On our second last day in Cairns, we went up to Kuranda, known as the village in the rainforest. It is a beautiful drive up through the rainforest to get there. There is a sky train you can take that carries you over the rainforest but we ended up missing it. We went with our new welsh friend Rhys. While in Kuranda, we went to the Butterfly Sanctuary, The Koala Gardens and Bird World.
The Butterfly Sanctuary was pretty amazing. The butterflies were so big and not shy at all. We got to go on a tour of the breeding laboratory. Some of the caterpillars are absolutely huge and quite beautiful. We got to see the electric blue Ulysses butterfly and the green bird wing butterflies. It was so peaceful and amazing to just sit in the gardens and watch the butterflies dance.
After that we went to Bird World. They had native australian birds as well as other exotic tropical birds. The bright green bird was very friendly and landed on me. Then he started going after my ponytail and fingers so Mike had to help get him off of me. There were some absolutely beautiful and unique birds there. Mike also made a friend with a young green bird. They also had cassowaries here.
We then went to The Koala Gardens. There we got to see fresh water crocs, lizards, snakes, grey kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, a wombat and some mice like animals. We each got to hold and cuddle a koala which was pretty neat! Their fur feels unusual and is very thick. All the koalas were awake and eating when we got there, which is pretty lucky because they spend most of their time sleeping. We also got to hand feed wallabies. The grey kangaroos were too busy lounging to come and say hello.
Video of the Ulysses butterflies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZlzReC3Opk
