Kuranda is a small town west of Cairns which was once inhabited by the hippies in the 1960's. Because it it was remote and somewhat isolated it made a good squat for people who were either hiding from the law or who were dropping out of society with it's rules. These days Kuranda has changed, although there is still a wonderful flavour of that error to be found if you look hard enough. When I first came to Cairns the market stall holders all seemed to be hippies who sold the fruits of their labour as well as fresh foods and things like sugar cane juice crushed while you waited. The stalls were a bit higgeldy piggeldy and the pathways were mostly dirt which turned to slippery mud in the wet season but it was just wonderful. To some extent Rusty's Market down in Cairns was the same, lean-to stalls and dirt sections in between, the water dripped down your neck as you made your purchases and you had to either wade through puddles or walk around them, it was great. These days both venues are civilised and that means that the atmosphere is not as it used to be, it seems to have lost something. There is something about concrete that takes away all the ambience even if it does mean you are not wading in water any more or sliding on your bum as you navigate the pathways and slopes - those were the days.

Although tourism has long taken over the main theme of the place, the markets still exist and there are also some shops that sell wonderfully feral and unusual clothes. My favourite shop is "Just Georgeous" it has all kinds of clothes from day wear to evening in designs I have not seen anywhere else as well as accessories to go with them and knick knacks, face masks and footwear. If you find yourself in Kuranda and looking for it, Just Gorgeous is in the main street opposite the newsagents

Tourists know Kuranda because it has a wonderful train which runs from Cairns, through the suburbs, past cane fields and up through hills with a stop at the Baron Falls and then on up to the village. I tried to get a photo of it for you because it is an old fashioned train but just as I was walking towards the station the last train pulled out and and I missed it. If you click on the Kuranda link (the first word in this article) you will be taken to the Kuranda web site which has information and photos. A new addition since I arrived in Cairns is Skyrail a cableway which runs from the bottom of the hill through the canopy of rainforest with a stop half way so you can have a look at the Baron falls and learn about the rainforest. You can go up one way and come down the other so you get the best of both attractions. There is also a convenient shuttle bus to ferry you from the train and skyrail terminals up the hill and into the main village.

I went to Kuranda about a month ago on my way to Herberton Heritage Village with Brenda and Therese and saw some didjeridu's that interested me as Mike and Marian from Hawaii asked me to bring one when I visited them in July. Kuranda is good, lots of shops full of interesting things, here are the pictures I took on my two visits. The critter in the corner at the top is a padi melon, a kind of wallaby. Two women were walking up the street with this one and another species in blankets, they were wildlife carers.