I enjoyed a light lunch on Kuranda's main street, where there are many eating (and drinking!) places to choose from. During lunch I was looking over the tourist brochures, and decided to go to ...
A view inside the
Butterfly Sanctuary's
butterfly house, enclosing some 3666 cubic metres. The butterflies
are free to roam around this, and indeed they do.
I think this is an "Orchard Butterfly".
Perhaps an "Australian Lurcher".
No inhibitions here, thank you very much!
A "Ulysses", a large butterfly which is hardly ever still - given their
colour, their only defence is to keep moving. This results in them
having a somewhat short life, as butterfly life is dictated by the
quality of their wings. Butterfly wings have a surface something like
the scales on a fish, and flying results in a gradual loss of the "scales".
Another "Common Eggfly"
There are guided tours through the butterfly house, and it includes
the option to handle the caterpillars which will one day become beautiful butterflies.
Another view through the butterfly house, showing the significant amount of
foliage. And a couple of blue splashes - Ulysses butterflies in action.
A view down a section of Kuranda's main street. Given the temperatures, and strength
of the sunshine, these trees offer much appreciated shade.
Ah, definitely tourist country. Probably very enjoyable - well, not so much for the
driver of the car behind!
Kuranda
Skyrail