Time for a holiday.....

After being on the road for more than a month and covering some 5000 km our run north up the east coast of Australia comes to an end in Cairns. We have been fortunate enough to see and experience some gorgeous beaches and seaside locations that are truly worthy of the title Paradise. Queensland has some real gems on its coast many of which are tucked away out of the mainstream tourist traps. I think its safe to say that we have been really enjoying ourselves (really, how could you not) and become very settled with life on the road with the good experiences far outweighing the little niggles and frustrations.

Its time to kick things up a notch though, and explore some of what Australia is all about, the wide-open spaces of the outback, the iconic national parks and an indigenous culture the depth of which is rarely see in Canberra all of which are in the interior of the big island. That’s the positive description but in reality this means long dusty corrugated roads, heat, flies, showerless campsites, long drop toilets, ordinary coffee, road trains, expensive fuel, mosquitoes, abusive locals and limited services (I write this with a smile). So before we embarked on this stage of the trip and in true roughing it style we took a break from the camper and rented a “cheap & cheerful” bungalow in Palm Cove, an exclusive suburb in Cairns north. This would long be remembered as the “holiday” part of our little adventure.

Cairns offered a whole raft of places to see, and experiences to have, and so it made good sense to have a location from which to base ourselves from. Palm Cove was simply perfect. Having limited knowledge of Cairns I booked a beach bungalow on the web knowing only that Palm Cove was on the northern part of town making it very central for our activities. By pure chance and much to our delight the bungalow was 250m from one of the most exclusive and intimate beachfronts in Australia. All the luxury resorts were there, Pullman, Peppers, Sebel, Grand Mecure and Mantra. We were in none of these and although the agent referred to our bungalow as cheap and cheerful it was 5 star to us coming out of our 2m x 6m camper.  

Palm Beach sunrise, Queensland

I wont go through everything that we did in Cairns, but in brief these were the standout items:

·      Kuranda Scenic Railway – I took the kids on this short historical railway trip from the city up through the tropical hinterland backing Cairns, past waterfalls and wet tropics rain forest.

·      Kuranda Markets – After our train ride we wandered through the various stalls of the touristy markets taking in a range of sights, the cheap and nasty, the interesting, the weird, the alternative and the downright cool. We finished off with a bushwalk through the rain forest and picnic lunch by the Barron River on yet another superbly sunny day.

·      Cairns Esplanade and lagoon pool – Yet another outstanding Queensland beachfront esplanade, complete with gardens, play grounds, exercise trails, cafés and views over the water. Cairns throws in a massive lagoon pool (free entry) to top their esplanade off. We spent a number of hot afternoons along the esplanade and hanging by the lagoon. The afternoon finished off with a Gelato and a stroll through the harbor checking out the multi-million dollar yachts.

·      Atherton Table lands – By now you have probably caught on that I don’t mind a decent coffee. Up in the Atherton Tablelands above Cairns they grow many things including Coffee Beans. Mareeba Coffee Works is an absolute must for the coffee nut. We indulged heavily one afternoon on their best beans and a massive chocolate sampler plate.

·      The Daintree and Cape Tribulation – Due north of Cairns is the World Heritage Listed Daintree Rainforest, renowned for its amazing biodiversity and ancient rainforests (older and more diverse than the Amazon apparently). We spent a day driving up to Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the ocean and wandered along the beach. We also went to the Daintree Discovery Centre, which provided an informative look at the rainforest and a chance to climb into the very top of the canopy. The kids seemed to really enjoy this one.

Daintree Discovery Centre, Queensland

·      Sunrise on Palm Cove Beach – We don’t often get the chance to see the sun come up over the water in Canberra, so most mornings we (including the kids) would take the short walk down to the gorgeous Palm Cove Beach for an early but beautiful start to the day.

Palm Beach sunrise, Queensland

·      Sunday roast with guests – Keen for some company and the opportunity to show our Dutch friends (Leontine, Sandor, Job & Shauna) some Australian culture we invited them over for a lamb roast. It was such a pleasant evening with the kids playing together delightfully and it was also refreshing for Tamara and I to have some “adult time” sharing conversation with like-minded adults over a few wines.

Lamb roast at the bungalow with friends 

·      Quick Silver and the outer reef - The highlight for Cairns has to have been the trip out to the outer Great Barrier Reef on the Quicksilver. It was an all day trip including 3 hrs round journey on the very large and very fast Quicksilver which took us to a very large pontoon on the very outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef where the water was warm, super clear and abundant with life. Over the 3 hrs that we were on the pontoon we took to the reef through underwater observation decks, glass bottom boats and a snorkeling session. I was very proud of Tom and Lara for taking to snorkeling so well, seemingly un-phased by the deep water and the large schools of fish. We finished off the day back at Palm Cove Beach, settled in with a bottle of red and some takeaway Pizza for the setting of the sun. Gold, as they say!  

Snorkelling the outer Great Barrier Reef, Queensland

The only negative thing about Palm Cove and our little bungalow was facing the anticlimax as we repacked our little camper and drove off down the road knowing that we probably leaving the high point of the trip and that rougher, dustier and hotter times were ahead.

Palm Beach sunrise, Queensland

Next stop the Savannah Way.