amount of water then was awesome – huge torrents crashing over the cliffs, with spray causing a fog-like spray over the valley. It seemed almost unreal. Whilst here, I bumped into Myrna and Darryl, from the previous trip, who were on a day trip from their hotel, before traveling to New Zealand early next week.

It was then just a short ride to Kuranda Station. This is an old-fashioned style station and is heritage listed. It was completed in 1915 when gas lighting was installed and is the only remaining example of a railway station of precast concrete construction. Along the platforms were lots of typical rainforest plants and flowers, and a greenhouse, nurturing smaller specimens, which made the whole scene appear like a garden centre or nursery. All the way along the upper reaches of the track, the tropical rainforest covered the hills, with lots of different species of trees, vines, lichens and flowers, all lush and green, despite not having a lot of rain, since March this year. The wet season here begins again in January and this area receives an average annual rainfall of around 100 inches per year – though this figure can be as low as a few inches or as high as several hundred inches, depending on the depth of the cyclones. Half way through the journey cool towels were passed around to refresh us in the hot atmosphere of the carriages, even though all the windows were open.

At Kurunda Station, we boarded the coach to visit the Rain Forest Station Nature Park, covering an area of 100 acres. Following a short break for refreshments, we all boarded an ancient Army Duck vehicle (similar to the ‘froggers’ that currently tour in London), an amphibious six wheel carriage, that took us over the rough terrain like a large off road car, but then plunged into the dammed river where we floated and motored around looking for wildlife. We saw a few ‘dragons’ – large lizards - turtles and colourful butterflies, as well as hearing lots about epiphyte ferns and plants with serrated edges, termites (apparently all termites die when the Queen dies as there is no one to produce any more eggs, but there is one mound in Sydney where the Queen is known to be 72 years old! – workers only live a few months). Our guide was a “real” Aussie, who said “bloody” a lot of times, and later Jenn and Tom explained that this word is not a swear word out here, just an over-used adjective. He had a good sense of humour and kept up a never-ending commentary throughout the trip.

After this ride, we were directed to a small theatre area, known as the Pamagirri Cultural Centre, where a group of Aborigines performed dances for us, playing a didgeridoo, clapping sticks and boomerangs – yes these people beat these weapons together to make music. The dancing was not so expressive as that we had seen at Alice Springs, but the seven men seemed to enjoy themselves, with their bodies painted in vivid colours and patterns. One of these performers then took us to a netted area, where we all had the chance to “throw” a boomerang. He demonstrated the art, making the wooden arc return to his feet. Colin managed to make his boomerang curl back towards him, and even I made a reasonable attempt compared to some of the others.

We then had demonstrations of playing a didgeridoo, and spear throwing, the latter being thrown at targets across the field – a bit like a golf driving range. But the aborigine was able to throw a spear over 150 metres to a far target with the aid of a “spear thrower” a long flat thin slice of wood, that hooked into the end of the spear, and allowed the spear to fly great distances through the air. He could hit the closer targets (about 50 metres), without any aids. The spears were just crude, cane-like branches, that had been whittled to a point at one end.

We were then handed over to a young man, who took us around the wildlife park, where we saw two saltwater crocodiles (these were about ten feet long, and have to be kept separated as they are very aggressive – one had eaten all twelve of the females introduced to him in an effort to get him to breed) and about a dozen smaller freshwater crocodiles (who can live together - one of the crocodiles had caught a lizard in his mouth and was flinging his head around to stun his catch, before submerging it in the pool to kill it), lots of different kinds of lizards and snakes, an Australian Cassowary (a more colourful version of an emu), a dingo, a shoal of barramundi, some wallabies and the highlight, a group of koala bears, one with a baby, about six weeks old. These animals sleep about twenty hours a day, so were just sitting in the trees, wrapped around the branches, blinking now and again, to make sure they were safe – only the baby seemed to be more alert, as he was manoevring himself around his mother, to find a more comfy spot.

It was now time for lunch, and the coach took us for a short ride to the town of Kuranda, at the top of the hill. This whole town seems to be devoted to tourism – all the shops and markets sell clothing, souvenirs, opals, aboriginal art work, or are cafes, selling a wide range of foods. There is one pub. There is a butterfly park, but that costs A$14 each entry fee, and a Venomous Zoo, which didn’t sound too attractive. We were only here an hour or so, just enough time for a quick bite to eat and wander around to see the goods on offer.

Back in the coach everyone felt quite weary – those just starting the tour, had found it quite exhausting, and I think the nine of us from the previous tour, were suffering from the early start two days ago – the day after the day after syndrome.

I spent the rest of the afternoon, blogging and when the news came on the television they were showing pictures of heavy snowfalls in southern New South Wales and Victoria! The locals had toboggans and jet skis out, enjoying this unexpected fall. I hope it is warmer by the time we reach there.

For dinner tonight we couldn’t decide what we wanted to eat – we had shellfish last night, and have opted for he Barbeque option tomorrow – when there should be more shellfish. So we ended up at La Fettucini where we ate on Tuesday evening. The atmosphere was great and the food delicious, so why not give it another go? – except there are hundreds of restaurants here in Cairns. We made our way through the back streets – thinking we would see more shops, but we were wrong – and eventually came out opposite the restaurant. There were not nearly so many bats flying around tonight, but we found that the mewling sound we heard base of the palm trees, amongst the shrubs growing there – it seemed they were trying to keep the bats away, but they don’t fly down low – so we’re not sure.

Dinner was again scrumptious – we had squid, Italian for “entrée” (starters in Brits talk) – lightly sautéed with a delicious fishy, herby sauce – much, much better than the usual battered ring with mayonnaise. There are three restaurants next to each other on this block, and all of them were brimming with people, and turning groups of more than four away, although one restaurant obviously had a booking for a large tour group of about 40, with two long tables set up to cater for them. We were lucky to sit outside again – in the same seats actually – as most of the tables were taken when we arrived. We were amazed again at how many Japanese and Koreans are here in town. I had thought the signs, etc were in Chinese, but it may be another Asian language. Tonight seemed even busier than before – but we thought we spied a cruise ship in the harbour, earlier today, so maybe all the passengers have come ashore.

We wandered home and Colin managed to phone his parents, who continued to talk about their forthcoming visit to Juz’s next month. We then returned to the hotel, to finish the blog and sort out a few things that need charging.

We have had a real turnabout in beds since entering Australia. When we got to China the beds were like floorboards – no give in them at all – even getting bruised hips in some of the beds if you laid on your sides too long. In Thailand the beds were still firm – very comfy in fact. But since we got to Australia we have the opposite spectrum – the beds here have got softer and soft, and are now so soft, that as you turn over, you are trampolined into the air and boinged up and down as you get comfy – and so is your partner, I am a restless sleeper at the best of times, so poor Colin is now being woken every hour or so, and feels like Zeberdee – boing, boing - as I turn over. Bring back the hard beds.

At dinner, Colin and I discussed where we would most like to return to if we had the opportunity – we both would probably choose Singapore as first choice, because we didn’t have long there to explore. Nearer home we would like to go back to both Berlin and Moscow, and further away, so far it would have to be to Alice Springs to Darwin – there seemed to be so much there to explore in more detail. Perhaps we can combine a visit to Perth, and tour round the west coast to Darwin too. The options are endless. But I was told that was cheating as it involved new places – and that would open up the world!