From Oz to Oz: Flight and Day One in Queensland

Old pros on plane rides now!

We flew out of chilly Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon (June 16th) to Cairns, Queensland. We rented a car, so we had about an hour drive to get to Port Douglas and our hotel. It was about 10pm by the time we arrived. It was obviously dark, so we couldn't see the tropical views, but it definitely felt tropical (very humid). Very different than Victoria!

Hannah and Kiernan posing with a cassowary statue at the airport.

On Wednesday morning we got up and headed to Kuranda. We drove along the Captain Cook Highway and saw amazing views (mountains and coastline).

Hello Queensland!

First we stopped near Cairns (pronounced "cans") and parked our car for the day. We rode the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway over the rainforest to get to the village of Kuranda. The kids were super excited about the gondola. It was small and had many windows. It's a 7 1/2 km trip and we were suspended just meters away from the rainforest canopy. It was kind of foggy and just had a neat vibe! Occasionally it would stop mid-air and that freaked me out (Barry and the kids had fun laughing at me about that)! There were also stations along the route where the gondola would stop and we could get off to explore the rainforest for a bit.

Riding the Skyrail over the rainforest

One of the Skyrail gondolas in the fog (photo taken from our gondola)

Rainforest view

Another rainforest view

Kids enjoying the rainforest views

Another view from gondola (we were hanging by that thin cable)

Hannah examining a large tree in the rainforest

Large Orb spider (we think) hanging above signs at
stopping point of Skyrail (spider was as big as my hand)

Barron River view via gondola

Once we reached the village of Kuranda ("The Village in the Rainforest") we stopped for a quick lunch.

Aboriginal art in Kuranda

Then we went to the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, which is the largest butterfly flight aviary and exhibit in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere. It is home to over 1,500 tropical butterflies. Our favorite was the vibrant Ulysses butterflies.

Cairns Birdwing butterfly

Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, Kuranda, Queensland

Gorgeous butterflies were all around us!

Kiernan caught a butterfly (he also left this cool hat there)

Ulysses butterfly (our favorite!)

Lydia loved holding the butterflies

We took the Kuranda Scenic Railway back to Cairns. There were many waterfall views on the way down. We were all pretty tired and warm, so this was a relaxing end to our busy day. As we arrived at the railway stop the sun was setting over the sugar cane fields. It was amazing to see!!