How could anyone resist an excursion with a title like that? On the other hand I had no difficulty ignoring one beginning "SkyRail". Six people in a gondola floating over the canopy of a rain forest? No! But ascending 1,076 feet in a replica of a century-old train, going through 15 tunnels and crossing 40 bridges over steep gorges while passing incredible waterfalls and looking down on the valley below stretching along the Barron River to the Cairns harbour?? Yes!

And it was a beautiful fall day, temperature about 78 F and dry (rainy season just over). I love trains and this one was a keeper literally. I took a picture of the Kuranda Railway Station sign - who knows if I can send it? There's a little museum there at the Freshwater Railway Station, were we boarded the train, and it's fascinating. The railroad was built to enable prospectors to search the mountains for gold (they found tin [CHECK THIS] ), hence the bridges and the tunnels all built without power tools. (DATE). Not only that, the men who came to do the work (for 90 cents a day) had to supply their own tools.

More anon....