Friday, August 02, 2013

Travel: Day 8 - Australia - Koalas, Kuranda, and Kool ways to travel

One of the advantages of teaching at a small liberal arts institution is the freedom to design and offer courses that are close to one's heart. 

In January 2011, I taught Tropical Ecology  and, for one of the class activities, I took a group of students on a 10 day trip to Puerto Rico. (Click here to read about the trip to Puerto Rico). 

In January 2013, I taught Ecology of Australia and, naturally, it entailed a field trip to Australia! What follows is a travelogue of our adventures together, the sights we saw, the things we did, and the lessons we learned while exploring a land far removed from home.

(You can see the previous posts in this thread here).

After getting a close look at the rainforest in the crane on the previous day, on Day 8 we took a more scenic path to (and through it) via the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.

(Katherine Lederer 2013)
The skyrail is a series of gondolas that rise from the base station at Caravonica Terminal, located about 15 miles from Cairns, and traverses about 7.5km (4.7mi) over the rainforest with 2 stops along the way at Red Peak, Barron Falls, finally ending at Kuranda.  Along the way, we got a close look at Barron Gorge National Park.

(C.S. Manish 2013)
The Skyrail system comprises of 114 gondolas that travel over a path that is held up by 33 towers, the tallest of which is 133 feet (40.5m) high.

(Katherine Lederer 2013)
(Note: In order to conserve space on the blog and make it easier to scroll through, I am condensing how much of  the post is displayed.  To read the rest of it, simply click on the "Click here for the rest of my jaywalk" link below).