Riding High Above The Rain Forest

Saturday 18 November

Another early start today, as we were booked on the 09.00 Skyrail which started just outside Cairns. We retraced our route along the cliffs known as the Marlin Coast – since 1992 marlin have been a protected species of fish, and can only be caught on a two kilo breaking strain line. They are then weighed and often tagged, before being returned to the sea.

Skyrail is a series of chair lifts rising straight up the side of the mountains, which we had traveled around on the Kuranda Scenic Railway a couple of days ago. The cableway is 7.5 kms (4.7 miles) long from just outside Cairns up to Kuranda, which was completed in 1995 after just one year of construction. There are 36 towers supporting the cables, all of which were lifted into place by helicopters, so as to avoid any undue disturbance of the rain forest. The tallest tower is Tower 6, at 40.5 metres (133 feet) and 114 gondolas can take 700 people an hour up to the peak. Red Peak Station is the highest point on the track at 545 metres (or 1788 feet) about a third of the way along the route. There are two stopping points along the cableway, Red Peak Station and Barron Falls Station.

The gondolas take you up above the canopy of the rain forest, so you can look down on the diverse array of trees and plants that shield the forest floor. The first part of the forest on the lower slopes is mainly composed of eucalyptus trees (of which there are more than 150 varieties), with ferns and paper bark trees. This abruptly changes after Tower 5, to continuous vine clad rain forest interspersed with some pine trees and a huge Black Tulip Oak, whose uppermost branches nearly touch the gondolas. You have to change gondolas at Red Peak Station, and we took the opportunity to wander along the forest trail seeing lots of epiphytes – basket ferns – and some orchids, clinging on to the trunks of the tall palm and fig trees. The canopy is the natural rooftop of the rainforest and protects plants below from the excessive rain, winds and sun, while trapping the humidity. It needs 1,300 mm of rain a year to sustain a rainforest, but here the average is closer to 4,000 mm a year. We saw white cockatoos flying through the branches from our overhead vantage point and a black turkey scrabbling around amongst the roots of the trees whilst walking around – he had built a huge nest of forest debris – dead leaves and branches and ferns – which looked like the heap of garden waste you rake up in autumn. But apparently the turkey lays it eggs in the midst of this so that they cannot be seen by other predators.

The journey continued up – and down – on the Skyrail cableway, stopping briefly at Barron Falls to view the waterfalls once more – we could see the train stopped on the other side of the gorge – before crossing over the river – we didn’t see any crocodiles, but apparently they are there - and continuing to the terminal at Kuranda. The whole trip took about one and a half hours. It was very windy this morning, and Jenn thought that perhaps the Skyrail would be closed. Luckily it wasn’t, but the gondolas were traveling more slowly than normal.

We returned to the coach, and began our journey through the Atherton Tablelands to our lunchtime destination of Lake Burine. This area is rich in farming, and grows a wide variety of crops and fruit, peanuts and coffee, as well as supporting a thriving cattle and sheep farming industry. Peanuts grow on the root of the plant, and the whole plant is dug out of the ground to harvest the nuts. The rest of the plant is used as fodder for animals, so nothing is wasted. The hills are rolling green swathes similar to Devon, just more of it stretching between farms and towns. John Atherton was one of the first to settle in the area – thus giving his name to the area and a town, although he actually lived at another town nearby – Meereba.

On the way to lunch we stopped to look at the Curtain Fig Tree, which is famous for its size. The fig tree seeds are blown from the top of the tree, and settle on another branch or tree, and develop a root system that falls towards the ground, round the tree it has landed on. By the time it reaches the ground it has “strangled” its host tree which dies from the centre. This process continues, and this particular tree is thought to be between 500 and 700 years old. Its circumference is about 30 metres, with a couple of offshoots on the side. A young lad, about six feet tall, climbed down from the walkway and stood next to the tree, and he seemed insignificant against this huge root system. The tree must stand at least 100 feet tall.


We arrived at Lake Burine for lunch, placed our order and set off on a cruise to see the surrounding wildlife and vegetation. The Lake is 730metres above sea level and actually a crater of a volcano, the result of activity some 130 million years ago, where magma flowed to the surface and was instantly cooled by water, turning to steam. The water here is supplied solely by the rainfall, and a small stream at one end acts as an overflow – it actually drains into the Mulgrove river and out into the sea, and is important in the spawning of the silver eels that live in the lake – they stay in the lake for many years, before taking the trip down the stream to the coast to mate and lay their eggs. When the young hatch, they return up stream, back to the lake.

Cruising round the lake, we saw lots more fig trees, as well as red cedars (which used to be known as ‘red gold’, as these are the second largest tree in the world and in the early twentieth century fetched as much money as was paid for pure gold), pines, air plants – grandfather’s beard – and umbrella trees – larger versions of our umbrella plants at home, with long red seed pod type flowers. Many of the trees in this area are hundreds, and up to two thousand years old.

There were a couple of types of cormorants, several different species of duck and two pelicans pointed out as we sailed close by. The Australian pelican does not dive for food, but harasses the coots and ducks on the water, as they dive to catch fish, and then steal their takings. We saw lots of turtles, the small brown variety – about the size of a large terrapin – swimming around, but apparently they are quite aggressive when out of the water, and never retract their head into their shell, so are ready to strike if you should tread on one. Flocks of Eurasian coots and white eyed ducks flew across the lake which is about 1200 metres across the circle,.although it does elongate out to 1800 metres at one side. We could see the damage caused by the cyclone earlier this year, as one side had lots of fallen trees, while the more sheltered side was still in tact. Several of these fallen trees were hundreds of years old.

We returned to the café for lunch, which has been owned by the same family since the 1920’s. George Carey, a surveyor came to this spot to survey the forest for stands of red cedar, and built himself a house. Later in the 1920’s the local mayor visited the area, saw the diversity of forest, and set up the Lake Trust – but there was no funding, so the family turned their home into a guest house to helppay for the upkeep the area. In the Second World War, the house was turned into a field hospital for malaria victims from New Guinea but it returned to the family in the late 1940’s. The family still own one acre of land, the rest being designated a National Park.

Colin and I both had one of their “Devonshire” cream teas, with scones and home made jam (plum and raspberry I think) with large dollops of whipped cream. The scones were just made and crumbly and very delicious. It was then time to be on our way again, traveling further across the Tableland to Milla Milla Falls. We passed over Johnson River a three times, where it was a mere trickle at 600 metres above sea level, and a broader stream at 300 metres above sea level and finally down at sea level where it was a broad river flowing into the ocean. We passed through Milanda which is famous for once having the largest milk round in the world – stretching across Northern Territory into north Western Australia, up to Papua New Guinea, and down as far as the New South Wales border. Now a dairy has been set up in Katherine in the Northern Territory, so the area covered has been halved, but is still over 1,200 square kms.

When John Atherton first settled here he saw the potential growth in the area, and he teamed up with Christie Palmerston to encourage people from Victoria to migrate northwards. Palmerston charged them 30 GBP to lead them to the “promised land”, where they were met by John Atherton, who sold them tracts for farming. But the land was owned by the local aboriginal tribes and they attacked the new settlers and drove them from the land. Christie Palmerston then charged 50 GBP to take them back. There were also photos of Palmerston shooting aboriginals which helped to scare away the newcomers, but in fact, when investigated, this was found to be a scam set up by Palmerston, who had hired the aborigines and used dud bullets when shooting them, and nobody got hurt. Palmerston was also responsible for assisting in the selection of the route of the Kuranda Railway. He was the surveyor hired to find the best way from Herberton to the coast to transport the gold from the mines. The Mayor of Geraldston offered Palmerston 2,000 GBP to choose the route through his town to Port Douglas. Palmerston was only paid 180 GBP at the start of the survey,with the rest to follow when the report was submitted. When Palmerston returned and set out his findings, the Mayor decided not to pay the remaining bribe, as the easiest route was obviously through Geraldston to Port Douglas. So Palmerston told the authorities to use the route from Cairns to Herberton, to get his own back on the Mayor, even though this was not the best route, and so the railway was built in its present position from Cairns. Whilst surveying, Palmerston found a route from Herberton to Innisfail (formerly Geraldton) which took him twelve days to ride by horse, It takes two hours to drive today.

Milla Milla Falls was another spectacular waterfall, gushing over the top of the cliff, into a pool. There were some people swimming here, but our stop was just a ten minute toilet break., because we had to get to Clump Point Jetty in time for the last ferry to Dunk Island at 17.15. We made it with time to spare.

A small catamaran (capable of holding about 50 people) came skidding over the waves to collect us and our luggage. We had been asked to take as little belongings as possible to the island, as all the luggage had to be loaded on and off the vessel by hand. Colin and I had packed a couple of smaller bags – we now have back packs courtesy of AAT Kings and small holdalls courtesy of APT Tours – so we had enough space, although some people still took their large suitcases with them. We had sorted out sufficient clothes and bits to last us the two nights we would be on the island and left the rest in our cases, locked on the coach. The ride to Dunk Island was at least as choppy as yesterday’s ride back to harbour. We bounced up and down on the large waves, rolling from side to side, backwards and forwards – we were lucky no one in our party was ill yesterday, and we were all safe and sound by the time we arrived today.

Dunk Island is a small island off only 5 kms off the coast, but there is a large sandbar in the intervening channel, so the route there took about half an hour. Captain Cook had sailed past in the 1770’s and named the small group of islands Family Islands – with the two larger (Dunk and another) being Mum and Dad, with fourteen children. It was first settled by Edmund Banfield, who on hearing he only had six months to live, came to the island to spend his last days peacefully. He named the island after Lord Montague Dunk, the First Lord of the Admiralty at the time. Edmund Banfield was a newspaper editor, who had visited the island on many occasions, and written several books about the place. He survived another 25 years, and his wife, Bertha, a further ten years. They are both buried here – their grave a famous landmark – and because his wife put fresh flowers on her husband’s grave every day, the tradition has continued and fresh flowers are still placed there every day even now. When Bertha Banfield died, the island was sold to Lord Bassey, a former Governor of Victoria, who began to develop the island as a resort. During World War II it became a base for the RAAF, as it had a small airstrip, but following the end of the War, it reverted to a resort. It was bought by P&O in the 1980s and then sold to Qantas in 1998, before becoming a Voyages resort in 2004 – part of the same company as AAT Kings and APT Tours.

This resort resembles Centre Parcs at home, only on a tropical rainforest island. There are lots of sporting activities to take part in – not all free – and walks around the island, and two pools to keep you amused. There is even Bingo on some nights on the Activities Programme, but happily not during our stay. We had all been asked before we arrived to select a time for dinner, as not everyone could eat at once. We had chosen 19.15 and when we arrived there were plenty of tables free. The food was a choice from a set menu, and the was very good – probably the best we have eaten on this tour so far – although Colin had to send his steak back as it was cold and cooked medium when he had asked for rare. The second steak was probably ‘blue’ but it was hot and tasty, so he didn’t mind. I had chosen chicken – trying to vary my diet at last, with risotto (I don’t usually eat much rice either) but it was a delicious dish, decorated with asparagus. I also had Tasmanian Brie for dessert, which was scrumptious, as it was warm and slightly running.

Our room is a large oblong in a block of four, with a bathroom at the back in one corner, and large patio doors at the front end – which is very disconcerting as there are no net curtains, or blinds, to cover the windows during daylight, only thick curtains for night hours. But it is very comfortable with easy chairs, a spare bed, and all the expected facilities. The bed is back to being bouncy, and because the floor is tiled, it skates around as you get in and out – this may be a problem in the middle of the night.