Carins - Townsville

Blue Billie guides us to Carins

So the entire FAMILY boarded a plane and took off for the northern part of Queensland, landing in the tropical city of Cairns. This is the tropical north end of the country with rainforests, endless sugarcane fields, beautiful beaches and the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.

What! There are snakes in the Bush!!!

On our first day we headed north of the city of Cairns in our rental bus (needed to seat 7) to explore the Daintree Forest in the Cape Tribulation area. Here we climbed through the mud soaked paths of the Mossman Gorge, hunted for wild crocodile from a river boat (which by the way Cayley is fantastic at), climbed along the treetops of the Daintree Forest and body surfed in the warm Pacific water.

Mossman Gorge

Tropical Frog

Croc

Cayley found Croc

Sarah, Chad and Cayley on the hunt for wildlife

Maphew in the rainforest

Tropical rain forest

Finally we get to swim!!!!

Watch out for the Crocs!!!!!

The highlight for sure in Cairns was the day spent out on the Great Barrier Reef. We boarded the sailing vessel with 20 other passengers and headed out for a day on the water and to enjoy sailing. The weather was not as hot as we had hoped for but we enjoyed the day snorkelling on the reef taking in the amazing sights of the reef with all its unique marine life. And we even convinced Cayley and Chad to join Laurence and I to scuba dive for about 40 minutes. It was great fun going down and exploring the reef bottom until Chad lost his weight belt due to a lack of hips. We also had the pleasure of walking right around Green Island, a small island in the reef with great white beaches, but a few too many tourists. On the return trip we put up the sails and caught the wind back into Cairns, it was on the return Gerda took an amazing tumble into the cabin (bruises for souvenirs) and Sam, Sarah and Laurence rode the trip out on the front of the boat getting wet at every wave but determined to enjoy the experience.

It's a bird

It's a plane

It's Cayley

It's amazing, but my froze my ass off

Gerda fell down the hole

We also took some time to explore the Atherton Tablelands just east of the city of Cairns. Here we stopped at the amazing Cathedral Fig tree, Milla Milla, Zillie and Ellinja waterfalls and have tea and scones at Lake Barrine.

Catherdal Fig Tree

29 people can stand around the base fo the fig tree

Lake Barrie

We finally arrived at Laurence’s favourite destination in this area Paranella Park. This park was built by a very creative Italian immigrant at the 1930s by his own hand, then it was abandoned in the 1960s and recently been brought back to life. So it is has very abandoned jungle feel with great gardens, bamboo forests, strange structures and creeks full of fish. eels and turtles.

Sarah fell down the stair

The tropical north area of Australia has so much to offer, and this was our first visit during their winter, so needless to say it was a bit cooler then we had hoped but we all made the best of it. Without a doubt my greatest memories of this FAMILY adventure will be the laughs, the discovery of Tim Tams and the endless questions Chad had while exploring the Cairns area (13 year old boys can ask a lot of questions).