Australia/New Zealand student Michael Baldigo shared the following account of the group’s excursion to Kuranda Village and Tjapukai Village:
A few of our group chose to “explore Cairns on your own” while the rest decided “to visit Kuranda for an additional fee.”
Instead of a train ride up to the Atherton Tablelands, we took a bus and were not the least bit disappointed at Tjapukai Cultural Centre and Tjapukai Aboriginal Park.
We enjoyed an “all around” 360 degree theater presentation which included the “creation story” of the “Rainbow Serpent,” who divided the world into “dry” and “wet” entities. Dancers performed how these entities clashed between land and sea, but in the end, could not be without each other and how this defines the local people’s concept of their world prior to the arrival of “Western” civilization.
On the walls on the way to the entrance appears THEY TOOK OUR LAND … THEY STOLE OUR CHILDREN … WE ARE STILL HERE.
Tribal dances (including those from the Torres Straits) followed, plus presentations on weapons, medicines, boomerangs, atl-atl spear throwers, and didgeridoos.
Next came the “Skyrail cable car to Kuranda” “a quaint mountain village set in the rainforest” including the opportunity “for an additional fee” to have your photograph taken while holing a Koala (please never dare to say “Koala BEAR”).
The train station was taken right out of Australian history … including carriages more than a century old … but immaculately maintained and restored. Around every turn, there was another breath-taking photo opportunity … crawling at three to five miles per hour all the way down.
Dinner at Cairns was delightful. We shared our most memorable moments around the table, mine being hump-backed whale-watching at Sidney.
For many it was time for late night “open shopping” and the “night-market” where a number of curios and souvenirs were for sale at half the price elsewhere during the day. But the primary item on the agenda was packing up for our Air New Zealand flight the next morning for umpteen kilometers home by way of Auckland, SFO, ORD, and TPA!