January 11, 2026 Cairns, Australia Day 2

We were up before 7 a.m. for omelettes from the Lido Market on Deck 9, then meeting before 8 a.m. in the World Stage to get stickers for our 8:15 a.m. excursion called Kuranda Experience.

The sky was overcast with traces of sun, temperature was 25°C, calm wind and humidity 91%.

Our group of 42 boarded a bus to drive 15 minutes to Freshwater Station (built in 1984) where we were assigned to vintage train Carriage #9 (serial # BB 6065 built in 1938) on Kuranda Scenic Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for the 8:45 a.m. departure. The leisurely ride up the mountain, over 325 meters above sea level, to the town of Kuranda took 90 minutes. The narrow gauge railway was built between 1881 and 1891 largely by immigrants from Italy and Ireland. It is a National Engineering Landmark. The railroad bed includes 98 curves on its ascent and has 106 cuttings hand worked with pick axes and shovels, 15 hand carved tunnels, since dynamite didn’t work on the granite rock, 55 steel span or timber bridges through the rainforest.

The only air movement was from the open windows on a windless morning. To start we passed some fields of sugar cane proceeding into the suburbs and then the rainforest. There was a short stop to take pictures at Stony Creek Falls, which tumble in the deep Stony Creek Gorge. Some of the tunnels were over 200 meters long. Here a vibrant village existed during the construction of the railway. If you watch carefully you may spot the painted number near a tunnel entrance to tell which tunnel was just exited.

The next view of a gorge was Barron Gorge, with its hydro electric power plant and dam. The river water is a muddy brown. At the stop to take photos, each carriage had its own broad metal ramp and viewpoint for at least 50 people at a time.

Our guide advised us that we had 90 minutes of free time in Kuranda and to meet at the Skyrail Station, right beside the Kuranda Scenic Railway station at noon to receiver tickets for the Skyrail Rain Forest Cableway return journey.

There were many unusual plants as we wandered in the town amid souvenir shops, cafés, ice cream stores, restaurants and bars to the Butterfly Farm, Koala Gardens and Kuranda Market signs. The first tree had gnarly fruit and pretty purple flowers and beside it was a tree with small limes that looked like green kumquats. There were flowers like elongated white belts hanging from a brown cone, yellow flowers with a red leaved bush beside it.

We bought some tiramisu gelato to cool off and browsed through a candy store and bought some freeze dried “Skittlez”. The summer clothes - dresses, shirts, t-shirts, shorts - were tempting as we browsed the stores, but we resisted. Steps 6,603

We boarded the Skyrail for the descent to Cairns with another couple from our group. The first station was Barron Falls which was on the opposite side of the Barron Gorge where the train track runs. Back on the gondola, there was just one other person in the gondola who was not talkative. There were occasional short stops which allowed you to hear the rainforest sounds. The Skyrail skims above the rainforest in places. Looking down the trees are so dense that you cannot see the bottom. At the Red Peak stop we again got off and found a 400 year old Queensland Kauri tree. Then it was back on a gondola for just us, down to the Smithfield Terminal. Here we had 30 minutes to look around the shop and ordered a couple of milkshakes for lunch. We even found some oven mitts to buy.

Once the group had been reunited a bus returned us to Cairns, where half of the passengers alighted in the main shopping area to look around and make their own way back to the ship. We took advantage of the chance to walk some of the Cairns Esplanade back to ship. It was just over a mile to the cruise terminal at Wharf 6. Wharf 6 was rebuilt in 2020 after serving as a temporary wharf for over 50 years and dredging scraped a deeper channel to the wharf. Now cruise ships can moor at the wharf rather than using their tender boats to get passengers ashore.

Waiting in our stateroom was an invitation to join a ship’s officer for dinner tomorrow at our dining table. “We cordially invite you to dine with one of the officers on deck 3 Main Dining Room.” Interesting wording.

During dinner, the captain announced all passengers and crew were back on board and the ship was preparing for her scheduled 6 p.m. departure. There were 90 crew leaving and new crew arriving today. About a turnover of 10% of the crew. The captain warned that the voyage would have “motion of the ocean” for the next 24 hours. Four meter high waves are expected once the ship has exited Trinity Inlet threaded through the Great Barrier Reef and passed over the Continental Shelf into the Coral Sea.

After dinner our stablemates retired to the Library Café for our after dinner coffees.

The World Stage theatre had a large audience for the 7:30 p.m. show featuring comic magician Phil Cass and his assistant Phillipa. There were many laughs and amazing magic. After the show we found the Dam band was playing in the Ocean Bar and we were the only couple on the dance floor. The ship beginning the predicted rolling by 9 p.m.

By 11 p.m. in our inside Deck 1 stateroom located between forward and midship, the rolling was noticeable. We were rocked to sleep.

Total steps. 12,520