We decided to do the Scenic Railway up and the Sky rail down. The railway starts with a bus trip to the beginning of the line in Smithfield. After a short wait at a lovely little train station, the train pulls up for you to board. The train was crowded and hot. There is no air conditioning on the old train, just windows to open. We were told where we had to sit and it ended up being seats that sit backwards. I really don’t like travelling backwards and tend to get nauseous, so I was a bit concerned. Just as we were taking off a staff member told us there were some spare seats in the next carriage and asked if we wanted to move, to which I jumped at the opportunity. I think it would have been a horrible ride had we not been able to move. It is a pretty ride up and there’s one stop at Barron Falls along the way for us to exit and have a look and take a photo. At the end of the line, you walk up into Kuranda. There are a few things to do up there including eat, shop, Birdworld, and/or the Butterfly Sanctuary. We chose the butterfly sanctuary (see above) and lunch at a local Kuranda cafe.

We caught a Skyrail gondola down; this was amazing. I loved it. You can get out along the way and go for a walk to various lookouts and take photographs. We could just jump into the next empty gondola as it came along. The view as you come over the mountain above Cairns is breathtaking and memorable.