Train to Kuranda and Skyrail back

I shrieked when the parrot landed on my shoulder as I didn't see it coming. We had just stepped into Birdworld, with a bag of seeds. At the entrance we were told to take off earrings and necklaces, as some of the Birdworld residents were sure to attack jewellry with their powerful beaks. One determined fellow kept landing on Brad's ballcap trying to pull off the button, and another was chewing on R's hair.

This bird was attacking R's hair!

A Pied Heron native to Australia

This Dusky Lorikeet is from Papua New Guinea

In the Kuranda Koala gardens the Koalas were sleeping in various poses:

We had travelled up on the Kuranda Scenic Railway in the morning; the narrow gauge rail line was built to provide access to the goldfields west of Cairns. The mainly Irish and Italian workers had to provide their own tools and work in dense jungle where they removed "2.3 million metres of earthworks, creating 15 tunnels, 93 curves, dozens of bridges and 75 kilometres of track."

Crossing the biggest trestle

To get back down we took the Skyrail, which is actually 3 gondolas; at each station we got off and walked on a boardwalk through jungle or went to a lookout over the Barron Falls and river.

Skyrail over the rainforest

We really enjoyed our day trip to Kuranda - here are some quotes from the group:
R: "I was terrified - there were birds attacking, and my life dream of seeing koalas came true"
G: "I thought it was going to be exciting, but not THAT exciting"
B: "birds were pretty, koalas were cute, but why didn't I get to go to the venom zoo?'
me: "where was the Cassowary???"