Hmm. I’m pretty predictable. I’ve neglected my trip report again. I’m totally finishing it no matter how long it takes.

Tuesday, August 11.

This was THE DAY. The day that we would get to cuddle a KOALA. The only reason Rob wanted to visit Australia. I’m not sure why and can’t seem to find a quick answer via Google at the moment, but the state of Queensland is one of the only areas in the world where this type of interaction with koalas is allowed. So we were heading up to the village of Kuranda to go to the Koala Gardens.

There’s a few ways to get to Kuranda and we decided to take the Skyrail (a cableway ride above the rainforest) to the village and the Scenic Railway (train) back down.

The Skyrail was awesome! You’re seated in a gondola that’s suspended on cable wires and travels above the rainforest. It’s a little scary for the first few seconds but that feeling quickly goes away. Plus, the view is so amazing that you forget how high you really are.

Here’s what the gondola looks like…

And here we are on our way!

The view is just gorgeous.

When you arrive at Kuranda, they snap a photo of you in the gondola before you get off — just like an amusement park. We didn’t purchase the photo because it is SO CHEESY.

Just look at that blatantly fake background!

It was an absolutely beautiful day.

I just loved all the signage in the village.

We made a beeline for the Koala Gardens. It’s pretty small — you can see a few crocodiles and lizards when you first enter. And there’s also wallabies and kangaroos, which you can feed.

This particular wallaby was SUPER hungry cause he kept taking food from everyone that approached him.

And of course, the star attraction…

We got in line for our turn to cuddle a koala and had our camera and video camera ready. The interaction is really fast so the line went by quickly. The handler basically places the koala in your arms, a photo is taken, and then it’s whisked off to the next person.

There’s us with the koala! Her name was Princess. I think she was sleeping the whole time, lol. She was so cute and wasn’t very heavy at all — maybe 20 pounds? Honestly, it was like holding a stuffed animal. We had individual photos taken and since we were last in line, they let me hold her a little while longer so Rob and I could get this photo together. Awww.

We didn’t have any plans to visit any of the other wildlife attractions so we got some lunch and leisurely walked along the main drag, which consists of about 2 long blocks of shops and restaurants.

We were taking the train back down so we made our way to the station. The trains and station have a real old world charm — love it.

It’s not particularly comfortable on the train, though. In coach, seating is on benches and there are 4 “seats” on each bench. It’s a tight fit.

The train ride is beautiful and scenic but I much preferred the Skyrail. Mostly because you have your own gondola so the experience feels more personal. I think if we took the train up to Kuranda and the Skyrail down, I would have appreciated the train much more. As it was, though, it just couldn’t compare.

Even with this amazing view.

When we got back to the hotel, we did laundry (exciting!) and stayed at the Sheraton for dinner. We were too lazy to go into town. Bad move. I don’t know why we thought the food would be any better than the first night. *shrugs* Oh well. If I’m lucky enough to return to Port Douglas someday, I’m definitely staying in town instead.

More pictures on the Flickr:
Kuranda