Cairns

A lovely start to the day...an early morning outing. It's so good to see so many people out & about for sunrise. Beautiful boarwalk & ocean....still no swimming :-(

A big day today so home for brekky. We left at 8.30 for our trip to Kuranda. We are taking the scenic railway up to Kuranda & the Skyrail down. 

This is Freshwater train station & ready to  board. 

The beautiful Barron Falls!

The inside of the train carriage. It's been beautifully restored!

You can't even begin to imagine how hard these men would have worked to build this railway. 

The town of Kuranda was very cute. Keira found the fairy lady that Aunty Sarah had told Keira about. She had been saving for months to spend it & finally did. 

Very happy with their purchases. We grabbed a coffee & headed for a picnic in the park. I liked Kuranda. It had a lovely village feeling.

The final leg of our journey! Skyrail...the longest in Australia. It was HIGH! another awesome day :-)

Port Douglas

After Bob, the van park caretaker, telling us that the beach was safe, except for the 4metre croc in the creek, I decided to take Michael as a spotter for my shuffle. 

Loads of treasures to collect for the girls on the way home. They've decided that they want beach themed rooms when we get home so we're collecting shells, driftwood & anything else we can find :-)

I'm not sure if they'd like this sea snake that we found. It was dead at least!

This is the Daintree River. We went for a little drive to check out the Daintree Village but there was really just tour operator offices.

Well, I don't know what this town does in the off season. I've never seen so many accommodation options is such a fairly small area. None of them were as nice as our quarters but that's ok. I would have loved to spend some time wandering, but shopping with 4 children is just not relaxing. 

The weather is not the best so it doesn't really show how pretty Port Douglas is. We were watching the tourists walking around the swap to see if there were crocs to be found...and fed (lol) but they lived to tell another day.

A lovely old church that's been refurbished. Imagine a wedding there. 

All that adventuring & we've earned a milkshake. 

Keira has been looking for a tye died dress since we left home. We finally found one & she looks beautiful!

I could get used to this little shack but I'd need a housekeeper! Lucky there's a caretakers cottage :-)

Wonga Beach

We are located between the Daintree & Port Douglas. This is a good place to base ourselves before we head to Cairns. Just chill for the last few days of the school holidays. I'm heading off for a shuffle down the beach. It goes for 8kms but I've been warned to stay away from the creeks because of the large lizards (crocs). I think Michael might tag along as a croc alert.

Pancake Sunday. Our neighbours are travelling by bicycle so I thought I'd send them take away pancakes. They kept my forks but I'm sure I can spare them.

Charlotte left a decoration for the new people. 

I finally saw a green tree frog but it was in my shower.

How random is this! We stop at a lookout to make a coffee & Keira notices a Sydbey Distance Education Prknary School sticker on the bag of this Unimog. Not only are they students, but Dominic is in Tenae's class & Ellie is in Isaac's class. They come from Sydney.

More cane fields at the base of the rainforest. Surrounded by beautiful ocean that we can't swim in 😞

Cooktown

Michael & I decided to tackle Gradsy Hill Lookout for sunrise. We made it but the salt spray was quite thick so we thought the sunrise would be ordinary.

We got a little bit of colour change & then moved on for the scenic route home. We went via Cherry Tree Bay & then via the Botanic Gardens.

It was like being on our own private beach for sunrise. 

Good training. Michael pushed on while I was snapping a few photos. He pushed too hard & had to have a nanny nap this afternoon.

We tried a spot of fishing but had no luck :-( We did find a nice coffee & headed home for a swim & an easy afternoon.

Hmmm....not sure about my headwear but Charlotte assures me I look beautiful. 

What do you think of charlottes pyjamas? I don't think they'll keep the mozzies away :-)

This is as high as we go. Tomorrow we start our journey South. We have so much still to see. The Cape will happen, just not this time, & not with four children in tow!

Cooktown

We left Bloomfield after an amazing day in the Daintree yesterday. We have found a spot out of Cooktown called Archers Point. We were warned that it can be windy but didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. We drove & drove & ended up on a very steep dirt road. We couldn't stop & found ourselves on top of a lookout that probably wasn't made for two vans. I thought we were going to get blown off. It took some manouvering but we managed to turn & get back down.

We decided to keep going on to Cooktown. The wind is still here but I think the van park is a little more protected than the point.

This is Grassy Hill Lookout. It is a memorial to James Cook & all other sailors who've sailed the seas in this area.

My beautiful girl looking very grown up. She's hurt her back so we're taking her home for a rest. 

What a tree for fairy adventures. The girls are in heaven!

Daintree

Wow, wow, wow!!!

First mission for the day was a 32km dirt road drive called the Bloomfield Track. This is an example of some of the road signs. The road was in quite good condition but a very steep dirt road.

I can't imagine the cost of building this bridge.

We saw a snake but it was dead.

Cape Tribulation....looks like the perfect beach...but no swimming allowed :-( crocs & stingers rule this part of the world. 

This is Alexandra Lookout which looks across the Daintree River to Port Douglas & beyond!

Daintree Experience where you get to walk amongst the canopy & the rainforest floor. It was fabulous. The Audio prompts allowed you to get information as you walked. 

The boys found a coconut but had no luck in removing it from the husk :-(

A definate tick off the bucket list. I liked that although it's a very popular tourist destination, it's kind of got a village feel!

Bloomfield

Tomorrow we are heading along the Bloomfield track. Rees says its in good condition so we'll have a crack.

The countryside just changes so quickly. One minute it's lush, green landscape & the next it's dry with bush scrub. 

The road into Halley's van park is quite hilly and the road is narrow. At least it's sealed.

The girls have found an old float & some tangled fishing line. They make games out of anything.