After all my croc hunting excursions I was finally on my way to the next stop, Cairns. Cairns for me is just a useful stop to sleep, eat, say goodbye to my rental car, and get ready to fly to my final destination in Australia. There’s not a whole lot to do here. That doesn’t mean I didn’t do anything though. I spent a day riding the Skyrail over the rainforest.

The Skyrail extends for almost five miles over the rainforest offering some birds eye views of the forest canopy. I wasn’t scared at all until it stopped running for a few minutes while I was positioned between two of the towers, right in the middle. Those gondolas rock back and forth a lot more when they’re not moving.

After a few minutes I was back on my way and eventually arrived at the first stop, Red Peak. It’s the highest peak on the route and you can get off and walk the very short boardwalk around the forest. I saw two of these gigantic terrifying spiders along the way. Meet the Golden Orb Spider.

Back on the Skyrail I rode to the next stop along the way, Barron Falls, the real reason I came up here. I got off the ride and walked to the couple of viewpoints. The falls only scored a three on the gusher scale, but this sure is a pretty area.

The third leg of the Skyrail takes you over the Barron River and to the village of Kuranda, a tourist trap of I ever saw one. I was planning to do the hike back to Barron Falls on the opposite side of the river, however. Why not see it from all possible angles?

The hike starts by following the river and I immediately thought of crocs. Are there crocs in this river? Surely they wouldn’t let families and kids walk this close to the river if there were crocs, would they? On the other hand, it would be super cool to see one along here.

Ididn’t see any crocs. Oh well! The hike meandered up and through the jungle. There were houses right near by so it wasn’t very remote, but it was pretty. Finally, I made it to the falls lookout. From the other side I didn’t think the view would be as good on this side, but it was actually pretty amazing. And it looked like it deserved a much higher score than a three. My brain hadn’t quite put it together yet.

I also discovered a new kind of ant. These green tree ants were all over the railing. When I got too close with the camera they would square up ready for a fight.

After enjoying the falls for a bit and a snack, now it was time to do everything again in reverse. There is a train that goes down through the forest and past a couple of other waterfalls, but as luck would have it, the train was closed for maintenance today. Seriously?! So I walked back to Kuranda and boarded the Skyrail for my almost five mile ride back.

At the Barron Falls stop I went out to the lookouts for another view and realized that the three gusher from earlier was now a solid seven. What?! There’s a dam up above the falls and those sneaky dam workers must’ve turned up the dam water because the dam falls are much more impressive this time. That’s why the falls looked so impressive from the other side too.

Back on the Skyrail I got one last look at the falls before going up and over Red Peak again, and then back down to Cairns.

Cairns was just an ultra quick stop. Tomorrow I head to the airport for a quick domestic flight to my last Australian destination. Only one more stop to make, so don’t wander off just yet…