Ellie Point

It turned to be a fantastic day despite the rain.
Early in the morning Boris went to the ship medical center and got half of dose of IV antibiotics. His leg got better.
Then we walked to the nearby hotel to be picked up for Sky Rail trip.

Exactly at 10:30 AM the bus came and drove us for about 25 minutes to board cable car to go through rainforest and to Kuranda village to board a scinic railways back to Cairns.

Due to the rain and may be the virus there were very few people. Each cable car could accommodate 6 people. The wheelchair was placed in one car and we were followed on the next one.
We had two stops along the way to the village, where we got out for a little hike and some photo opportunity.
First stop was rainforest very diverse rainforest vegetation: trees, fern that grows on the top of the trees and birds.
The second stop was a beautiful waterfall.
The last stop was Kuranda village.
We had 1.5 hours to spend in the village. We really wanted to go to birds sanctuary or butterfly sanctuary. Unfortunately, there was not enough time. We walked around the pretty village, had lunch. Boris had kangaroo burger, which was pretty dry and I had 🐊 sausage, which was delicious.
We boarded old train at 2:00 PM. It is used for scenic route only. The railway is 37 km (23 mi) in length. It takes about one hour and 55 minutes to climb or decent one way including the stop off at the falls.
Construction of the railway began in 1886.The railway was completed as far as Kuranda in 1891. Passenger services began operations in 1891.

Many lives were lost as numerous tunnels and bridges were built. In order to be hired to build this railroad, one had to have their own tools. 15 hand-made tunnels and 37 bridges were built to climb from sea level to 328 metres up. Three million cubic metres of earth had to be excavated during construction.

The first operation of a tourist train from Cairns to Kuranda was in 1936.  In 1995 major repairs had to be carried out after a severe rock fall damaged the track. On 26 March 2010 the train was derailed by a landslide injuring 5 of the 250 passengers on board.

The trip was very nice and relaxing, even the rain did not spoil the day. We were back on the ship by 5:00 PM. Around 6:00 PM captain announced we have medical emergency. One passenger had a stroke during dinner and he had to be taking off the ship.
To see some pictures of the day, Please use the link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/WE27Moo69LEnnBee9Read more