59. Things do in AUSTRALIA - Kuranda! Koalas and Butterflies!

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Johnny Man can Travel is back.
This is the Australia series. When I

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last left you, I had told
you about the Great Barrier Reef and I

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had made my way to Coranda.
Here's the overview. Coranda home to some

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world class wildlife attractions. Coranda Koala
Gardens is one of the few places in

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the country where have the opportunity to
cuddle one. I'll talk about that in

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a second. It's also home to
an amazing array of all your favorite ossie

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critters, including wombats and wallabies,
kangaroos, possums, water dragons, monitors

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and more. Bird World Coranda is
home to one of Australia's largest collection of

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free flying birds, including the iconic
rainforest resident the Southern Cassowary. There's even

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a butterfly sanctuary. Let's start there
because that was like my favorite thing ever.

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The Australian Butterfly Sanctuary is the largest
butterfly free flight aviary and exhibit in

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Australia and the Southern Hemisphere. I
gotta find out where the one in the

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Northern Hemisphere is because that's where I
live. The Butterfly Sanctuary is an all

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weather experience on the heart of Coranda, only a short walk from Skyrail and

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the Coranda Scenic Railway station. We're
going to talk about the railway as well,

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home to over fifteen hundred magnificent tropical
butterflies. You'll be enchanted by the

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aerial dynamics of these elusive wonders of
nature as you wander through the aviary's rainforest

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gardens. Yeah, I went in
this place, and I mentioned in the

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last episode we had like thirty five
minutes to kill. I'm looking at the

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prices here. It's twenty dollars and
fifty cents Australian. We did it again.

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I wish I had a lot more
time, but boy, money well

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spent. I was so enthralled by
this place. I've got pictures of me

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with butterflies landing on me. So
wonderful. The Coranda dot org website says

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be sure to wear something bright red, white or hot pink let these beautiful

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and colorful creatures flutter all over you
as you walk through. Now and understand,

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you're not going to go all the
way to Australia for butterflies. However,

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if you're there, you should go
to the Great Barrier Reef and if

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you're already in the towns by the
Great Barrier. Go to Coranda and the

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Butterfly Sanctuary. You hear what I'm
saying. Next up? Do you not

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want to cuddle with a koala?
Of course you do. My wife loves

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koalas. I've got a picture of
her holding a koala. It made her

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so happy. Caranda Koala Gardens is
home to many of Australia's iconic animals,

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concluding wallabies, wombats, snakes,
lizards, gliders and freshwater crocodiles. Watch

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out. It's also home to several
koalas and everyone loves a koala. I

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love this copy here. Whether they're
eating, sleeping, or just looking adorable,

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they're undoubtedly one of this country's most
iconic and cutly creatures. Double bonus,

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Caranda. Koala Gardens is one of
the few places where you can hold

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a koala for souvenir photo for an
extra cost. That extra cost is twenty

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dollars Australian or if you're a kid
four to fifteen ten bucks. Now,

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at some point in my youth,
the freeze Koala bear got in my brain

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and I went to Australia and I
was still thinking Koala bear they're not bears.

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There's no such thing as a koala
bear. Johnny mac. Now you

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might be saying yourself, wait,
I've heard that before. Koala bear you

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have. It's not a thing.
They're not bears, koalas. At the

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Coranda Koala Gardens, you'll also have
the opportunity to pet and hand feed swamp

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wallabies, gray kangaroos, red legged
banda melons. You can meet the lovable

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wombats which the copy here says,
which are fast becoming Australia's favorite marsupial.

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Who knew? There's also those freshwater
crocodiles. Don't worry, they're enclosed in

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a large habitat where they're free to
swim in, sun, bake and not

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bite you. Are you not yet
entertained? All right, Let's go to

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bird World Coranda, home of Australia's
largest collections of free flying birds, with

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over three hundred and fifty feathered friends
roaming in an enclosed but natural habitat naturally

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landscape with waterfalls, ponds, exotic
native plants. Bird World Coranda replicates the

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natural habitats of the almost eighty species
that roam this unique rainforest immersion. Exhibit

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I did not make its bird World
while I was there. How about a

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riverbroat tour sail five times a day. The Coranda Riverboat features a commentary from

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the skipper and it runs for forty
five minutes. The Barren River is home

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to a host of wildlife, including
more of those freshwater crocodiles, but also

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turtles, water dragons and fish.
Yes, they're a fish in the river

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and they have a note here which
is going to be important to you.

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By the end of this podcast episode, the two thirty PM Crews returns in

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time for the three thirty pm train. We will get to the train.

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Johnny Mac, I'm hungry, don't
worry. In the village there are restaurants.

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There's Sprout Juice and Coffee Bar,
the Rainforest Coffee Frogs restaurant and the

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Big Forest Cafe is also the Chili
Shop and they spell chili with two l's

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interesting. The Chili Shop Coranda is
at the heritage markets. We sell chili

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sauces mild to triple X, hot
spices, chili salts and jerky, also

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chili coffee. Coranda Village is well
known for its markets. Nestled in a

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beautiful tropical rainforest, this bustling market
is home to a diverse array of stalls

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and a selection of local artcraft and
locally sourced produce. It's perfect place for

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shoppers to stroll around at their leisure. Let's take the break and I'll come

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back and I'll tell you about the
train. What goes up must come down.

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So if you want to make your
way back down, I highly recommend

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the Karanda Scenic Railway. The original
Karana Scenic Railway is a spectacular journey comprising

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unsurpassed views of dense rainforest, steep
ravines, and picturesque waterfalls within the World

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Heritage listed Barren Gorge National Park.
Takes about two hours, including a ten

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minute stop at the Barren Fall Station
for bird's eye view of the Barren falls,

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Passing through fifteen hand carved tunnels,
thirty seven bridges, spectacular waterfalls,

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and into the gorge discover the warm
ambiance of one hundred year old carriages.

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Yeah, this is an old time
railroad and it totally hits the spot for

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mood with individual lounge style chairs and
dedicated host service. By lounge style chairs,

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they mean like bench seating. It's
comfortable, but it's old, but

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it's cool. The one hundred and
twenty seven year old railway is considered an

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engineering feat of tremendous magnitude even today. Yeah, when I was on this

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thing, I was like, how
did they even build this thing? The

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Karanda station is world renowned for its
tropical gardens and historical significance. It's possibly

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one of the most photograph railway stations
in the world. Amen to that,

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the heritage listed buildings blend with the
tropical surroundings, providing a relaxed environment to

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enjoy. So before we leave the
area, I'm thumbing through my photos.

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Here here's me at the butterfly place, just having a great time with butterflies

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landing on me. I mentioned in
the last episode that we had gone to

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learn more about Aboriginal culture. And
here is my son throwing a spear.

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Here's my daughter throwing a boomerang.
Here's my wife holding the koala. I

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took some pictures of some kangaroos,
some wombats, some butterflies. Here we

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are on the old timey train and
boy, oh, the pictures of this.

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Like I'm looking at this picture that
I took of the train going around

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a curve, but it looks like
a professional photo like just so lush and

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beautiful. Oh yeah, up by
the village, there's a plane crash site.

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There's a plane just in the trees
and they've left it there for however

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long it's been there, and it's
just kind of deteriorating over time, but

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yeah, it's there. Here's some
more koalas, some more butterflies. I

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took a zillion pictures and I'm just
zooming through here. Here's a picture of

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a sign that has one, two, three, four, five, six,

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seven, eight, nine, ten
fourteen butterflies landed on the sign.

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And with that in my photo album, I've reached the part where we went

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to Sydney and we spent New Year's
Eve. I can't wait to tell you

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about Sydney. Sydney is differently awesome. Everything about Australia is awesome. Check

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out all the Australia episodes in this
series and you can follow the show for

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free on Apple Podcasts or Spotify wherever
you get your shows. Next week,

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we're in Sydney. Travel is back. Daily comedy news podcast ten minutes a

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