Well, last night it rained. Then it rained some more. Then it continued. Most of the night. We applied some waterproofing solution to the canvas of the tent a few months ago, and this was the first time we tested it out. Albeit involuntarily. Well, I’m happy to report that it works. Not a drip. Just wish we’d brought all the towels in last night.

But onto the Tourism. It seems that no trip to Cairns is complete unless you go on the historic train to Kuranda up in the hills above Cairns and visit the Bird Park. So we did. There’s also a cable car ride that goes there too. One would expect that these two options might connect in Cairns so you can go up in the train and down on the cable car. Wrong. Too easy. Why would that happen when you can purchase the optional extra of a bus connection between the two stations?

Lucky we have JJ on our team. We left a bike at the bottom of the cable car (I think it has another name like Sky Rail to entice the punters) and then left the car at the bottom of the train. Everyone knows about this train. You’d never see a brochure or a tourism promotion about Cairns without a photo like this one….

The famous Kuranda Historic Railway

You can spend as long as you like at the top in Kuranda where you really have to hand it to the locals. There is the usual array of markets selling the standard items you find at markets right across this wide brown land: dreadful art, hand made clothes, smelly candles, wind chimes, crappy jewellery, cheesy souvenir Tshirts, hippy soap, belts with disgusting buckles, tarot card readers (yep), tie dye anything and the latest addition to every tourism outlet – selfie sticks.

But aside from the markets, there’s the Bird park, butterfly display, Venom Museum, wild creatures zoo, and many, many cafes, restaurants, burger joints – blah, blah etc. We contributed to the local economy by visiting the Bird Park ……

Blue Macaw

Cute ducks, no idea what they’re called.

and the butterfly place…..

The Cairns Birdwing butterfly

We did a lovely walk back through the rainforest and along the Barron River back to the cable car. By now the weather had deteriorated somewhat and the wind was blowing rather more than I was pleased about. I was starting to wish we were going back on the train. A lot.

A lofty ride down to sea level.

It was a stunning bird’s eye view down on the dense forest below and despite the windy conditions, it was well worthwhile. Needless to say, I was pleased when we got to the bottom.

After that, John rode off on the bike to collect the car while we walked almost all the way home. We decided to have a dinner out to celebrate some rather good school report results that Fergus achieved this term. We will celebrate Harry’s good results separately. That way, I get two nights off camp cooking. But it’s not all about me. Really.