Port Douglas - 2019 - Kuranda

A drive of just over an hour towards Cairns will take you to Kuranda set in the rainforest in the mountains. Many people take the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway to the top of the mountain or the train. In the past we have travelled one way via cable car and the other by train but this time we drove.

 On this visit we spent much of our time at the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary. A tour had just started so we tagged along.

There is a wide range of butterflies in the sanctuary and we saw many of them during the tour.

Butterflies feeding

Walking through the sanctuary it was not unusual for butterflies to hitch a ride on a hat.

We were taken into an area where we were shown how butterflies breed.

We then returned to the main area to meet the inhabitants.

My favourite tropical butterfly continues to be the Ulysses butterfly.

We wandered around the streets and some of the markets for a short time. When passing an ice cream seller we noticed that he had hokey pokey ice cream so Robin had to buy one and I had a Belgian chocolate gelato.

For years I have been looking for an item to take home relating to a dugong - I just like them. I saw a small scrimshaw drawing of a dugong at Kuranda many years but it was too expensive. This time however, at the Terra Nova Gallery, we found a small print of a painting of a dugong and calf by Melanie Haver which I shall have framed.

We then left Kuranda to drive to Mareeba, 34 km inland. The main reason was to visit Coffee Works who have an outlet at Port Douglas where products, including chocolate, can be purchased. The Port Douglas store does not serve drinks so we decided that as we were in the area we should investigate the factory and restaurant. We arrived just before the restaurant closed their lunch service.

We shared a chicken skewer and scones but the highlight was a wonderful deconstructed hot chocolate. The hot milk and chunks of chocolate come separately and you combine as required. It was delicious. Definitely the best hot chocolate on this trip.