A bit more Cairns

Yesterday was the first time I actually got into Cairns itself. It's yer typical antipodean town but with more shops. Very good art gallery with shows by a local artist and some excellent etchings by one Jorg Smeisser (?). Got the next stage of my trip sorted out (Darwin) and then had a barie on the beach with a friend-of-a-friend. Yes, there really are barbeques actually on the beach provided by the local council. Reckon they'd get vandalised within the week if they existed in the UK! I was very glad I ahd a number of layers on, as the weather here has suddenly got quite autumnal...

Today was the touristy thing: the Skyrail (cable car) up to Kuranda. I think it's one of the longest single loops in the world and it was certainly quite some journey. 'Flying' high over the rainforest canopy, looking down into the crowns of the trees is amazing! It's funny: altho I don't like heights (tops of towers etc) I don't actually mind being in the gondola of a cable car!

Kuranda itself is just a tourist village with all the usual tourist tat AND MORE. And as often as not the shops are run by orientals - even some of the shops selling aboriginal stuff... Had a long chat with an Oz guy who makes wire jewellry etc. His work was at least 'real'. Then the return journey by train, winding round and about the mountain on its decent. I do wish these people would in some way grease the brakes/wheels/whatever: the journey was almost completely accompanied by the incessant screeching of metal on metal (think nails down a blackboard and magnify ten times!). Passed some spectacular waterfalls on the way and lots of tight curves, so the punters had lots of opportunities to take photos of the train curving round...

For some strange reason they celebrate the Queen's birthday over here (her official one at least) so this is a holiday weekend - public holiday on Monday.

Only two weeks left in Oz - my goodness the time has flown... I'll try and get some photos on here on wednesday evening/thursday, when I roost in Brisbane for a couple of nights (my cousin has a wireless internet connection - yay!) before heading down to Byron Bay area for the last bit of my Ozzie adventure.