Kuranda

25 – 26 November 2014

After a leisurely morning at The Sanctuary, with cassowary encounter, we headed up the highway to the Atherton Tablelands – another of our favourite spots. We stopped for coffee at a cafe near Millaa Millaa, at the op-shops in Malanda, and in Atherton where we also had lunch. We always manage to drag our journeys out as much as possible.

We arrived at our destination – a rainforest cottage near Kuranda, but there was no-one there. When the owner returned it seemed there had been a mix up with our booking and she had us booked in for three nights next week, not this week. She was able to offer us other accommodation which we accepted for one night only. The mix up was a bit of a blessing in disguise – the cottage was “rustic” to say the least, with the certainty of nocturnal creepy crawlies, and the alternative was a little better, but very small. We also discovered late in the evening that the hot water wasn't working! (This was sorted out in the morning – but didn't make for a pleasant stay).

We were rewarded in the morning with another “up close” encounter with not one, but two, cassowaries. They spent about an hour wandering around near the upper level deck where breakfast is served to B&B guests. The male was known to be the father of a chick but the young one hadn't been seen for a number of days – causing some concern. The chick was far too young to be wandering around on its own so fears for its safety were genuine. We will probably never know of its fate.

Southern Cassowary taken from the veranda

Musky rat-kangaroo

We packed up and headed to Mareeba to consider our accommodation options over coffee and then lunch in the park near the visitor centre. We found a couple of likely options and tried calling but no-one was answering their phones, so we moved on to Atherton and Platypus Park – another regular stop. We tried calling again and this time did get an answer of sorts – he would phone me back in a few minutes – he didn’t!

We drove back to the Atherton visitor centre and tried calling places again – and this time the owner of Johnstone River Retreat answered and advised that, yes, she did have a unit available (and yes the price was very reasonable) so we headed over to have a look (just in case it wasn't quite as described). Although it is really a garden setting rather than our preferred rainforest, it is on the river so we booked in for two nights. The unit is spacious, has a private veranda and there is a swimming pool.