Daintree Rainforestation Nature Park & Skyrail
At the end of the last post from the March 2026 Adventures Abroad tour of Australia our group was detraining at the Kuranda railway station. In this post we’ll continue our exploration of the Daintree Rainforest by visiting the Rainforestation Nature Park after which we’ll take a walk through the world’s oldest forest to reach the upper terminus of the Skyrail which will zip us back to sea level in only a few minutes. It promises to be a very interesting afternoon so I hope you’ll join us.
We board a shuttle at the train station that takes us to the entrance of the Rainforestation Nature Park which is an Aboriginal owned enterprise where we start off with an all male traditional dance ceremony.
This is followed by a demonstration of how to throw a boomerang which as this fellow points out all starts with the proper way to hold it. He steps outside and executes a perfect throw that causes the boomerang to make a huge arc that returns it right to him.
Now it’s our turn. BTW did you know that there are right and left handed boomerangs? Neither did I.
Right, left or whatever, our group is pretty pathetic although our tour leader Brandi almost pulls a good one off.
The next demonstration involves spear throwing using an atlatl which is a simple tool that attaches to the bottom of the spear and in effect acts as an extension of the arm allowing for far more distance and speed than one could get with just an arm throw. These devices predate bow and arrows and have been used by Indigenous people on every continent except Antarctica. In Australia they are called woomeras.
The targets this man is aiming at are a ridiculous distance away, yet he hits them 6 out of 7 times. Kangaroos would not have a chance with this type of accuracy. We are not asked to make our own attempts at spear throwing for obvious reasons.
The third Aboriginal demonstration involves the playing of a didgeridoo. We saw our first demonstration a few days ago at Mossman Gorge and it was remarkable. The fellow at Daintree was just as good. Judge for yourself.
After this it is time to take a short boat ride on a duck boat. I’ve had the pleasure of many, many different types of transportation on AA tours, but never an amphibious one that travels on land and water. Duck boats were invented by General Motors for the US military in WWII and first used in the invasion of Sicily in 1943. Now, over 80 years later they are found around the world as tourist transportation including a couple in my home city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
This is the view as we plunge into the water.
After the duck boat reemerges from the water and deposits us at the exit from Rainforestation we head for the trail through the Daintree Rainforest that will lead us to the Skyrail that will take us back down to the flat land below. Here in a large cage is one of Australia’s most beautiful birds, the Gouldian finch which has a very limited range in parts of northern Australia. The chances of seeing one in the wild are minimal so I was happy just to see this one in captivity.
Daintree Rainforest
Entering the elevated walkway through the Daintree Rainforest you are now in the oldest forest in the world. While only about 1,200 Square kms. (460 sq. miles) it is one of the most important places on earth. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Wet Tropics of Queensland which was inscribed in 1988 with this description:
The Wet Tropics of Queensland, or Wet Tropics, stretches along the northeast coast of Australia for some 450 kilometres. Encompassing some 894,420 hectares of mostly tropical rainforest, this stunningly beautiful area is extremely important for its rich and unique biodiversity. It also presents an unparalleled record of the ecological and evolutionary processes that shaped the flora and fauna of Australia, containing the relicts of the great Gondwanan forest that covered Australia and part of Antarctica 50 to 100 million years ago. All of Australia’s unique marsupials and most of its other animals originated in rainforest ecosystems, and their closest surviving relatives occur in the Wet Tropics. These living relicts of the Gondwanan era and their subsequent diversification provide unique insights to the process of evolution in general. They also provide important information for the interpretation of fossils of plants and animals found elsewhere in Australia, and about the evolution of Australia’s sclerophyll flora and marsupial fauna in particular.
As we walk through a rainforest that is 100 million years older than the Amazon rainforest you really do get a sense of awe. There are over 900 species of tree in this place. Compare that to 34 in the Acadian forests of Eastern Canada. That’s nothing compared to the over 12,000 species of insects that have been identified in what is 0.12% of Australia’s land mass. This is where marsupials first evolved. Ok, I get that, but how about the fact that this is where the first song birds on earth appeared. Frankly, I found that stat simply mind blowing. Who knew that such a tiny place was responsible for so much biological diversity?
When we were in New Zealand we were astounded by the size and age of the ancient kauri trees found there. It was a very pleasant surprise to find that they also thrive in Daintree Rainforest. This specimen is over 400 years old.
I have to say that of all the things that surprised me about Australia, perhaps the Daintree Rainforest was the most unexpected.
The end of the walkway through the forest leads you to the entrance to the Skyrail. Opened in 1995, it is a 7.5 km. (4.7 mile) cableway that takes visitors from Kuranda to the outskirts of Cairns in one of the most spectacular downhill rides I have ever experienced.
Alison and I were so inept at taking a selfie inside the gondola that I forgot to take a video of the trip down. Trust me, it is a journey you won’t soon forget.
The combination of the Kuranda Railway, Barron Falls, the Rainforestation, the walk through the forest and the Skyrail make a visit to Daintree Rainforest one of the most memorable days on any Adventures Abroad tour.
After three great days in Cairns, it’s time to head to Darwin and the Northern Territory where we’ll experience even more adventures in Australia’s wetlands. I hope you’ll join us.