We also managed to spot a small lizard known as a skink, and a Golden Orb spider. This was the first time we had actually properly seen these creatures in the wild.
Finally we jumped back on the Skyrail into Kuranda village. Kuranda is a small village, with only around 600 inhabitants, but there are a fair number of aboriginals amongst them. We had a wander through the village and ended up going round a small display of some of Australias most deadly animals. Amongst them were the two deadliest snakes in the world, and I have to say it was a little disconcerting as they were nothing to look at and didn't particulary stand out, yet ranked number 1 and number 3 deadliest. Both can be found in Australia. Great!
After that we went and caught the bus to Rainforestation. It started out, as so many of these tours seem to, by letting you get upclose with a few animals. There were the usual Kangaroos, Koalas, wombats etc with a few differences. Firstly one of the Koalas had a baby in it's pouch :). Additionally there were various different types of crocodile, snakes, Lizards (including one the same as mine - although a bit bigger I accept. I also now know mine is female having seen a male and female together), as well as some Barramundi (very nice fish - to eat at least) and a Cassawary which apparently despite looking nice can be lethal.
The next stage was a ride through the rainforest in an old army duck (officially spelt dukw). An amphibious 6 wheeler which were used as a landing vehicle many years ago. They took us through the rainforest pointing out more plants and wildlife, then into the lake to see some more. We saw more Eastern Water Dragons (same as mine), some of the smallest ever Kangaroos, a turtle, Ulysses Butterflies and some kind of owl.
Following the trip in the ducks we moved on to watch some Aboriginal dancing which was quite interesting. They got 3 of the audience up having a go at the end which was really funny.
After that we had aboriginal demonstrations of spear and boomerang throwing, before finally heading off back down to the Skyrail for the trip back down.
In the evening be decided to go into Cairns for some tea and see what was there. Compared to Sydney you really could blink and miss the place. It seemed nice enough, but not really a lot going on. The beach was pretty crappy also, but to make up for it they have a large swimming pool down by the sea front, and they have also created a little beach around that as well as a park area. It seems to be a popular spot with all the backpackers at least. There were also free to use BBQ's all round the outside of it which must definately be a winner!
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