After crossing the Daintree River we drove up and had a quick look around Daintree Village (not much there), picked up the van from Wonga Beach and headed down to Port Douglas where we were booked into the Big 4 (which is actually 6kms from Port Douglas but it was the only place we could get into). With no powered sites left we had no choice but to take one of the rip off unpowered sites down the back paddock for $34 a night (and that was only paying for one kiddy).
Still it gave us the opportunity to look around Port Douglas which we really enjoyed. We went straight up to the lookout…
…and then walked and roller wheeled around town. The main street is lined with nice shops and pubs. We decided to stay in town for dinner and ended up eating our $10 fish and chips by the candle light of a really flash restaurant in the park that was right next to it.
The flashing lights of the kids roller wheels impressed many of the passers by on our walk around town after dinner.
On Friday we had more of a look around town including the Marina Mirage…
…and had lunch in the park by the waterfront. We really liked the feel of Port Douglas.
The drive from Port Douglas to Cairns is beautiful, with the road following the coast for much of the way. We stopped in at Palm Cove for a look but unfortunately the camp ground was booked out (had called a week earlier). Bugger as it looked like a great spot.
We continued to Cairns where we had booked into the Cairns Villa Leisure Park. The magazine ad made the place look so nice but the reality was very different – what a dump. We spent the afternoon down at the Cairns esplanade which is a fantastic area. Long flat rip sticking paths and great facilities with a huge lagoon, play equipment, skate park, parklands, BBQ’s etc. The views out over the water are fabulous at high tide but not as spectacular when the mud flats are revealed at low tide.
After 11 months of not much exercise we need a lot more work at the fitness stations.
We were lucky enough to see a group learning the trapeze in a circus school. Looked like great fun and certainly entertained a big crowd for a while.
We finally dragged the kids away and walked/ripsticked/scootered the couple of kms to the other end of the esplanade where we could hear lots of noise and music over a pa system. Further investigation led us to a huge gathering taking part in a zumba class (despite the spitting rain).
This is part of the free, council run community activity program. Haven’t seen numbers like this at any of Brisbane City Council’s activities! Ashley joined in for the rest of the class and had a ball. The atmosphere was awesome.
Saturday 24 – Sunday 25 July
Yet another overcast, wet day. We are in the tropics but it’s supposed to be the dry season!
First thing in the morning we got our money back for the remaining night at the dumpy caravan park and moved to a much nicer one (First Caravilla) for a couple of nights. It was great not to worry that our stuff was going to be stolen while we were out...and that’s the first time we had that feeling on the whole trip, including all the free spots we’ve been at.
With the van all set up we set off to explore Kuranda and surrounds for the day. Another beautiful drive up the range and Kuranda looks like a nice little village.
There was only one destination that the kids cared about though…
Ashley in particular had been looking forward to this for a long time. She wasn’t disappointed.
We all saw lots of very colourful butterflies and learnt lots about them from the informative and entertaining tour guide. They are all bred here in what is a very detailed and complicated process. The workers here must have plenty of patience. The butterflies are attraced to white and red/pink (if you wear those colours they are more likely to think you are a flower and land on you).
Our favourites were the Ulysses butterfly with its amazing blue wings (here’s one giving Ella a butterfly kiss)…
…and the Cairns Birdwing butterfly with its beautiful green, yellow and red.
Luke managed to tame a few as well.
Kuranda is well known for the markets that are always running here – the scenic railway and sky rail trips bring thousands of visitors each year to see them (and the views on the trip up and down the range). After lunch we wandered through two of the three sets of markets – same markets, different town. From there we drove down the road to check out Barron Gorge. We timed it well to see the Kuranda Scenic Railway train pull up at the station. Would be nice but it is very expensive for a family.
Barron Falls were only a trickle compared to what pictures of them show in the wet season.
Sunday (another wet day) was spent playing along the Cairns esplanade again and restocking supplies before heading south. We also picked up a few bargains at the Cairns DFO – long time since we had been to a big shopping centre.
Monday 26 July
Rain again. No hurry to pack up this morning. We picked up a few more supplies before heading through the cane fields to Innisfail. Called into Bramston Beach for lunch on our way south. Looks like a fabulous, quiet spot right on the beach (but not as much fun in the rain).
We spent a while at the Innisfail Maccas eating ice cream and using the free internet and then in the late afternoon headed to our free camp spot just to the north of town for the night. The camp area wasn’t anything to rave about but as usual we chatted to some of the other friendly campers – people at free camp spots are typically much friendlier than those in caravan parks.
Tuesday 27 – Thursday 29 July
Straight down to Mission Beach today. We had bypassed this place on the way north in the hope that we would strike better weather on the way down – on Tuesday it was marginally better (overcast but not raining). We set up at the council caravan park right on the waterfront for $16 a night – bargain.
The silly buggers across the road at the Top Tourist Park (further from the beach) are paying more than double what we paid. We spent the afternoon exploring the coastline. The drive up to Bingil Bay is nice – more rainforest meets coast. The rainforests around Mission Beach are known for the many cassowaries that inhabit them. We missed out in the Daintree but we were hopeful we would see one here. There are signs everywhere warning drivers to slow down.
Ella liked this one – reminded us of the kangaroo sign we saw in Tassie. Cassowaries are on the endangered species list – don’t want to hit any of them. Don’t want them lifting our car up either!
We woke to sunshine on Wednesday morning – yeah, at last! Great day to play on the beach…
…and crack open coconuts. No need for a machete anymore.
Mission Beach is a very relaxing place – only a few shops (which we walked around) and lots of friendly locals.
On Wednesday afternoon we met some great new friends – one family from Broadwater near Evans Head (where we often holiday), and Brad, Julie and Holly from the Gold Coast. We spent most of the afternoon chatting to Brad and Julie on the beach while the kids played. Was great to just hang out. We thought their rig looked familiar – turns out they were set up not far from us at the Mareeba Rodeo.
Thursday was Holly’s 4th birthday. What better place for a party than at the beach! We all enjoyed helping her celebrate.
Luke had been wanting to climb a coconut tree since we first spotted them in Qld. Mission Beach had the perfect tree – he provided the party entertainment.
Got it!
After lunch we farewelled our new friends and continued south towards Tarnia’s cousin’s house at Townsville. On the way we stopped in at Lucinda to check out one of the longest jetties we have seen on this trip (6kms). No pedestrian access on this one though – this is the sugar loading terminal. A conveyor takes sugar all the way along the jetty to waiting ships out in the deeper water.
Lucinda is a gorgeous little town with great views over to Hinchinbrook Island.
Looked like this bloke catching bait fish had pulled up a Christmas tree.
Ella saved a few (much to the disgust of one old dear).
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