Hello again everyone,

Everyone has given me such great advice and I'm trying to fit everything in that's important but unfortunately there are only 24 hours in a day!

This is my dillemma:

1)If I do SKYRAIL on my own with pre-reserved ticket times, are the lines still long? Will the tour groups get to go ahead of me?

2)Is it worth doing one of the trains? Is the STEAM TRAIN BETTER?

3)What is the best way to do SKYRAIL, ?TRAIN RIDE, AND KOALA GARDENS IN A TIMELY MANNER? The only reason I was steering clear of a tour is because we are not interested in seeing anything else in Kuranda except the Koala Gardens; With our main focus being SKYRAIL because of all the great reviews!!

4)Also VERY CONFUSED on difference between Koala's/other animals at RAINFOREST STATION and KURANDA KOALA GARDENS? Are these the same place, or next to each other, or how do they differ?

5)Lastly is it worth seeing the Spanish Castles with the Tablelands?

Thanks for all the Help,

Kelly A

Kelly A,

We visited the Koala Gardens a couple of years ago. It's pretty small and will take no more than an hour to go through. You'll see koalas, roos, wombats, snakes & lizards.

Can't help you with the other items as we hired a car and drove ourselves around the area. Considering the winding road up to Kuranda coupled with driving on the left, it probably would have been better to take the skyrail...

Enjoy your time in FNQ

Kelly , we have confused you !

Ok, I think you should take the taxi to rainforestataion and do the Koala Park. They also have other tours available. I did the army duck, was great fun.

Then take the shuttle bus back to Kuranda Village to connect with Skyrail.
If you leave early enough you will be ahead of the crowds plus November is starting to get quieter anyway.

I looked on the website and the Koala Park opens at 9.00am. Many people going by train haven't even arrived yet. Will be a great time of day.

Also found a tour that goes along similiar lines except though it says it is a half day tour it is from 8.00am to 3.30pm, seems a long half day. But will pick you up and deliver you back to your hotel. Could save some hassle but I think you will have more time than you need.
http://www.tropicwings.com.au/tours/...lf_kuranda.htm

Sorry kelly, not trying to confuse even further but..

I read the skyrail website and I read it that it takes 2.5 hours return (ie both ways) not just the return leg.

Jane

I just did ride the skyrail and I know we did it in much less time than that. I'd say we did it in an hour, maybe even a little less. We stopped and got off at the two stops where you much change cars, and we did a short walk to see the views from each stop. But then we got right back on. Lines were not long coming down at each station. We were coming down late in the afternoon.

Yeah, you are actually only in the gondala itself for .5 hour, so depends how much time you take for walks along the way. When we went (october) we spent more time waiting than on the skyrail itself.

We only did one stop but when we arrived at the bottom our bus was not scheduled for another hour so we ended up in a taxi. The problem with a tour, they give you more time than many may need.

My last post. I promise!

There is another Koala Park in Kuranda itself. About 5-10 min walk from sky rail though they have plenty shuttle buses going up and down the main street.

There was a market near a football field and thereabouts is a sign for Koala Gardens. If memory serves me right you actually have to walk through (or around) the market.

If you take taxi up to arrive about 9.30am, spend an hour with Koala, wander back to Skyrail (stop to look at Kuranda Station next door, very pretty). Get aboard the skyrail by 11.15, you can be back down by noon. Call a cab and be back in your hotel by 12.30 (or perhaps go to Boat Club at Yorkeys and have a leisurely lunch overlooking marina, nice !). Or head into Cairns for a wander, or even do the flying fox thing close by. I wouldn't mind at go at that!

Or just veg out by the pool with a refreshing cocktail !

Hope it all comes together, remember though, unless you book a tout you can wait till the day to decide.

Poor Kelly- it is confusing. I book skyrail/train or either nearly every day. Skyrail trip actually takes about 45 minutes. There are two stops with rainforest boardwalks - one is Red Peak Station on rainforest boardwalk and the other is at Barron Falls station with walkways to three lookouts with views of Barron River, Gorge and Falls and Rainforest Interpretive centre However, there's not much water in falls right now as this is still dry season - at their best in wet. So if you hop off Skyrail at these points allow about another half an hour for trip. To avoid bottlenecks Skyrail takes bookings in 15 minute segments - just book with them direct - they'll tell you if they don't have allocation for a certain time. If you're not self-driving, Skyrail also provides shuttle to and from your accommodation - tell them what time you need return shuttle and they'll tell you which Skyrail time is best to avoid waiting for long at bottom station for shuttle.

Rainforest Station is a little out of Kuranda - too far to walk and Koala Gardens are right in the middle of Kuranda Village.

I gather you are taking Northern Experience to Tablelands and Paronella Park. This is a nice trip as it explores the waterfall circuit of one the most scenic Tableland areas - make sure you incorporate the Lake Barrine boat trip. This trip is all on sealed roads. The operator is Steve, he also runs Wilderness Eco Safaris which is a 4WD trip on Tableland - www.wildernessecosafaris.com - Steve has permits for restricted roads and takes you where you see no other tourists.

Thank you Jane and Pat for the great reply's.

*One last question, I hope: Since the falls will still be fairly dry (going on Nov.12th) is it safe to say that not doing one of the train's is ok? Do you feel we would be missing out on a great experience by only doing skyrail? If you think the train is worth it, which one do you recommend best?

Pat: I am doing Northern Experience Tours - so glad to hear that it's a good tour to the Tablelands. I had already definately planned to do the Lake Barraine Cruise - it sounds great!

I must say all the rumors in the U.S. about Aussie's being so friendly is definately true!! Of course us Texans are pretty friendly ourselves - Ha/Ha.

Look forward to your reply's,

Thanks again - Kelly A.

Kelly A - the train only takes one hour and 10 minutes from Freshwater Connection station to Kuranda. So if you took the first train of the day (8.45am) you'd be in Kuranda by about 10.15am. You'd barely need an hour for koalas so could return on an 11.15am Skyrail. Still time to have lunch at Yorkeys Knob yacht club, as per Jane's excellent suggestion. The train view is not the same as Skyrail's as they go up different parts of the range - the train and its line has an interesting history - Skyrail was built only in mid 90's.

Hi, Kelly,
You have probably had your trip to Kuranda, but for what it is worth, we have just returned from Cairns and visited Kuranda. We took the original train up and the steam train back. (I have a 'thing' about gondolas and won't go in them!) The train trips were both interesting and different. We visited the birds and the butterflies but not the koalas as we have seen, held and fed koalas in Sydney. Didn't realise there were wombats there though.
Have a great trip. We did.