The Great Barrier Reef’s tropical town of Cairns has been our base for a few days and to say it’s busy is an understatement. Not only are there hundreds of backpackers hunting down the cheapest trip out to the Great Barrier Reef
(this is it's closest point to the mainland just ten miles out) ....



... but there are also with thousands of entries to this weekends Ironman competition, along with numerous crews of yachts making their way north to Darwin for some Rally heading to Indonesia! It truly is buzzing.

Numerous restaurants line the Esplanade, all spilling over with holidaymakers enjoying the tropical (if a little wet) climate and we took the opportunity to get out of town on the Cairn’s Number 1 tourist attraction, the Kuranda Scenic Railway.





The line was constructed between 1882 and 1891 it is considered a tremendous engineering feat rising from sea level to 328m. Hundreds of men were employed to build the 15 hand-made tunnels and 37 bridges.








The two hour journey let us enjoy beautiful views of the World Heritage Listed rainforest, and stunning scenery of the Barron Gorge.





This famous railway winds its way from Cairns to Kuranda, a hippy village in the rainforest.



Aboriginal artwork on a wall in the town of Kuranda


Other draw-cards for tourists here are the croc-spotting trips ...





and maybe even some celeb-spotting ...



Co-founder of Microsoft Paul Allen is the owner of 'Octopus', the £125m yacht in the background. Oceans Dream, foreground!