We considered driving, but the added time it would take just didn't seem feasible. We have friends who are currently doing a three year placement in Cook Town, so we knew we'd be doing a chunk of driving to get there. Visiting them was a major factor in going up north so we ended up flying and hiring a car.
Cairns was warm, even in June, but the nights were chilly. We started by doing the touristy things, like taking a boat out to Green Island and snorkeling. The reef there was beautiful, even if the water was a little chilly. The trouble with snorkeling is that it's something that does take time to figure out how to do, and was particularly tricky for our girls. Sophie was less than persistent, though Rachel gave it a good go.
Even on the beach, there was lots to see and explore. Everyone was feeling pretty meh about the boat ride over. Steve had taken sea sickness tablets, but it got the girls, especially Rachel. Poor kid had a rough time on the way back especially, but luckily managed to sleep for part of it.
The next day we went out to Kuranda on the sky rail. We a little bit wished we had more time up there, because by the time we got up, did the Butterfly House and had lunch, there wasn't quite enough time to do a walk around before heading back on the train, but oh well.
The Sky Rail up was so beautiful and well worth it. But the real highlight here was the Butterfly House. Rachel was in insect heaven, and they even landed on Sophie sometimes, we think they were drawn to the colour of her backpack.
Exploring the Tablelands was next on our agenda, which was going to be lots more fun before the girls got car sick from the windy roads. Luckily we still had the sea sickness tablets, so we gave them half doses and took it easy. We went to the cheese place for some amazing cheese, and checked out some waterfalls and rainforest walks. The Curtain Fig was lots of fun. We also went to a gem and minerals museum which had a really cool walk through set up and the girls cracked their own geode at the end.
Street friends of ours had recommended getting kayaks down Babinda Creek, so we made sure to have that on our to do list. It ended up being possibly the highlight of the trip. We went to a place where a guy put us in kayaks at the back of his property on the creek and then just the four of us sailed down for about 9ks. There was lots of fun just enjoying the cool water on the hot day, and we stopped on the creek bed for a picnic lunch.
Afterwards, we checked out Josephine Falls, and the girls braved some pretty freezing water to go down the rock slide. Kudos to Steve for spending the time and effort coaxing and encouraging them through the water to the top and sliding down with them. Rachel was keen to swim pretty much everywhere, even though it was actually quite chilly.
After Josephine Falls we went up to Babinda Boulders for a look and managed to see a wild cassowary. Those birds truly look like dinosaurs have come alive. Hilariously though, when we got out of the car the first thing we saw was a random chicken strolling around the car park, so even though the cassowary was impressive and amazing, the more memorable moment for the girls was the chicken.
Then it was time for us to venture north to Cooktown! We listened to Artemis Fowl in the car on the way. Even after all the years of travel to Bundy, I'm still surprised that the girls can handle longer and longer car rides now. We did nearly three hours straight at one point!
Cooktown was a real change of pace after five days of traveling all around Cairns. Little things to look at and enjoy, but mostly just time together and with friends. One thing that the girls found in Cooktown was the coconut trees with actual coconuts on them. Rachel explored around our accommodation and began a collection and was quickly obsessed with the idea of opening one to find out what was inside. It was quite the saga but the girls were victorious in the end and had the pleasure of drinking the water/milk and eating the fresh coconut.
One of the most beautiful places we went to was Cherry Tree Bay. A picturesque spot with lovely views on the walk there. Then our trip to Cooktown was over and we headed off to the Daintree. Unfortunately, this was where the weather for our trip turned a bit rubbish. We had planned to go to the Daintree via Mossman Gorge, so we could spend some time doing some rainforest walks there, but it was so so rainy and cold we didn't have any fun at all.
We had a Daintree River cruise for crocodile spotting booked before we were going to take the ferry over into the Daintree proper, so we ended up just having to kill time and hope the rain would go away before we did that. It cleared up a little, which was a relief, and we did enjoy the river cruise, complete with crocodile spotting.
The Daintree Rainforest is something to see. The way the thick rainforest creeps right up to the coast is rather spectacular. Still, the weather was not kind to us, so we couldn't enjoy it was much as we would have liked. I did like how relatively untouched the rainforest area is though, and really appreciate the way that it has been thus far protected.
We rolled back into Cairns for a last couple of nights before flying home. We asked the girls what they wanted to spend our last day doing, and top of their list was going kayaking again. When we told them they couldn't do that, we compromised by spending time at the water park on the esplanade and visiting a second hand bookstore in Cairns city.
The girls hit the jackpot in the bookstore, as they had a huge stock of Tintin books in fantastic condition for a great price. They were so flushed with the victory of the Tintin book purchase that it was all they talked about for days. Even now, they read and re-read those Tintin books like they are the best thing since sliced bread. We have the animated series on DVD which they have watched before, but now they really like to study it and let me know when things have been missed out or changed from the original text when they are watching the episodes.
On our last night, we went out for Japanese dinner and then an ice cream treat and stroll through Cairns city before heading back to our AirBnB. We happened upon a street performer, so we stayed to watch and Steve got to be part of the show at the end. Girls were delighted. It was a nice change of pace to just take it easy for that last day and a half and enjoy being together.
