Tuesday, 11th April 2017 - Cairns

Another hectic day with a pre-paid trip on the Skyrail to Kuranda and return. Fortunately we were due to dock at Trinity wharf, instead of tendering from Yorkey's knob, and, as we were arriving from Port Douglas, a mere 75km by road from Cairns I assumed we would be on time. Woops, I was wrong. Of course, as there is a reef between Port Douglas and Cairns, we had to go the long way around, 175 nautical miles. Anyway, as I had booked directly with skyrail, including their bus transfer, I was at the mercy of their schedule, which was an 8:20am pickup from the Pullman International Hotel. We were due to arrive at 7am, however we were a bit later than that and then weren't given clearance until much later. At 8:15am, still on the ship with no sign be would be leaving soon I phoned the Skyrail office to let them know. Fortunately as I was speaking to them we were able to start disembarkation. The Skyrail was going to let the bus driver know as we weren't the only ones who had booked. Making the bus just in time, we waited for a few others to turn up. Originally when I was researching our options for this trip I did get a quote for a taxi to the Skyrail, and for the 3 of us it was only just a little bit more than the bus. In hindsight if I was doing it again I would have taken this option as we wouldn't have had to wait for the return bus. 

Barron river falls

I did pay extra for the "diamond" carriage, a glass bottom, however I wouldn't recommend it. Our first section they squeezed us into a carriage with 2 others, 5 in total. As I was pinned in the middle, holding my bags, I couldn't bend forward to see the glass bottom so that was wasted. Also it was disconcerting when there is a 400kg limit and knowing roughly what the 3 of us weigh and a guess with the other 2 we would have easily been over the limit. Anyway, we jumped off at the first station, looked around and insisted on a carriage by our selves for the remainder of the journey.
We didn't arrive in Kuranda until 11am and we were scheduled on the 12pm return trip down. The tickets when I purchased them indicated that the bus would return us to the wharf at 2pm and originally we were scheduled to leave at 4pm (all aboard is usually 30 minutes prior) so I was surprised when we checked in at Skyrail that the bus leaves Smithfield at 2pm. So glad that the port changed to an overnight in Cairns.
So, with a mere 60 minutes in Kuranda we decided to start walking up the hill towards the shops. We made it to the Kuranda hotel and decided a very early lunch would be prudent.

 Bench made from old railway tracks

 Kuranda Candy

We did make it to the Kuranda Candy shop and H bought a bag. Delicious.
We made it back down to Cairns, waiting about 45 minutes for the 2pm bus. My son was keen to go to the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum, which is located a few hundred meters down the road, but we didn't have time. Maybe next visit to Cairns we will add this to the list.

Making it back to the ship for a quick coffee and snack, we walked around to the lagoon to meet our newest nephew, and the rest of his family of course. It was great to catch up with them. It was nice to stick our feet in the water a cool off for a while and relax. Afterwards we did a brief bit of shopping on our way back to the ship for a late buffet dinner. We decided to miss the entertainment tonight and opted for a hot spa. It was truly relaxing and topped off a long day.

Pacific Aria leaving Cairns about 5pm.

After seeing the Pacific Aria leave Brisbane on the Friday, it was in Cairns the same day. Both the Sea Princess and Pacific Aria were able to dock together at Trinity wharf.