After stopping in Mareeba for a few days we made our way down to Cairns. We had booked in for a month at Ellis Beach caravan park but relocated after 2 weeks to the Palm Cove park. The Cairns most northern beach, Ellis Beach itself was great but the park is right next to the Cairns to Port Douglas, Daintree and points beyond road. With sugar cane season on as well the trucks were rushing back and forwards as well making the park extremely noisy. Moving to Palm Cove was great, not only was it quieter but also had easy access to walks, bike rides and shops for essentials.
Jo went home for 5 or 6 days to see her Mum again and help out there for a bit, and Rebecca came up for a week when Jo came back (talk about poor planning – I could have had a cook all the time!). Other than bike riding, walks and swimming we spent some time touring Rebecca around to Port Douglas, the tablelands and Cairns City as well as learning how to stand up on as stand up paddle board. We also lashed out on a dinner cruise around the harbour with a GF buffet that was fantastic (salt and pepper squid – yummo). A great night out indeed and highly recommended by us.
Jo and I will be leaving Cairns in a couple of days to head south while the others stick around for a while longer with some of their family dropping in in October. We need to be in Canberra by the 6th of October to settle on the house Jo bought on one of the occasions when she went back home for a bit – I haven’t seen if yet but it sounds great!
Rather than detail the Cairns activities, I have attached the photos with captions. Enjoy the clippings from the paper – If you need more info let me know.
Until the next time….
Cheers
The J’s
That’s us in pensioner mode….sharing a bottle of coke and drinking it of plastic food containers supplied free!
Palm Cove
Ellis Beach
Sunrise on the beach….
Yep…..I agree….I think….
Rock hopping at Clifton Beach.
One of the many bike paths around here. This is part of the Deadman Gully boardwalk/ride.
When I grow up….bikes at Palm Cove having breakfast.
Yep that’s right, that’s my boat to get to the other boat!
Paddle board lessons at the marina at Yorkeys Knob. The new $8b development in Cairns will be around this area – it looks like the first stage will have a casino and 5 hotels with 4000 beds. It is set to commence in 2017 will ultimately have the double the hotel beds, theatres and a new 18 hole golf course.
Some of the beach attractions around here….When I walked past them the first time all 3 were photographing themselves with their phones in the water.
It seems they couldn’t help themselves – still taking selfies of themselves.
Fair warning, it was steep too on the bike.
The view from up in the hills behind Ellis Beach, early morning bike ride. The steep climb led up to the telecom tower where this photo was taken.
Jo walking Ellis Beach after returning from Canberra
Palm Cove
The four of us went and hired a couple of bikes for an hour or two – Jo and I rode this one – a crank drive electric tandem bike, The others had a rear hub drive bike.
If you think Fi doesn’t look impressed, you could be right.
Bicycles built for 2 times 2. (Does Jo look impressed….)
Yet another sunrise…..
Lots of paddle boarders out on the water.
An electric fat bike, if you can read the sticker they have 4 still available, priced under $2k, and have a 500 watt motor which would make it illegal to ride on public roads and paths. (I think the colour would match Bruno’s panniers well!)
Ahhhhhh, webber cooked pizza!
Rebecca had a go at making a pavalova in the webber…it was so good there are no excuses now!
Some of our best evenings had the best social interactions with ourselves!
Ice creams at Emerald creek ice cream shop front. Funny thing is they are in the middle between Mareeba and Kuranda and do a great trade with the passing traffic.
The southern end of the CREB track, its one of the 4 wheel drive “must do” drives. No we didn’t do it this year…..
This car and van were at the Daintree Village, looking to get into the van park. Mum and Dad had wandered off leaving the kids in the back seat playing electronic games. The van itself was nearly 3 times the overall length of the car – all the way from Canberra too!
Just another bike selfie.
Overlooking an abandoned building site on the headland between Palm Cove and Ellis beach. I have no idea what the structure was meant to be but the driveway is really steep and ends in the bush. The next photo shows the structure from below.
The structure from below. The height would be enough to drive a large truck through.
And the end of the driveway.
Palm Cove beach wedding (on a Wednesday night). The photo doesn’t show it but the wind was blowing strongly, I hope it went well for them.
For some unknown reason this lot were sun baking on the pier. The beach would have been nicer.
One morning we (Jo, Bec’s and myself) went into the city and had a dip in the saltwater pool (The lagoon)
The lagoon
The lagoon
The beach from the end of the Palm Cove pier
Bike selfie on Kewarra beach. You can ride the 6 or so k’s from Kewarra beach, through Clifton Beach and Palm cove. No crocs to worry about, just walkers and dogs.
Another bike selfie, it seems to me the bike gets around!
Rebecca and I had a go at standup paddle boarding. It was difficult in the chop but we got better as we practiced.
Rebecca getting started on the board.
JM.
A native spear fishing? Or was that me paddle boarding….
On our way out for in the dinner cruise (Pete is looking serious – or is he seriously looking forward to the buffet?)
Our boat.
The girls with their champagne (it’s alleged the Peter was holding a spare one for Fi….)
Our dinner table on the boat.
Cruisin. …..
Harbor view
There is no truth in the rumour that this was Pete’s 6th plate…..
The music man, apart from a short break at one time he played and sang for over 3 hours.
The girls told they could used to this. …I said no I couldn’t….The sail at night
Palm Cove panorama – yes that is Jo asleep in the chair….
And finally a couple of clips from the local paper’s (The Cairns Post) headlines. You can see the main headline, but the first para reads: “Far north pig – dog hunters are barking mad over a renewed effort by a Sydney animal rights group to have their hobby dumped in the trough permanently. ” Their writer clearly has a sense of humour!
And from another day in the Cairns Post….apparently the line marking machine painted over a dead cane toad. The article talked about the frog that had croaked……..I am not saying anything about the top article!
The Travelling J's....., 
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