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When you arrive in Kuranda, your first object
of admiration should
be the station, with
its abundant foliage
almost obscuring its
reason for existence.
The old fashioned train
parked there completes
an harmonious picture.
Kuranda's difference
in altitude, together
with its much smaller
size, gives it a completely
different feeling from
Cairns, its city neighbour.
Take a free bus up to
the markets (since it
is uphill) and walk back
later. In the market
area you can also find
Birdworld with many exotic
species of Australian
and overseas birds, including
the cassowary. You can also find there a Butterfly
Sanctuary, the largest
in Australia , with some
2,000 butterflies. There
are also various rainforest
walks of greater and
lesser lengths and there
is a bat rehabilitation
home on the edge of town.
Kuranda
Scenic Railway
The
trip by train to Kuranda
is described by Queensland
Railways as a 34 kilometre long
picture postcard. It
is a route which must
rank amongst the world's
best short journeys
and is a ride which you
will always remember.
Construction of this
route was commenced in
1882, but Kuranda Station
was not opened until
1891. The builders had
to surmount the tremendous
challenge of rising
from sea level to an
elevation of 328 metres
through rugged, inhospitable
and thickly forested
terrain. It was a great
engineering achievement,
necessitating the construction
of fifteen tunnels
and 37 bridges and viaducts.
The train starts out
from Cairns on the
flat through the residential
parts of the city,
stopping at Freshwater,
if required, and Redlynch.
This part of the journey,
although pretty, gives
little hint of what is
to follow. Now we start
to climb, and this is
no ordinary climb, for
there was nowhere to
put a railway here. It
follows the creek bed,
twisting and turning
with its host, but even
here ledges have had
to be carved to support
the track. Where such
engineering works proved
impossible, tunnels were
constructed, and soon
we start to negotiate
them.
The original plan
incorporated nineteen
tunnels, but in the
end it was decided to
convert four of them
into deep cuttings, through
which we shall pass.
Fifteen tunnels remain.
They vary in length between
60 metres and 430 metres
and all have a gradient
of approximately one
in sixty. They were
all opened to traffic
on 15th June 1891 . Particularly
in the Wet Season,
between December and
April, this area receives
heavy rainfall, which
not only hampered construction
of the line, but caused
landslides, destroying
work already completed
and causing several fatal
accidents.
The difficulties
of working in such
conditions can be imagined
as we crawl up the forested
slopes and thread our
way through the tunnels.
Several times we obtain
panoramic views back
over the foothills
to the coastal plain
and the Coral Sea glistening
beyond. Stoney Creek
station comes at approximately
the mid-point of the
climb. If one had to
pick a single highlight
of this journey, it
would be the lofty curving
viaduct which carries
the railway in front
of Stoney Creek Falls. It is the scene most
often displayed on
leaflets advertising
this service and, during
the construction of the
railway, it was the spot
chosen for a banquet
held in celebration of
the visit of the Governor
in April 1890. It is
said that the location
chosen also eliminated
the need for speeches,
since nothing could
be heard above the noise
of the waterfall. On
the section of line
between Stoney Creek
and Barron Falls we pass
through the last two
tunnels, the second of
which is by far the longest
on the line, at 430 metres.
If precedent is followed,
the train will be stopped
at Barron Falls Station,
a signal passed and
water allowed to escape
from the dam on the Barron
River in order to permit
Barron Falls to flow
for the benefit of
railway passengers, a
charming custom.
Kuranda
Station, at the end of
our journey, is, in itself,
something of a tourist
attraction. Constructed
in 1915, it has somehow
managed to transform
itself into a railway
botanical garden. Much
as stationmasters were
once famed for their
horticultural instincts,
you will never have
seen anything on a railway
platform quite like
this verdant and luxuriant
growth. The train used
for this journey consists
of refurbished 1920s
carriages hauled by
a modern diesel locomotive.
Cairns
Skyrail
Having gone
up by train, you should
return by Skyrail or do it in reverse. Read more about Cairns Skyrail.
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