The drive to Kuranda took us all the way from Cape Trib down almost to Cairns before heading off inland over the mountains. On the way down we stopped off in Mossman Gorge for a look. Another part of the epic world heritage area and a National park of its own right. We walked along the boardwalk but could sense that there was rain on the way. We got some photos of the waterfall and rapids running through the park just as the sky opened up and bucketed its tropical downpout onto our heads. Almost as soon as we got back to the car and drove out of the park again it had stopped. On the road again and it was swelteringly hot. We turned off just before Cairns and up the hills where thankfully it seemed a little cooler. The vegitation stayed more or less tropical the whole way winding up the hills and into the town. When we got there, we headed off to look for Barron Falls, since it was more or less the one thing in town to do. We expected another little dribble of a falls, but to our suprise it was quite impressive. We even kind of got to go on a canopy skywalk thing, their boardwalk gets quite elevated as it runs over a gully to the other side on the way to the lookout. The waterfall ranges from a drizzle in the dry season to a roaring misting thundering falls in the wet season, its now the wet season. It is probably the third most impressive falls I have ever seen, Iguazu being number two and of course Powerscout in Kildare being number one

When we got back to the town we went to the local tourist office to find out about hostels as we hadnt anything booked yet for the night. There were two options, one which was always recommended and one which was sometimes recommended sometimes not. We went for a look at the good one, it was sufficient and we decided to splash out on a private room, although the place was deserted bar one other interesting old fellow (human fellow). After a trip back to the town for some food and a look around we got back and cooked up the dinner and sparked up a chat with the old man living in room number 5. He was aussie through and through, with a fantastic way of telling stories, and did he tell them. He told us about everywhere in Australia he had been and where he lived and worked. The tv was on in the background and Nicole Kidman was on it, he almost immediately proclaimed to have worked with her when he acted and that she was a lovely woman. He told us all about the different animals around the place, how there was a giant amethyst pyton at the end of the garden and how he was training a spider in the hostel to not make its web where he kept walking into it. He told us that Monkey Mia was about 100 miles from Perth and that Yungabarra, our next stop was about 1000 km away from Cairns (both being massively wrong and in fact more like opposites but he insisted). We chatted away for most of the evening all the same, he kept the BS coming and we werent too bothered to be correcting him, it was quite entertaining after all. The best thing he told us was about this amazing island just off the coast of Queensland, up near us called Hinchenbrook Island. To him it is the most magical epically amazing and wonderful place in the world. It is a land before time. He even dropped Steven Spielbergs name in it for wanting to film Jurassic Park there because the place was so untouched. He told us how he worked for the boating company that transported people over to the Island, only 10 a day and 30 in a three day period (it takes 3 days to cross the island). He told us all about the weird and wonderful rich people who could afford the four dollar license to go there and the one and a half year waiting list plus the forty of fifty dollar boat taxi fare. He mentioned one guy who had a 1300dollar foldable canoe that could fold up to fit in a backpack and all the other crazy things the man took with him. He told us about this couple who were attacked by sandfly and had had a reaction to the bites and had to be quarantined on the back of his boat as he brought them back to shore. Each story was told with equalling entertainment and enthusiasm. Since getting back to the real world we have found brochures for Hinchenbrook resort on the island. Maybe this place was a dream he had one night but what a dream he made it out to be.

There wasnt much else to the place really, we left early enough the next day to head onwards to the Tablelands. We were pretty much at the edge of the rainforest in Kuranda, and the tablelands promised to be something altogether different. The real Australia some would have us believe......