I can't believe it was only Friday morning when we left Cairns. We've seen many places and travelled a few kilometres since then. We drove to Port Douglas and had lunch in a park by the water. What a stunning place! The drive up there was beautiful as well. I tried to take photos out the car windows, but I was on the wrong side of the car for it!
From Port Douglas it was a short drive north to Mossman, on the edge of the Daintree rainforest - somewhere I've always wanted to see. There is a free shuttle bus that takes people up to the Mossman Gorge. Tara was very excited to be riding on a bus! Once there we took the short walking track (about 500m) into the rainforest.
Although there were signs to warn people against swimming in the waterholes because of the danger of slippery rocks and undercurrents, quite a few people were having a dip. The kids, of course, wanted to get in but I wouldn't let them. Darren made their day when he helped them jump across onto a rock and they dipped their hands in and sipped the water.
From there we drove south over the Atherton Tableland and made it to the Mareeba Rodeo Ground to set up camp for the night. It's a very popular camping spot - there were about a hundred vans there and we were told it was actually very quiet at the moment! The kids loved it and wanted to stay for more than one night. They had acres of space to ride their bikes around, and Tara loved watching the horses in the rodeo arena.
The kids climbed to the top of the stands around the arena.
There were also a few shetland ponies in the paddocks next door, and many kangaroos - one of which we think had a nibble of Tara's basil plants during the night. She was more impressed than upset by the idea - like she had helped to feed it.
Another feature of the area was these large termite mounds. Casey did a project on termites at school last year, so he was pleased to actually see them.
The portable dvd player has been playing up a bit lately and we had a long stretch the next day where it wouldn't play at all. We were driving across the Savannah Way towards Georgetown, right in the centre of north Queensland. I thought the scenery was quite spectacular in places, and certainly beautiful in its own way, but I don't think I quite convinced the kids!
We arrived at Georgetown at about 4:30pm, quickly set up, and then went to the public pool across the road until after 6. It was a lovely resort style pool and people at the caravan park were given free access.
The kids gave Darren his Fathers Day present and cards this morning and we headed off west again. Thankfully the dvd player decided to work because there wasn't much to look at out the window. We got to Normanton at about 1pm and couldn't believe how hot it was! We found this replica of the largest croc ever killed in the world - 8.6m long - shot by a woman in the local area in 1957. Glad I didn't run into it! We checked into a caravan park and jumped straight into the pool, where we spent most of the afternoon.
Late in the afternoon a heavy shower came through (just after I'd hung the beach towels on the line). Apparently it's the first rain they've had here in 6 months. The boys decided to celebrate with the locals and dance in the rain!
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