Day 35 - Cairns, Australia

Today our excursion is taking us to the Rainforestation National Park. Our tour begins with a scenic drive to the Kuranda Range. Once on the plateau, you'll travel through lush rainforest and past fern gullies to Rainforestation National Park. The park is set on 100 acres in the midst of Australia's World Heritage Rainforest.  

It was just about noon when we arrived so our first stop was lunch. We savored the flavors of Tropical North Queensland with an Aussie-style BBQ lunch served in the Outback Restaurant. It was really quite good for a buffet lunch at a venue like this. 

After lunch it was off to see some wildlife. It was a small enclosure but the few animals did seem to have a nice space. We saw koalas, a crocodiles, Tasmanian Devils, wallaby's, Kangaroos, and wombats. June had her photo taken with a Koala inside the gift store area. I felt a little sorry for the animals, they looked bored or tired. 

Then, it's off to the Pamagirri Aboriginal Experience, winner of a Gold 2019 Queensland Tourism Award for its authentic Indigenous Australian culture. It is interesting and exciting to watch the customs and ancient traditions. The didgeridoo playing was fascinating, it takes years to play like that young man. Next was a spear throwing demonstration (two of the Pamagirri guides are in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest spear throws!). Then it was time to throw the boomerang and learn about the main purpose for the "weapon." The purpose was to knock birds out of the sky! 2-3-4 were thrown at once into a flock of birds. If you were good at it, you collected your boomerangs and the fowl, then went on to enjoy your meal! I think our group would have starved, I would have for sure, mine hit the dirt in front of me! It takes some strength to throw it hard enough! From there we walked up a slight hill to the Rainforestation Amphitheatre. It is extremely hot and humid today. We watched the Pamagirri Dance Performance, a traditional dance depicting aspects of Indigenous culture including animals, food gathering and hunting. Now we had the final experience of the day, the park's unique six-wheel-drive amphibious Ducks. This is an ideal way to explore this breathtaking area. Once aboard, we cruised up the lush jungle waterways and learned the mysteries of this ancient ecosystem before heading back. There are some astonishing plants in this area that can do some real harm. In one of the photos below you can see how the leaves of this one plant have barbs and cling to whatever comes their way. They have pulled people off bicycles, caused severe tears in the skin needing stitches, and many more horrible things our guide told us about. The other one he told us about was the Stinging Tree. Somewhat like a nettle plant, but the "sting" can last from 1 week to years!!! Some sobering thoughts before taking a trek in the rainforest of Australia! 

On the way back we took a drive out to the beach. I guide really wanted us to see the beach. It was lovely. In one photo below you can see how they set up a safe swimming area that jellyfish cannot penetrate. It was good to be back onboard. Shower felt great after all the heat and humidity! We skipped the dining room dinner and just got a quick bite in the Horizon Court buffet. The last photo is the Coral Princess leaving port before us.