I’d awoken at 3.30 am and driven, amidst torrential downpour, two hours from Cairns up to the Atheron Tablelands in Queensland, Australia. As lightning slashed the inky skies, I deliberated the idea of a hot air balloon ride on a day the locals were touting as the rainiest in June in 73 years.
The balloon operators at Hot Air Cairns were unperturbed. During a short dry spell around 6 am, a motley group of enthusiasts watched a bright yellow kangaroo-embossed balloon being inflated with 45,000 cubic feet of propane. Twenty people from around the world and too many selfie sticks were packed in four compartments of the velvet-lined basket, while our pilot Shaun stood with the gas cylinders in a tiny central chamber.
As we gently drifted up, the rising sun bathed the Lego-like landscape below in a golden light. The heat from the fire propelling the balloon and the rays of the sun warmed our faces and rain-soaked hair. Kangaroos bounded in the sparse brown bush below and little creeks meandered through the flat-topped hills. The tablelands were traditionally coffee-and tobacco-growing regions, and vast farmlands punctuated with the odd house looked surreal from the air.
We floated at a height of 1,000 feet, at the mercy of the gentle winds. But a few hundred feet to the west, ominous dark rainclouds approached. We had to outrun the fast-approaching soufflé.
“It’s going to be a bumpy landing. The basket is going to tip over,” said Shaun.
As we fast lost altitude, he hustled us into ‘brace position’ — knees bent, back firmly against the basket walls. Before we knew it, we were bumping along an open field. Thump-thump-thump… and then the basket tipped over. Amidst laughter and joyful shrieks we lay staring at the sky, waiting to be pulled out of the basket, hats and selfie sticks strewn around. It was a standard landing on a windy day, but for us first-time flyers, it was truly adventurous. The undignified balloon landing was the final in a series of airborne adventures in tropical Queensland.
Monkey business
A few days earlier, in the ancient Daintree rainforest dating back to a hundred million years, I swung through the canopy on seven ziplines. The Daintree is among the oldest continuously living rainforests in the world, rare in the fact that it is a Unesco World Heritage Site on the fringes of another, the Great Barrier Reef. Jungle surfing at Cape Tribulation involved running in a human-sized hamster wheel to propel lift-off, and then zipping more than 350 metres between six wooden tree-platforms.
Standing high above the forest floor, amidst the gnarled, fern-covered gum and red oak trees, I looked below to a carpet of green with unfurling fan palms and moss-covered rocks. Above me, branches stretched endlessly into the skies, only occasionally allowing sunrays to filter through. From the highest platform at 19.5 metres, I spied the blue of the Great Barrier Reef in the distance. No two zips were alike. The instructors once stopped me mid-zip, so I dangled for a few moments above a boulder-studded stream, its rushing loud in my ears. On another zip, I went upside down, resulting in a rush of blood to the head and a never-before-seen perspective of the forest. A third zip I did in the yoga camel pose.
There was something primeval about this forest, with its 1,800 species of plant life, some dating back to the dinosaur-era, its wet air, million insect sounds, and fresh smells. Just being there was enlivening; flying through the trees was an added bonus.
Free-falling
On the drive back to Cairns from Cape Tribulation, I stopped over at AJ Hackett Bungy in the foothills of the Saddle Mountain for more vertigo-testing activities. Known across the world for their bungee jumps, AJ Hackett, in Australia, offers the unique Minjin Swing experience. Strapped into a harness and suspended horizontally in a mid-air plank, I rose up along a cable that stretched from ground level up to a height of 45 metres. I dangled far above the treetops at the highest point, the release cable in hand. On the Minjin Swing, you control your own fall. One firm tug, and I was hurtling towards the ground at a breakneck speed of 120 km/hr. With sheer momentum, I swung like a human pendulum, forming a parabolic arc each time. Tropical Queensland spread out miles beneath me, a tangle of neon-green forest rushing out to meet the distant blue of the Great Barrier Reef. From this height I could see and appreciate it all.
Travel log
Getting there
Fly to Cairns from Delhi or Mumbai via Singapore with Singapore Airlines.
Stay
In Cairns, check in to the Shangri-La (www.shangri-la.com/cairns/shangrila/), situated right on the water’s edge. Silky Oaks Lodge (www.silkyoakslodge.com.au) is a beautiful eco property in the heart of the Daintree region.
Do
Hire a car for three days and drive from Cairns to Cape Tribulation through acres of sugarcane plantations, gentle hills, miles of coastline and dense forests. Stop along the way for an early morning balloon-ride with Hot Air Cairns, a bungee jump or Minjin Swing at AJ Hackett, and jungle surfing at Cape Tribulation.
Tip
Watch out for the large Cassowary bird, commonly found in these parts.
Malavika Bhattacharya is a Delhi-based freelance travel writer