To get us in the holiday spirit, we went to the Brisbane Openair Cinema to use the complimentary tickets I had won, to see Frankenweenie, the new Tim Burton Movie, which in true Burton style was a warm hearted, quirky movie. Prior to the start of the movie, there was free Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream and lawn chair. After which, we made the journey home, to pack, quick skype call home and attempted an early night. The Following morning, Monday 26th we rised early, quickly checked that everything was packed, we got the bus to Central Station and then the Airtrain to the airport. We were able to relax awhile in departures prior to the flight. We boarded a plane which neither of us had been on or heard of before , the F100 series which also had no corporate logo or designs. The over 2 hr flight to Cairns, wasn't too bad in itself. We got the Sun Palm Airport shuttle into Cairns, were we checked into our accommodation, Nomads Esplande.
We quickly decided to chill by going for a stroll along the Esplande and around town. Later in the evening, we decided to try the nearby Night markets for food, cos of the travelling that night we were a tad tired, and up early the next morning before 7, we ended up watching 3 movies in the common room, Year One, Fired Up and X-men.
Tuesday we were collected for our adventure into the unknown that is the Kuranda hippy commune village. The day started by boarding the Kuranda Scenic Railway train, this pleasant journey took roughly about an hour and a half along the way we got to see the beautiful scenic surroundings including the rainforest, Barron Falls, and unusual waterfall, which happened to reflect a rainbow as we passed. Once we arrived into Kuranda village, we had some free time to do what we liked. Our first stop was a local cafe so Niamh could try some Kangaroo Steak, which she describes as a chewy version of beef steak. After this, we entered the nearby walk tracks, to Skeleton Creek which is approx. 1 hour return walk. As recommended by our bus driver, to try the Home Made Tropical Fruit Ice-Cream in the Red Caravan. Niamh had the mango and lemon, where as I was gonna have the Mango and rum and raisin as was recommended by the driver.
However once Cliff in the Red Ice Cream Van, knew we were Irish, he told us his wife is a current senior navy chef, Irish and maker of the ice cream. Cliff recommended that I try the Xmas Pudding ice cream instead, as been Irish, there was more alcohol in it. So much so he has to be by law, ask your age and if your are driving, before you cant drive for 3 hours with the xmas pudding. I can testify it nearly blew my mind.
After some more exploring of the village, we made our way towards the Skyrail.
Skyrail was a pleasant and comfort experience down from Kuranda where ye stop at Barron Falls and then change Skyrail at Redpeak Station, where the rainforest is at its height. As we changed here after a quick pitstop, Niamh realised that she had left her camera in the ladies. Lucky after talking with staff, she got reunited with it. That evening after dinner, we strolled along the lagoon towards the Marina, to see where we needed to be for the boat the following morning. We hired an underwater camera for 45 dollars.
We boarded and checked in Wednesday morning at 8 am on board Seaquest which is run by Divers Den.The journey out towards the outer reef took about 90 mins, just before we got ready in the reef, Niamh, the poor thing, got sea sick everywhere. After a quick breather, we went snorkelling and got to see a reef shark, after lunch, we sped over to a different area on the reef, which both Niamh and I thought had better snorkelling views. In this new spot, we got to see Nemo, a clown fish and a sea turtle up close. Once we boarded the boat again, we made our way back towards the harbour. We decided to try the Lagoon Pool, which was comfortably warm.
That night we came upon the local Irish bar, P J O Briens, typically the happening place to be, we had dinner here, which was 12 dollars and included a drink.
Thursday morning we got the ferry to Fitzroy Island, where we spent the day, snorkelling, ocean trampoling and glass bottom boat. Let me tell ye all about the adventure that was kayaking, it started off brilliant, with some great photos, above and below water, however on the return leg back to the shore, to our shock and horror the kayak turn over on us and everything that was on board fell into the sea. Took all my energy and breath, winding me in the process, but I managed to recover snorkel gear, 2 tshirts, and camera oh my this camera from the reef bed. All in all, despite been sun creamed to the last, but cos of the mishap of the kayak we both managed to get burnt (the following two days we were getting comments about the sunburn, we were worse then we thought). Only things which got damaged was a SD card and loss of sunglasses. The adventure which was Fitzroy will not be forgotten any time soon but was fun all the same.
Friday was our earliest start been collected at 6.30 am for the Raging Thunder White Water Rafting on the Tully River. Our rafting guide was Grant from NZ, and the rafting experience got better as the day progressed. My luck I managed to fall in at the Room of Doom Rapid, thankful quick thinking by my fellow rafters, I got pulled back in by my life jacket. Further down the river, I nearly toppled out of the raft but was saved. When some of us in the raft with for a swim down stream, we all managed to get grazed by nearby rocks. Near the end of the course, there was a opportunity to go cliff diving which was fun. We were on the Tully river approx 5 hours rafting and a BBQ was included.
Saturday morning we finally managed to have a slight sleep in, and checked out about 10 am from the hostel. We strolled around town for a while, stopping about lunch time for coffee and snack before been collected for airport. The Flight was about 16:30 and the plane this time was a regular Virgin Blue one. The journey home was a pleasant one until outside Brisbane when it got a tad bumpy. Once landed, we made our way home thru Airtrain and Bus. We came home to a nasty surprise, a slightly flooded utility room, but lucky our consciousness neighbours managed to help us get the problem under control.
Tuesday we were collected for our adventure into the unknown that is the Kuranda hippy commune village. The day started by boarding the Kuranda Scenic Railway train, this pleasant journey took roughly about an hour and a half along the way we got to see the beautiful scenic surroundings including the rainforest, Barron Falls, and unusual waterfall, which happened to reflect a rainbow as we passed. Once we arrived into Kuranda village, we had some free time to do what we liked. Our first stop was a local cafe so Niamh could try some Kangaroo Steak, which she describes as a chewy version of beef steak. After this, we entered the nearby walk tracks, to Skeleton Creek which is approx. 1 hour return walk. As recommended by our bus driver, to try the Home Made Tropical Fruit Ice-Cream in the Red Caravan. Niamh had the mango and lemon, where as I was gonna have the Mango and rum and raisin as was recommended by the driver.
However once Cliff in the Red Ice Cream Van, knew we were Irish, he told us his wife is a current senior navy chef, Irish and maker of the ice cream. Cliff recommended that I try the Xmas Pudding ice cream instead, as been Irish, there was more alcohol in it. So much so he has to be by law, ask your age and if your are driving, before you cant drive for 3 hours with the xmas pudding. I can testify it nearly blew my mind.
After some more exploring of the village, we made our way towards the Skyrail.
Skyrail was a pleasant and comfort experience down from Kuranda where ye stop at Barron Falls and then change Skyrail at Redpeak Station, where the rainforest is at its height. As we changed here after a quick pitstop, Niamh realised that she had left her camera in the ladies. Lucky after talking with staff, she got reunited with it. That evening after dinner, we strolled along the lagoon towards the Marina, to see where we needed to be for the boat the following morning. We hired an underwater camera for 45 dollars.
We boarded and checked in Wednesday morning at 8 am on board Seaquest which is run by Divers Den.The journey out towards the outer reef took about 90 mins, just before we got ready in the reef, Niamh, the poor thing, got sea sick everywhere. After a quick breather, we went snorkelling and got to see a reef shark, after lunch, we sped over to a different area on the reef, which both Niamh and I thought had better snorkelling views. In this new spot, we got to see Nemo, a clown fish and a sea turtle up close. Once we boarded the boat again, we made our way back towards the harbour. We decided to try the Lagoon Pool, which was comfortably warm.
That night we came upon the local Irish bar, P J O Briens, typically the happening place to be, we had dinner here, which was 12 dollars and included a drink.
Thursday morning we got the ferry to Fitzroy Island, where we spent the day, snorkelling, ocean trampoling and glass bottom boat. Let me tell ye all about the adventure that was kayaking, it started off brilliant, with some great photos, above and below water, however on the return leg back to the shore, to our shock and horror the kayak turn over on us and everything that was on board fell into the sea. Took all my energy and breath, winding me in the process, but I managed to recover snorkel gear, 2 tshirts, and camera oh my this camera from the reef bed. All in all, despite been sun creamed to the last, but cos of the mishap of the kayak we both managed to get burnt (the following two days we were getting comments about the sunburn, we were worse then we thought). Only things which got damaged was a SD card and loss of sunglasses. The adventure which was Fitzroy will not be forgotten any time soon but was fun all the same.
Friday was our earliest start been collected at 6.30 am for the Raging Thunder White Water Rafting on the Tully River. Our rafting guide was Grant from NZ, and the rafting experience got better as the day progressed. My luck I managed to fall in at the Room of Doom Rapid, thankful quick thinking by my fellow rafters, I got pulled back in by my life jacket. Further down the river, I nearly toppled out of the raft but was saved. When some of us in the raft with for a swim down stream, we all managed to get grazed by nearby rocks. Near the end of the course, there was a opportunity to go cliff diving which was fun. We were on the Tully river approx 5 hours rafting and a BBQ was included.
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