An Unforgettable Summer: Rainforest, Not Café

5/13/10

Location: Kuranda, Australia

The group went on a rainforest excursion today. Cairns (pronounced like the French film festival) is in northern Queensland and near the Equator, so that have a lot of rainforest. It wasn't what I was expecting before I came to Australia, but the tropical nature of Cairns has been a pleasant surprise. There's thriving green vegetation everywhere, and the ocean is always in the distance, so it's quite a stunning place. The only thing I don't like about Cairns is the effect of the humidity on my hair, and the bats and spiders that call Australia home (Both are huge compared to the ones back in the Midwest! Yuck.)

Our first stop was the Freshwater Station in Cairns, where we boarded the Kuranda Scenic Railway. The railway began construction in 1887, and it took six years for the project to be completed. There are fifteen tunnels, and many men lost their lives due to tunnel collapses, as well as jungle diseases like malaria, and poisonous snake bites. The railway still uses its original cars, although the interior has been refurbished several times. I got a seat by the window, and I was immediately struck by the amount of green streaming past the glass. Every shade of green, from light, translucent spring-green like the tip of a blade of grass, to the vibrant, opaque John Deere green of the lawn mower that cuts the grass, and every shade in between. And the green was so deep. Most of the time, I wasn't sure where the floor of the rainforest was because all I could see was endless green shooting from the trees, vines, and plants and there was no soil in sight. There was no guessing what kind of tree or plant anything was because everything looked so exotic from anything I've ever seen before. As the title of this entry implies, I have never been to any kind of rainforest before and the closest I've come is dining at the "Rainforest" Café . The real thing is much, much better, obviously. The train trucked a long at a leisurely pace, and I just watched out my window after a while, since I was satisfied with the amount of rainforest photos stored on my camera's memory card. Then, I saw the waterfalls.

The train pulled closer to towering waterfalls and I couldn't see myself, but I'm pretty sure I was gaping. I've never seen waterfalls in person before, unless you count the tiny ones in the coulee, but I don't. And these waterfalls were enormous. I looked up and up to see the start of the rushing white water, dropping hundreds of feet over the layers of dark charcoal rock, only to spill into pools and create more waterfalls. We stopped at kind of boardwalk that ran alongside the train by the waterfalls, and were able to get out for 10-15 minutes to see the falls up close. I learned they were called the Barron Falls, and my God, were they ever a sight to behold. The contrast of the white and gray of the falls with the lush green around it looked like a scene out of Fern Gully, one of my fave childhood movies. I loved the sound of the waterfalls, which I can only describe as a rush. They don't crash like the surf of the ocean, but they just fall with such intensity that you can hear the water moving rapidly downward, pausing in a pool, then dropping again. I would have been just fine sitting there all day under the shade of the trees, listening to them fall perpetually.

I didn’t have that luxury, of course, and soon it was time to go back on the train. I saw more and more forest and I liked looking at all of the different sizes and shapes of the leaves that were everywhere, but nothing compared to the waterfalls. We then arrived in the rainforest village of Kuranda. Kuranda was a lot bigger than I imagined, as it has more stores and restaurants then my hometown. But then again, Kuranda's only industry is tourism and the majority of its residents work a tourism job in some capacity. First, we went to the Kuranda markets, where all kinds of souvenirs are sold and most are handmade by Australian artists. We browsed for a while, but we only had a couple of hours in Kuranda, so we left to make sure we got one of our top priorities accomplished. We went to go see the koalas. Kuranda has three wildlife parks, one with birds, one with butterflies, and one with koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, and crocodiles. We chose to pay the fee to see the koalas and friends. The koalas were so cute, and look just as soft and fuzzy in person as their stuffed replicas do. Several of them were all sleeping in a tree when we arrived, but we woke them up with our picture taking and they opened their eyes and stretched in annoyance. They all were so docile, like either they were very sleepy or just drugged out of their minds. Maybe it's all the eucalyptus. One of the girls, Kelly, got to hold one and have her picture taken with it. She's always wanted a picture with a koala since her sister went to Australia, and it turned out very cute.

Next were the kangaroos and wallabies. You could walk right into their captivity and feed them food. They are super friendly and would come right up to you whether you had food or not. I petted a couple, but I didn't feed any of them. I don't like to have my dog eat out of my hand, and I surely wasn't going to let one of them do it. They were very interesting though and it was fun to watch how curious they were. It was also entertaining to watch them hop and jump up even higher at the prospect of food. The crocodiles weren't very intriguing since they were even lazier than the koalas and just were sitting on the edge of their manmade pond and river. The koalas were definitely my favorite, although I felt bad for them being stuck in an enclosed place like that.

After our koala viewing, we went back to the markets. I got a few gifts, and then it was time to grab lunch before our 1:00 p.m. skyrail departure. The Kuranda Skyrail was built in 1995 and would take us back down the way we came, only by air instead of by land. We decided to split our group 9 into three and Kelly, Caitlyn, and I boarded our Skyrail gondola, which would take us up above the rainforest. The Skyrail offered a much different view of the rainforest than the railway did. It was even more clear how much green there was and how many different varieties of plants there were from above. It was just mind-boggling to stare out the window and see how far the rainforest extended and how deep it was-- there were just trees upon vines upon more trees upon bushes upon grass. It was amazing. Jonathan told us the art director for Avatar got a lot of his inspiration for the world of Pandora by riding the Skyrail and the connection was obvious to me. The Skyrail continued and soon we could see Cairns in the distance and the ocean beyond, which was another awesome sight to add to my ever-growing list of awesome sights on this trip.

The fun didn't stop after the Skyrail. We had a packed day and next we went to the Tjapukai culture park. The Tjapukai are one of the Aboriginal tribes that lived in the rainforest before Australia's white settlers arrived. We went to a song and dance performance, where we learned several Tjapukai words and their meanings, then we learned out the didgeridoo is played. The didgeridoo is that long wooden instrument, and it is created by cutting a limb from a tree and then placing it in a termites' nest to be hollowed out. Beeswax is added to one end for the comfort of your lips, and then the didgeridoo is traditionally painted. Then, voila, you have a didgeridoo to play. Next, we learned about the different fruits and nuts of the rainforest and what they can be used for, whether it's food, medicine, or just adornment. Then we had an opportunity to learn how to throw a boomerang and a spear. Boomerangs really do work and it was very cool to see them in action. Finally, we went to the creation story performance, which demonstrated the Tjapuaki creation story. Their creation story was different from all of the others I know, and the whole park was a new exposure to the Aboriginal culture for me. The entire day was wonderful, but I was drained by the end.

But the day still doesn't end there! Darin Stromstad of Concordia Global Education is in Australia as well, and he and his wife joined us for dinner. The problem was that our original dinner selection turned out to be a nightclub instead of a restaurant, so we walked around for an hour before finding a suitable place to eat for our group of 12. During this walk is when all of the girls screamed (and I'm pretty sure the boys at least flinched, too) when an enormous bat came swooping down from an overhead tree. Anyway, we ended up at a restaurant called Rattle and Hum for a scrumptious meal. Afterward, we went out for gelato. Gelato by definition is ice cream, but better. I had some in New Zealand, too, and it was just as good in Cairns.

Next, we went to the Cairns night markets since it was our last night in town. The Cairns night markets are a lot like the Kuranda markets, and I got a couple more souvenir items, as well as a 10-minute chair massage that was just what I needed after a long day! Finally, it was time for bed and I fell asleep mere minutes after my head hit the pillow.

Cairns' tropical rainforest contrasted with the cool fall weather and lakes and mountains of New Zealand emphasized to me the uniqueness of each place we will visit on this trip. Every country will be drastically different from the next, and I will have to adapt myself in so many ways: the clothes I wear, the food I eat, and even how I act. The difference doesn't mean one place is better or worse, even if I may like a certain country or city more than the others when it's all said and done. The difference just means that there is so much out there and this May seminar will help me be exposed to so much more than if I would have remained in Fargo-Moorhead this month. Everything is a lot to take in, and at times our whirlwind tour can be overwhelming and tiring. I do miss home sometimes, and I have cravings for everything, from being at home and having dinner with my family, to going out to a house party with my friends in Moorhead, to having microwave popcorn and watching Weeds with my boyfriend. But all of those things will still be at home when I return at the end of the month, and there's no place I'd rather be than on this trip right now. I do hope that I can get home on time for my brother Rob's open house and gradation on the 29th and 30th respectively, though. Ash clouds better stay out of my way!