Kuranda: Village in the Rainforest

Australia is a country that has always fascinated me, particularly since watching the Sydney Olympics as a child. I don’t know if I ever imagined I would have the opportunity to go there, although visiting Australia and New Zealand is something I have dreamed of on a few occasions. When Eric and I were accepted as missionary teachers to Papua New Guinea, we immediately knew we wanted to make a stop in Australia on the way since we would be passing through anyway.

There are only three cities in Australia from which Air Niugini (our airline to PNG) flies: Sydney, Brisbane, and Cairns. The latter is located in northeastern Australia, jutting up toward the island of New Guinea. The plane ride from Cairns to the capital of PNG (Port Moresby, on the southern coast) is under two hours, making it a convenient choice. Cairns is an incredibly diverse area with everything from beaches (Great Barrier Reef area!) to rainforest. As I explored things to do, I discovered a wildlife park where visitors can HOLD a koala! That became the one thing I had to do while in Australia.

The koala garden is located in a rainforest village called Kuranda, north of the city of Cairns. To get there, we took a ride on the Kuranda Scenic Railway, which was a two-hour train journey from Cairns through the mountainous rainforest. At some points, we passed waterfalls or had glimpses of the Barron Gorge far below us. At other times, we were simply surrounded by rainforest on either side. Sometimes the rainforest looked no different from a forest in the US. It was absolutely amazing, though, to peer down to the rainforest floor and see how high the trees stretched, or to hear the intense chatter of bugs that sounded similar to a summer day in NY, but also very much like a thriving rainforest.

When we reached Kuranda, we immediately went to the koala garden to visit before the crowds got too big. We passed a pond of crocodiles on the way there, and as I paused to take some pictures, a big tour group got ahead of us and into the koala picture line. I didn’t mind waiting for 20 pictures to be taken before I got my turn, though, because it prolonged the experience of being up close with my second favorite animal (someday maybe I will get to cuddle with a panda!). Eventually it was my turn, and as the handler placed the koala into my arms, I could feel the warmth of its small body huddling against my own. I had to stand still because to the koala, I was its tree. A koala’s ribs are fragile, so I couldn’t squeeze too tightly, but the sweet koala just rested peacefully in my arms as its picture was taken. When my turn was over and the handler pulled the koala back into his arms, the koala’s claws stuck on my shirt a little bit. I like to think he didn’t want to leave my embrace just yet.

After holding the koala, we moved on to the wallaby enclosure. “Enclosure” is a generous word; there was a gate, but the wallabies were free to roam about a large area, and we were free to roam about with them. We grabbed a handful of food and were left to our own devices to get the wallabies to eat from our hands. People around us didn’t seem to be having much luck wooing the wallabies, but we chose an area and went to work. Having no luck with our first attempt, we wandered over to an area where some people had successfully gotten a wallaby to eat from their hands. When they finished, we stepped in to offer our food, but the wallaby hopped back under the bridge with two other friends. Patiently waiting with our hands outstretched, the wallaby eventually came back and ate from Eric’s hand. I took a few pictures and then handed the camera off to Eric so I could have my turn. Apparently the wallaby was full by this point, though, and he hopped back under the bridge again. No worries, though, as I scattered some food and left my hand outstretched, waiting with the remaining supply. And waited. And waited. Eventually a different wallaby hopped a little closer and ate a piece I had tossed under the bridge. Then a little closer and another piece. I could hardly breathe with the anticipation of whether he would eventually come eat from my hand or hop away as soon as he got close. I was so excited when he eventually hopped up right in front of me and bent his head to my hand! He ate most of the food and then hopped away again to hide from the other food-bearing visitors.

Our tour of animals ended with a visit to the reptile house where we didn’t see any reptiles, but we did see a large spider taking up residence. A walk through the souvenir market led us to a small café where we had the creamiest smoothie we’ve ever had, made with fresh mangoes. Lunch came next, consisting of an Aussie burger and an outback pie. We quickly walked to the river next to catch a riverboat cruise through the rainforest. At one point, we stopped to feed the fish. All of them—big and small—came right up to the surface to grab the bread pieces as soon as we threw them. No crocodile sightings as the river was muddy due to recent rain, but we were assured they were there. A quick walk through the rainforest followed, and we eventually made it back to the train station for our return journey to Cairns. Having taken all of our pictures on the way up, we just sat back and enjoyed the scenery (and looked at the pictures we had taken throughout the day!).