Port Douglas

Cooper was very excited to find a couple of buddies to play with at the caravan park. There hasn't been too many kids along the way and I think they were both keen for some company other than each others. Rick had to do a bit more work on the computer. Mid morning we went into to the Sunday market (after dragging Cooper away) in Port Douglas which was local art and craft aswell as lots of sugar cane juice stalls. Caitlin was very excited to find a stall with loads of different rocks and gems. The kids had a play in the park on the waterfront and then we drove to the marina and caught the 1.00pm Ballyhooley steam train. The return trip took just on an hour. We came back to the caravan park and had a late lunch and Caitlin & Cooper spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the other kids. We cooked a BBQ for dinner.

Port Douglas

Happy 9th Birthday Nathan! We were a little slow to get moving this morning. Caitlin & Cooper did some school work and when Caitlin finally got out of her pjs we rode the bikes into town. We had some lunch back at the van and spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach. We went back to the van around 4 and headed to the Marina to witness the nightly ritual of feeding George the groper. It was a little hard to see but we couldn't believe how big & ugly he was when we finally caught a glimpse of him. We had a drink then went to the Surf Club for dinner which was a yummy meal.

Port Douglas

We organised a later checkout of 11 so we could do a bit of shopping. We packed most of the van up and headed to 'The Good Guys' to buy a new laptop. The one we brought with us is about 6 years old and ready to retire. We also got some crab pots from Rays Outdoors. We went back to the caravan park to get the van and check out. We stopped in at the Factory Outlets to get some new sunglasses for Rick and then headed out of Cairns to our next destination - Port Douglas, which is only an hour north. The coastal road, Captain Cook Highway is very scenic. We arrived at Port Douglas around 1.30pm and checked in to Pandanus Caravan Park - no Cairns Coconut Resort but close to town and walking distance from the beach. We had a bite to eat and drove in to town to pick up some mail at the post office and have a walk around. We did some grocery shopping and headed back to the van for dinner. Rick fired up the new computer.

The Great Barrier Reef

Marine World

'Wally' the Maori Wrasse

We were at the Reef Fleet Ferry Terminal (which is like an international airport) at about 7.50am and got onto to the tour without any dramas when the check in counter opened at 8.00am. The boat taking us out to the Marine World platform on Moore Reef was a smaller boat with a capacity of about 130 people. We rather liked the idea of less people - the larger boat which was out of action can take up to 250 people. The trip out was really cruisey with nice flat seas and Caitlin showed no signs of sea sickness. The 50km trip took about 1 1/2 hours. The crew came around trying to drum up business for all the optional extras including scuba diving, scenic helicopter flights, guided snorkel tours etc. On the way the Marine Biologist did a presentation on The Reef which was quite interesting. The reef stretches for 2300km from north of Bundaberg to the Torres Strait south of New Guinea. It's the planet's biggest reef system and encompasses over 2800 separate reefs, 300 cays and 600 islands. We decided to do the Glass Bottom Boat tour first which took us around the platform reef. There were lots of fish including surgeon fish, parrot fish and even a couple of white tipped reef sharks and a hawksbill turtle. There are over 400 types of coral on the reef. It was interesting to learn that for a few nights after a full moon in late spring or early summer vast numbers of coral spawn with tiny bundles of sperm and eggs resembling an underwater snowstorm. Next we did the semi-submersible tour. The visibility was amazing- to about 30m. By the time we got back to the platform, lunch was being served. After lunch we got our gear on and went into the water to get a close up of the fish feeding which is where we were very excited to meet the famous 'Wally', a huge marie wrasse. The powerful trevally were also jumping all over the place. Rick took off to do a snorkel safari trip so the kids and I snorkeled around the lagoon which was awesome. Caitlin and Cooper did really well and lasted nearly an hour. It helped that the water was a lovely 25 degrees and we were cosy in our full length wetsuits. We were out of the water by 3 and back at Cairns by 5pm. It was a great day!

Cairns

Muddy's Playground

Rick had to take the car to a local workshop for a service - it was only a few kilometers up the road so he road his bike back. Caitlin and Cooper did some journal writing and school work. I finally got mathletics up and running. I did some washing and Rick took the kids for a swim in the pool and then across to the water park which starts up at 12. After keeping a close eye on the weather and winds we decided that tomorrow was about the pick of the days for a reef trip so Rick booked the Reef Magic tour at reception. After toasted sandwiches for lunch we caught the local bus into Cairns and we walked down the esplanade. The lagoon was popular today and there were loads of people lying around on the grass. We continued on to Muddy's Playground. The kids had a great time on all the play equipment and it wasn't long before they were stripped off to their underwear and in the water-play areas. Rick had a call to say the car was ready so he took off to pick it up and we went for a walk around the shops and had an ice-cream (I am a little concerned about the number of ice-creams we are consuming!)Rick met us back in town and we had a drink at a bar along the esplanade an headed back to the van and bought a pizza for dinner. About 9pm we received a call from reception staff explaining to us that the Reef Magic boat had engine dramas and they would have to use their smaller boat which meant they were looking for people to change their plans and go on Friday or alternatively go with Sunlover a different operator. We were keen to stay with Reef Magic so we were told to get there early as it would be first in.

Kuranda

We drove to Freshwater Station about 15mins up the road where we boarded Kuranda Scenic Railway. Built between 1882 and 1891 the railway winds its way through the rainforest of Barron Gorge National Park, through 15 hand-carved tunnels, over the giant bridge at Stoney Creek Falls and past the spectacular Barron Falls and on to Kuranda. The journey took nearly two hours. Kuranda (the village in the rainforest) is basically sprawling sets of markets, cafes and restaurants set up for the hordes of tourists that pass through every day. We walked through the village to the Butterfly Sanctuary and enjoyed the challenge of trying to photograph the beautiful, electric blue Ulysses butterfly as they landed on Caitlin & Cooper with their red hats on. We had a guided tour through the butterfly nursery and learnt some interesting facts. We walked back through the village and bought some lunch before heading to the Skyrail for the 7.5km journey above the rainforest canopy in a gondola. we stopped off at the Barron Falls Station and took some more photos of the 260m falls. We had a quick look at the Interactive Rainforest Interpretation Centre before continuing on to Red Peak Station and did the rainforest boardwalk. Back in the Gondola we could now see Cairns city skyline in the distance. We had to wait a 1/2 hour for the 4pm bus to take us back to the station. Back at the caravan park the kids were straight into the water park.

Cairns

Cairns Coconut Resort

It was a school morning and Coops was fighting it all the way an indication of the sort of day he was going to have. We coaxed him into doing some journal writing and then headed off towards Cairns arriving at the amazing Big 4 Coconut Resort around 11. We had a guided tour in the golf buggy of the huge park. It was a kids paradise with a waterpark, two jumping pillows, swimming pool and heated spa, tennis court, mini golf etc. The kids got straight into their bathers and after lunch they spent a few hours at the water park and swimming pools. We enquired about reef trips and booked the Skyrail and scenic railway for tomorrow. In the late afternoon we drove into Cairns and went for a walk along the Esplanade.