We started our day early for a rainforest walk at Lake Eacham, a lake around the volcanic crater. This was a lovely 3.5km walk through a higher altitude rainforest. From Lake Eacham we headed to Granite Gorge. The giant boulders at the site are an awesome, but the focus here is the Rock Wallaby. These are wild free-range animals but visitors have the opportunity to feed them by hand. These rock wallabies were quite endangered and the work at this nature park has helped rebuild this community. You have an opportunity for an up-close experience. There were a couple of moms with their joey sticking its head from her pouch; so cute!
- Rock Wallaby Joey
From Granite Gorge Nature Park, we headed back towards Cairns with a brief stop at Karunda Village for lunch and a bit of shopping. I visited this area via a scenic train back in 1985. The town has changed a great deal. Car, train, or the new Sky Canopy Cable from Cairns can now access the area.
We bid adieu to Martin as he returned us to Cairns around 2 p.m. At 2:30 p.m. Laurie Pritchard picked us up and took us to Trinity Bay High School. Here we had the opportunity to tour the school and meet with a teacher to discuss the Australian school system. In Queensland, the rule is that you learn or you earn — if you leave school before 17 you must have a full-time job. This was a very interesting and enjoyable visit.
This evening we were on our own for dinner so we walked to the end of the boardwalk and enjoyed a nice waterside restaurant.
