Our First Big Aussie Adventure

Well, after a few phone calls it appears the spare tyre will have to wait till tomorrow with no one within an hour's drive having a tyre that will fit our spare. Joey did track down a place that will be on our way to the Daintree tomorrow so the tyre is on hold till then.

With that sorted we headed down into Kuranda for our much anticipated day at Birdworld, Koala Gardens and the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary. We went to Birdworld first, knowing we could come back again later if we wanted. The girls couldn't wait to get in. The birds were a little more stand offish than expected but we put that down to the deck area being pressure cleaned. We walked around the winding path looking at Cassuaries, the water bird area, and just the massive range of birds flying around. Poor Paige who had gone off on her own had came up to me in tears after a smaller bird bit her on the cheek. This made her more than a little weary but we still had a great time interacting with so many birds. Joe made friends with one of the Macaws fairly quickly. The majority of the birds kept being spooked by some sort of bird of prey sitting in a tree just outside the aviary. We were told this was also impacting on how many of the birds were interacting with people so we decided to move on to Koala Gardens and come back to the birds later.

After a bite in the Frog Cafe for morning tea we went into Koala Gardens which is more or less your average small petting zoo and a great place for the kids. We got our first look at fresh water crocodiles and the girls also got the opportunity to hold a koala and get a photo. The girls loved feeding the roos and the food was freely available which was great. They had a good nocturnal exhibit where we saw Bilbies among a few things and a few reptile displays which we sort of skimmed as we went past. We've seen a lot of reptiles on this trip!

We left Koala Gardens and went into the Butterfly Sanctuary which was very similar to the Butterfly house in Coffs Harbour. Apart from the butterfly's themselves there was also a caterpillar room and a desk with a tray of butterflies under a microscope that the girls could move and focus on any part of the butterflies and he image could be seen on a screen above. Once the girls made their souvenir choices we headed back to Birdworld for another look.

The birds were much more sociable when we got there. It didn't take long before Joe and Lara had birds all over them. Joe's macaw came back not long after arrived and wasn't interested in anyone else. He even had some Indian tourists have their photo taken with Joe and the Macaw because it wouldn't sit on them. Poor Paige wanted to hold bird but was frightened whenever they went near her. Joe managed to get the macaw onto her for a minute but it quickly wanted him back. Lol.

Before we knew it the girls were starving and we realised it was already 3pm. We had one last look through the market on the way back to the car. It's a permanent market and includes the entrances to all three attractions within a reasonably small area.

We went back to the van for lunch. The Kuranda Rainforest Accomodation where we are stay is only a two minute drive from where we were. After lunch we took a drive into Smithfield for groceries. They have a huge new shopping centre. Being on the outskirts of Cairns it was only a 20 minute drive although most of the narrow road was very steep and full of tight turns.

We had a quiet evening making phone calls before we are without any service for a few days in the Daintree. Just need to sort out my 3000+ photos on the laptop before bed and we'll be ready to head north in the morning!Read more