Thursday 20th- Karunda Scenic Railway & Skyrail Rainforest Cableway

Today we ventured up to Karunda, firstly by the scenic railway and then returned but the new Skyway Cableway.  

The Cairns-Kuranda Railway was constructed between 1882 and 1891and even today is considered an engineering feat of tremendous magnitude. The history of North Queensland stands as testimony to the splendid ambitions, fortitude and suffering of the hundreds of men engaged in its construction.

It also stands as a monument to the many men who lost their lives on this amazing project.

The trip starts at the Freshwater Railway station, but you can commence the trip from Cairns if you wish.

Kuranda Scenic Railway heritage wooden carriages are now hauled by 1720 class locomotives, replacing the original steam locomotives in 1961.

The trip takes you 328 meters above sea level, rising 1 meter in every 50 metres, meandering past waterfalls, 15 hand-made tunnels and 37 bridges through the Barron George National Park to Kuranda.

The trip passes a number of small waterfalls along the way, and a spectacular 180 degree turn up the mountain over a long bridge where you can see both ends of the train.

 The train stops at Barron Falls station for about 10 minutes which allows everyone to disembark and take in the view of the falls.

There is actually a better view of the falls when you return on the cableway.

The train finally arrives at Karunda after an hour and a half, where we spent about 4 hours looking through the tourist shops and markets and having lunch at the local pub.

It was then time to return to Cairns via the Skyrail Cableway, there are 33 towers that support the cableway with two stops along the way, the first being at Barron Falls where you can alight and take in the spectacular views of the falls.

There is some old pieces of machinery that was used during the construction of the railway. This personnel trolley was used to transport men up and down the steep slope during the construction of the hydro power station.

The next stop is Red Peak where you change cable cars, the cable run is split into two sections. The total length is 7.5 km. On a fine day on this last section back down to the terminal you have sweeping views over Cairns, the hinterland and out to the Coral Sea.