After helping the family out, we enjoyed a few free days to visit some landmarks in the area. First on our list was the old train to Kuranda, a small city nestled in the rainforest. It was a beautiful, slow ride through the forest and mountains. We passed through 15 tunnels and over multiple bridges. The highlight of the trip came near the end of the ride when we stopped at Barron Falls, a magnificent series of waterfalls cascading over massive rock formations. It was one of the most breathtaking sights we’ve ever seen.
Because of the slow yet scenic train journey, we had limited time in Kuranda itself. So, we decided to do two activities, one for Delphine and one for Arnaud. We lunched at a famous crepe restaurant and visited the butterfly garden. Tons of colourful butterflies fluttered around us, with some even landing on us. The garden also had a lab to support the butterfly population. The funny part is that some caterpillars are more striking than their butterfly forms, and vice versa. One particular caterpillar stood out, covered in impressive spikes. This type pops into one of the largest moths in the world. Unfortunately, we didn’t spot any of these moths flying around.
To get back at our bikes, we took the Skyrail down. It is a cable car above the rainforest that included two stops. At the second stop, we joined a short guided walk through the forest. Very fascinating to hear some facts! We learnt that some trees grow on top of other trees to reach sunlight faster. After some years the host tree is suffocated by the new one. Later on, we will show a great example of this. Next to that, we discovered the value of the cassowary, a key species in the rainforest whose population is declining. For some trees, their seeds only germinate after passing through the bird’s digestive system. Pretty amazing right?!
That evening, we returned home for our last night with the family. On our way back from Kuranda, we stumbled upon cherry beer at a liquor store. We shared some with the family, and Arnaud made sabayon with it. It was their first time trying sabayon, and they loved it! The next morning, before dropping us off to pick up our rental car, we attended a weekly ceremony at the local school. Each week, some kids receive a certificate or medal for achievements like kindness, safety or success. The school was clearly focused on making the kids successful and encouraging them to do better each week. One of the family’s kids received a golden star for good grades.
Then, we set off to explore the Queensland region with our rental car. Because it was only a few days, we opted for the cheapest option: a “mystery car”. Turns out the mystery car was a nearly new Hilux Toyota. You can imagine Arnaud’s happy face at that moment.
Our mission for the day was to enjoy nature and spot a cassowary. We started with the Curtain Fig Tree. This is a crazy example of a tree that began its life on a host tree hundreds of years ago. Today, it spreads over tree trees and spans meters wide. We didn’t say it earlier, but these trees often start from the poop of a bird or bat. Unbelievable how massive and strong it became!
Next, we visited Millaa Millaa Falls and Babinda Boulders. Millaa Millaa Falls is a waterfall where you can swim. For us, it was too cold. And although the falls were relatively dry due to the season, it was a perfect peaceful place to eat our lunch. Babinda Boulders is a rock-filled valley that the family recommended. The rocks form a sort of tunnel and create a dangerous steam. Several people have died here. This meant that certain areas were forbidden to swim. We didn’t swim because of the cold and crowd. Personally, we weren’t impressed by the Boulders. We heard however that the cassowaries live in this region and sometimes show themselves when it’s less crowded. We waited for two hours but no cassowaries. Some local nature guy confirmed that cassowaries live in the area but are incredibly shy. In some places, they approach people because of the food they would get, but this practice harms them. What a bummer!
The following day, we rose early again and got to the paddocks in Cairns to board a ship and got ready to explore the Great Barrier Reef. Having filled in the necessary paperwork and taking motion-sickness pills, we set off. The crew immediately started explaining the rules on the boat and in the waters. We’ve all got our security number and got separated into different groups to get the right explanation. This was all happening when the boat was cruising so you can already imagine what happened. The pills did not do their job properly and Delphine and I felt seasick and struggled to focus on the explanations and keeping the food in our stomachs. We were happy to arrive at our first stop, put our gear on and went snorkelling hoping it would get better over time. What a view, being in the water with all these different kinds of fish and corals is just amazing. There’s no point in trying to explain what it looked like, but we might give you some idea by sharing some photos.
Delphine died a bit that day but we still tried to make the best out of it. Because of the seasickness, we missed out on some really cool things which was sad. While we are glad we did the dive, we’re not sure if we will do it again in the future unless it was truly extraordinary—and didn’t involve a boat ride.
On our final morning in Cairns, we set off even earlier to the airport to catch the plane to Melbourne, or so we thought. Just before dropping off the car, we learned that our flight got delayed and would depart at 3 p.m. instead of 7:30 a.m. After checking with the services, we got the information that a hotel would be arranged to get some more sleep but unfortunately, we got misinformed and just needed to wait. Trying to find a comfortable spot in the airport to get some sleep, proved to be harder than expected. The flight eventually departed at 5 p.m. Because of that we were not able to pick up the car in Melbourne and meet our next hosts. A real bummer but shit happens sometimes.
The next day, we arrived at Judy and John’s house, and it was immediately clear that we were in good hands. We’re both looking forward to the adventures ahead- but that, dear children, that is another story…