Kuranda and Wicked Vans

While on the boat diving, I met 2 people, one from Liverpool (Grey) and the other Gaspe in Quebec (Josianne). They suggested going up to Kuranda, an "aboriginal village in the forest", about 45 minute drive away from Cairns. We did this the day after our diving finished. Kuranda's main attraction are Barron Falls, and the scenic railway and tramway that service the village, along with open air markets. Unfortunately, my camera wasn't charged, so I don't have that many good pictures of the area, but hopefully i'll be able to get some from Grey. Some of the souveneirs you could find included crocodile and kangaroo leather hats, belts, wallets, etc., forests of didgeridoos and stacks of aboriginal artwork. They also had original WWII plane that crashed in the area nearby one of the shops. At any rate, it was a beautiful day and gave us lots of ideas for things to look for later. We had quite the time trying didgeridoos (mainly making inappropriate sounds). Once back in Cairns we discussed driving down to Brisbane, as Grey wanted to work there and Josianne wanted to work somewhere north of Brisbane depending on work availability (and I needed to get back to Sydney). After looking at our options, renting a campervan seemed resonable. We went with "wicked vans" a company that individualizes each van by painting the vans. For example you might have the cookie monster van, or star wars, bee gees, Kiss, etc. With our luck of course we got the butterfly van. At least Josianne was happy. After collecting our things, checking out of hostels and getting fuel, propane, food, and water we took off south towards our first destination: mission beach.