Australia, with its famous coral reefs, pristine rainforests and unique flora and fauna, is as hot a tourist’s destination as the US and Europe.

Australia is a prime tourist attraction, after the US and Europe, with its pristine rainforests, magnificent coral reefs, expansive national parks besides its unique flora and fauna. This was evident from the number of hands that went up when the driver of our coach heading to the Great Ocean Road in Melbourne asked us to which part of the world we belonged. Out of the 41 of us, the majority seemed to come from Singapore and the others were from Japan, the UK, other parts of Australia, Europe, the USA, India and Africa respectively.

We were part of a package tour of Eastern Australia that comprised Cairns, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Sydney. Our tour began from Cairns where we landed after a seven-hour flight from Singapore by Qantas. We skipped both dinner and breakfast on the flight as the first was served too late (almost midnight) and the second too early in the morning. At Cairns we were received by the local representative who put us up at the Holiday Inn in Florence Street. The same afternoon we set off to the Caravonica Terminal for one of the world’s most exciting sky rail experience.

Breath taking views

We were carried over 7.5 km of pristine rainforest in a gondola cabin just a few meters above the forest canopy. We alighted at the two mid-stations for board walks at the Red Peak Station located in the middle of the rainforest and the Barron Falls station, before reaching Kuranda Terminal.

At the Barron falls Station we witnessed breathtaking views of the quietly flowing Barron River, Gorge and Falls from three lookouts. Kuranda Scenic Railway is adjacent to skyrail’s Kuranda Terminal. This small station, set in sylvan surroundings reminds you of hill railways in India, with narrow gauges and bright colored trains.

An interesting feature of the rainforest (where around 300 species in every hectare are found) is, because of the dense nature of the forest, very little sunlight reaches the forest floor ,most of it is intercepted by the canopy foliage. You feel you are in a different world altogether !

Great Barrier Reef—nature’s piece de resistance

The following day began early with a cruise to the outer Barrier Reef in an air-conditioned two-tier catamaran from Port Douglas. The Great Barrier Reef is nature’s piece de resistance, the only living structure believed to be visible from outer space. Considered the eighth wonder of the world, this world’s largest marine park stretches nearly 3,220 km through the tropical waters of Far North Queensland.

The 90-minute cruise on Quick Silver’s wave-piercing catamaran was a thrilling experience indeed. Ten minutes after leaving Port Douglas we travelled across a large bay on the way to the reef. We were informed that the Mossman and Daintree rivers emptied into this bay. Here again we were presented with a distant view of a spectacular rainforest, which fringed both the rivers. As we proceeded, we came across a rainforest-covered National Park, called the Snapper Island. Captain James Cook was believed to have sailed these waters in the vessel Endeavour on 11th June 1770. On that evening the vessel struck a reef just 30 nautical miles north of Snapper Island.

Cabin crew comes to our rescue

Past this we spotted a sandy cay called the Undine Cay, a good example of a coral cay in its early development which signposts the inner edge of the Great Barrier Reef. Even as we were reaching the outer Barrier Reef, suddenly we found ourselves jerking in our seats as the catamaran was encountering rough weather. Some of us developed sea sickness due to the profuse rocking of the catamaran but the crew was quick to act.

The Great Barrier Reef is actually made up of millions of tiny living creatures called polyps which feed on marine organisms in the ocean. There are two different types of coral; hard coral are limestone fortresses which shelter the delicate coral polyps that create reefs. Soft corals, often dazzling with colour, extend their nets to sieve food and sway gently in the ocean currents. Once the catamaran docked at the Agincourt Reef, one of the several reefs in the Great Barrier Reef, some passengers opted to scuba dive or snorkel, but we preferred the semi-submersible vessel which glided through the rich coral gardens and we could view the marine life in all its splendor through glass without actually getting wet!

Gold Coast in company of Kangaroos and Lorikeets

Gold Coast was our next destination. How did the name Gold Coast come about? A journalist, it is said, who had first come to this city was stunned at the price of the land and remarked: “The price of land here seems to be like gold.” The name stuck.

The day-long visit to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and the Sea World (a marine theme park) was exciting. We could feed the colorful lorikeets (they look like parrots) with milk and the friendly kangaroos with nuts given by the park’s attendants. The kangaroos hopped towards us again and again to be fed. We could have a close look at the cute but lazy koalas perched on trees. It was amusing to watch the majestic looking pelicans rushing with open mouths to catch fish thrown by the sanctuary officer during feeding time. The tireless officer (a young, uniformed lady), unmindful of the pouring rain, diligently gave a detailed account of the lifestyle of different birds and animals. “ If you found koalas scratching their back, it is not because of itching but more to keep themselves clean,” the young lady told us. She then fed the eels which responded to her call with kangaroo meat and one greedy pelican which had its fill of fish lunged forward to have a share in the meat but was driven away by the officer.

The dolphin shows and the helicopter ride, not to speak of the dazzling and dare devil stunts by the Fun Park’s international team, are a special attraction in the 25-acre Sea World Theme park in Gold Coast. A helicopter ride over the sea world gave us a panoramic view of the tall buildings and the sandy beaches.

Melbourne - where nature is at its best

A drive through spectacular views and lush rainforest settings of the Sherwood Forest in Melbourne (capital of Victoria, also known as the Garden City) offers the visitor nature’s best, with the rising eucalyptus trees, crimson rosellas, cockatoos and the lyre bird. Stop the coach and offer some food to the birds and you find them clustering around you in no time.

The Great Ocean Road in Melbourne is one of the greatest coastal drives in the world. Its severity and striking contrasts will remain etched in our memory forever with the azure waters of the ocean on one side and the Otway Mountain ranges on the other. Added to this picture-perfect scenery are the twelve Apostles, the icon of Australian Coastline—the world’s largest limestone towers rising from the ocean waters( only ten of them could be seen) , the Loch Ard Gorge and the London Bridge. At Princetown, the Great Ocean Road returns to hug the coastline along the entire length of the Port Campbell National Park.

Sydney - a man made marvel

Sydney, which is the largest and oldest city in Australia and the capital of New South Wales is picturesquely situated on Port Jackson, a magnificent expanse of water, which forms a land locked harbor extending 20 miles inland. The Sydney Harbor Bridge, which was designed by Dr John Bradfield, is an architectural marvel. Sydney is also famous for its magnificent Opera House, its unique design, appearing like a large flower from a distance. We were taken on a three-hour dinner harbor cruise ,the highlight of which was dancing by beautiful damsels clad in colorful costumes besides the seven-course vegetarian fare that was served.

Blue Mountains and legend of three sisters

Less than a two-hour drive from Sydney is the Blue Mountains. You climb up the mountains amidst breathtaking views and witness the blue haze, a phenomenon caused by the rays of light striking dust particles and small droplets of moisture in the atmosphere. Then you reach Echo point, which is described as Australia’s Grand Canyon, but once we reached this much-publicized tourist attraction we were rather disappointed ,probably because it was not as expansive as I expected. However, we were happy that we could have a full view of the legendry Three Sisters, a regular rock formation in three sizes appearing at descending levels. According to the aboriginal legend, the three Sisters–Manhi, Wimlah and Gunnedoo were turned into stone due to a curse and are still waiting to be brought back to life by the magic bone of their father which he lost.

Feather Dale Wildlife Park—home to native animals

On our return we stopped at the Feather dale Wildlife Park at Doonside which is home to world’s largest collection of native animals .I was happy to see little penguins (missed seeing them earlier as our scheduled visit to view penguin parade was cancelled) hopping around and the long-billed pelicans walking towards visitors ,perhaps expecting a treat . I noticed one coming very close to me as though to pose for a photograph and I felt I should not disappoint the bird!

Image (c) istock.com