As we continued northward our next stop was just 25 minutes past Cairns to the beachside suburb of Palm Cove, so named after the palm trees that line the beach. Due to the small size of Palm Cove and its tourism focus, the provision of tourist services is the main business around here. There are lots of cafes, bars and restaurants, hotels, watersports operators and shops lining the waterfront.
We sorely missed Wongaling Beach and the endless kilometers of flat sandy beach when we realized the beach here at Palm Cove slopes into the ocean and is not great for long walks. Fortunately there is a boardwalk running parallel to the water, but it’s relatively short, and busy. We had a few good days but in general the weather was mosly overcast and misty with some rain every day, which I suppose is to be expected when you are on the edge of the ‘Wet Tropics’ rainforest. We spent much of our time doing future travel planning and walking across the road to the fitness center and swimming pool, once again compliments of our Airbnb.
Just north of Palm Cove along the coastal road is Rex Lookout. A great spot for stunning views of Trinity Bay and a popular launching pad for hang gliders.
On our way back to Palm Cove from Rex Lookout we stopped at Ellis Beach for a walk.
Our one big excursion while here was to Kuranda to ride the skyrail and scenic railway. Kuranda is 25km from Cairns and surrounded by tropical rainforest and adjacent to the Barron Gorge National Park. With a population of approx 3,300 people the focus here is tourism. We began our day with the skyrail gondola up to Kuranda where we had lunch and spent a few hours exploring the town and pathways through the forest. Late afternoon we took the scenic railway back down the mountain and were bused back to our car at the base of the gondola. You can do this loop in either direction or take the gondola or train both directions. Depending on which way you do the loop there are two separate websites to buy tickets, this one if you want to take the train first, and this one if you want to take the skyrail gondola first.
The skyrail gondola has two stops on the way up to get off and walk around. The first stop is at Red Peak where we enjoyed the boardwalk through the rainforest, yep it was raining so we hustled along!! The second stop is the Barron Falls Lookout with panoramic views over Barron Gorge. The falls were pretty disappointing with not much water flowing.
The town of Kuranda is your typical tourist town with a variety of pay to visit attractions, shops and restaurants. After a look around the town center and a quick lunch we headed out to walk in the rainforest. We did the Jumrum Creek Walk, the Jungle Walk and the River Walk. All these walks combined took just under 90 minutes of leisurely walking, taking in the sights and sounds of the rainforest.
Back in Kuranda we made our way to the railway station for the 3:30pm train down the mountain. We upgraded to reserved seats in the Gold Car that included a small snack tray and drinks during the journey. The train stops along the way at Barron Falls where you can disembark and take photos of the falls and gorge. The second stop is at Stony Creek Falls where you can take photos of the train curving in front of you over the trestle bridge on one side and the waterfall on the other side. You don’t get off the train here, its just a viewpoint, but a pretty impressive one at that. Tickets for the combined gondola/train and Gold Car upgrade came to USD $146 each.
Ironman Cairns was on during our time here and we were keen on seeing the start of the swim and bike legs. The 3.8 km swim was right here in Palm Cove. The athletes then left Palm Cove on their bikes to ride a 180 km course, finishing in Cairns. There they swapped their bike shoes for running shoes and ran a 42.2 km, 4 lap loop, along the Cairns Esplanade. Whew, that’s a really long race!! I (Susan) competed in eleven triathlons when we lived in the Cayman Islands, 4 Olympic distance and 7 Sprint distance. My distances were paltry compared to the Ironman but I felt the pain of the swimmers putting up with 3 ft waves during the swim. It looked really hard. Most of the pro athletes took just under an hour for the swim and some of the age group participants took up to 2 hours. Races are fun to attend with excited spectators cheering on their family and friends. We enjoyed our morning at Ironman Cairns, very impressed with any athlete who takes on this challenge, some taking over 15 hours to complete the race. (click on any photo to enlarge)
The rest of our time in Palm Cove was fairly laid back, mostly because the weather was a bit rainy, but we enjoyed the area. The scenery is beautiful and with the day time temperatures hovering around 26 celcius, its pleasantly warm, considering its winter here.
Our next destination will be the most northern point of our Queensland road trip, Cape Tribulation in the Daintree Rainforest…..