Heading south after Cairns we spent a few nights in Innisfail. The town had a great bicycle track into the CBD. We love family bike rides but prefer bike trails to busy streets. So we rode into town for a play at the park and to do some grocery shopping. Innisfail is in sugarcane country. Just driving here you can see what a huge industry it is for the region. It’s interesting to see different war memorials in all these … Read More
We always said we’d never get a caravan. That’s not real camping, we said. No way. Taking a house with you is not camping, we scoffed. But this isn’t a camping trip. All of the kids have done tent camping (TurboBug as a baby!), and we’ll make sure they do more of it. This isn’t camping. This is life, lived on the road. We do our schooling, our laundry, our car maintenance. We get eye exams and haircuts. We do … Read More
When we were trying to find BatReach in Kuranda we walked by the Australian Venom Zoo. We were accosted invited to come inside and have a look. Of course the kids were dying to go in. JitterBug especially was begging, and SkeeterBug wanted to also. LadyBug could take it or leave it, mostly leave it. First they send you downstairs for a look at the snakes and a few other creatures. These snakes are among the most deadliest in Australia. … Read More
Look! A cassowary crossing roadsign!! Southern cassowaries live in a very small region of the Queensland coast, so this was pretty much my only chance to get this one. We weren’t lucky enough to spot any cassowaries in the wild but we did get to see (and feed!) some when we visited Townsville (post to come!). In Kuranda is a placed called BatReach. We were really hoping to visit but they were closed when we arrived. Their website (which has … Read More
While we were in Cairns we drove up to Kuranda. Actually I should say we drove back up to Kuranda, since we’d driven by on our way into town. It’s up in the mountains and it’s a gorgeous little tourist town. The big attraction is taking a skyrail or train up to the town, but unfortunately that was too pricey for us. (We decided to spend our money on visiting the Great Barrier Reef instead!) Because of the skyrail, Kuranda … Read More
Cairns was lovely. The weather was perfect. A tropical paradise to us Victorians. They even have a free swimming lagoon which we had to visit. We started all the way at one end of the esplanade. Because we also had to visit the fig tree playground. A playground built around a huge tree? Definitely worth a visit. Some perspective. See that bit of yellow and red and blue? That’s my kids. There. There they are. Heaps of playing and climbing … Read More