02.27.10
Getting even Higher
Mareeba Hot Air Ballooning
So once again we have an early morning wake up… by 4:45 we were on our way up to Mareeba – the Hot Air Ballooning capital of the world. We had 2 groups going up in 1 balloon. We happened to be in the 2nd group so we would watch the 1st launch, then do a balloon chase, then go up ourselves.
We arrive just before dawn and watch the first group prep to take off. The bugs were horrific and to top it off my favorite lens (my 18-200) decided that then was the perfect time to literally fall apart. In the field. So I make a vain attempt to search around for unknown parts in the dark and eventually give up. Lens unfixable, I decide today is going to be a great exercise in using my new ultra wide lens (the only olther lens i had brought that day).
So we’re off on the chase – which ends up is more like just sit in a parking lot and wait for the balloon captain to give a heads up. Wait didn’t seem long for the quick 30 minute flight and next thing we know we’re off to another field where they made a soft landing.
We hop on in and are on our way. The sun is now up over the mountains and it’s a beautiful view of the Atherton Tablelands. We floated above mostly farmlands – mango trees, corn, coffee, lychee, sugar cane…. lots of cool crops. I had fun capturing the patterns – even with the ultra wide. We even saw a bunch of “skippies” – kangaroos as we floated along. We lucked out and as we tried to land the wind changed, so up we go to look for another landing site. Up and down, up and down – we all were happily content as the wind kept changing and we got a much longer ride over beautiful countryside.
After a slightly bumpy landing we all got to help pack up the balloon. Everyone grabbed an edge or leaned in to get as much air out as possible. It was like rolling up a huge sleeping pad. Then when all of the air was out we then had to put it in a huge stuff sack. So we all got in a line, grabbed a hold and started snaking our way to the sack. It didn’t take long with a group working on it and next thing we knew we were off to breakfast with champagne.
Kuranda Cables, Rails and Cultural Fun
Our day continued with a ride up the SkyRail (one of the longest gondolas), passing by Barron Falls and eventually taking us to Kuranda Village. We enjoyed the lookouts and stuck our heads out the gondola cars to get great views.
Once in Kuranda we headed straight to RainForeStation as we wanted to do some fun aboriginal activities. It started out with some dances, which I actually went up and joined them for one! Then we joined up with Dave (his abo name means dingo and i dont know how to spell it) who taught us to (attempt) to play the Didgeridoo, throw boomerangs, and then demonstrated how to throw spears for distance and then for accuracy (for hunting). he would have gone hungry that day haha!
We stopped at the wildlife area to see our first koalas. I opted not to hug one as it felt a little wrong after seeing the poor animals stuck there – sometimes i like zoos as it allows people to see animals you don’t normally get to (like the koalas for us) but the kangs and wallabies didn’t seem so happy there 
We decided to feel better by eating some more ice cream (Dragonfruit with lime was spectacular!)
Back in Kuranda we went to check out the legendary markets. There were a decent amount but it seems most of the shops around Cairns also carried a lot of the same items, though prices did seem a little better. After a quick snack we made our way to the Scenic Railway – an open air train that winds its way back to Cairns through a bunch of tunnels and passes some beautiful waterfalls, making a stop at Barron Falls and literally passing alongside another.
We again lucked out and our original tickets had us jam packed into 1 carriage and after Barron the workers suggest we move to another carriage where it was almost empty – we said OK! And enjoyed the view with windows seats for the both of us.
We get back and decide to do another dinner out that evening. We wander until we see Ouback Jack’s (or something like that) and decide to go for it – free appetisers, why not? Well we find out why not when we realize the service is totally chaotic. We decided that once again the Aussie’s are totally helpful, but not always useful . We had at least 4 people stop by to try to take our order and help us but we had to ask for our drinks twice and it took about 15 minutes for us to get those (whereas we’d received our apps but with no plates in about 5 minutes). Apps were great, entrees were ok… again huge portions but the service made us want to just come home and pass out (we were tired from our long day). Stuffed, we passed out and made a plan to just have a veggie day…