KURANDA 26/02/2009

In the morning I had breakfast. Then the bus arrived at 7:25 to take me to the railway station. The trip I booked yesterday included a bus drive to the railway station and back, tickets for the train and for the cable car.

At 8:50 I took this historic train to Kuranda. It was a very old and slow train. I could listen about Kuranda throughout the whole ride.

During the ride there was one stop and we could leave the train for about 5 minutes. We could admire the Barron Falls. When we heard the "bell" we had to hop on the train.

When I reached the station in Kuranda I took a free shuttle bus to the centre of Kuranda. Well, Kuranda is a very small town, if it is a town, but I love the place so much. It is one of the best places in Australia.

First I ate Spanish omelette, which was so delicious. Yummy. Then I bought tickets to all three Kuranda attractions, which cost $39 per person.

The first one was the Butterfly Sanctuary. As a name indicates there are a lot of butterflies flying over your head. The place itself is not too big, but it is a really nice place. I liked a blue butterfly but it was so difficult to take a picture of it.

Then I went to the Kuranda Heritage Market where there was the entrance to the Birdworld. There were a lot of birds, mainly crazy parrots. I had a lot of fun with them. I managed to take there my favourite photo of a parrot which at the beginning did not want to be taken a photo of. Fortunately she trusted me and I was able to take a great photo. You can see it below.

From the Birdworld I went to the Kuranda Koala Gardens where you can meet not only koalas, but also crocodiles, wallabies, kangaroos and snakes. There was almost nobody, which was so fantastic. Kangaroos seemed to be much nicer there than those in Sydney.

What was the best part of the trip was the opportunity of cuddling a koala and having a picture with it. WOW. It cost only $15 and the experience was amazing. They brought the biggest koala I have ever seen. They instructed me what to do with my hands and then gave the koala. WOW. What a great fun it was. It did not last too long. They took the pictures and used my camera to take additional pictures, too. I miss the moment. It was great. I have to say that I enjoyed every moment there in Kuranda and the staff was so nice there.

When I left the Kuranda Koala Gardens I bought some earrings in the market. Unfortunately I lost one gorgeous violet Aboriginal earring when I came back to England. If I had known I would have bought the second pair. :-)

I took the bus back to the train station. This time I did not take the train, but a cable car to get back. There was a  ticket on my surname at the cashier. It was possible to stop few times while going down and walk a bit. When I came back I still had some time to drink coffee and eat a cake. Then the driver came and took me to the hotel. At the hotel I booked a trip to the Great Barrier Reef for the following day with the company Reef Experience for $145 per person.

I loved this day and Kuranda experience was something I will never forget. I found out about the place on the internet while preparing for the trip and it is so fantastic that I had an opportunity to visit it.

Well, I had a dinner/supper at the hotel - a grill. You could buy meat in the bar and grill yourself. I drank Pina Colada. The barman made too much and gave me everything. Ha ha ha.

It was a great day!

My Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22762999@N00/

All rights reserved - Copyright © Lagnese

Find me on Facebook @ Lagnese Photography on Facebook