Cairns

For those of you who suspect we are just travelling from pool to pool up here in Far North Queensland, you will be amused to hear that we spent a bit of time in the city yesterday at the.... pool. This is a special pool though, not just any old pool. It is the pool at the Esplanade, right on the water so that hopefully people won't feel like they are missing out with the fact that Cairns has no beaches. It even has lifeguards.





We walked to the marina to check out where our Great Barrier Reef tour will be leaving from. We stopped to tame a crocodile:



And then we walked around a bit. I had Eli on my back in the Ergo and we were both just dripping in sweat. We passed a million and a half cafes and restaurants, but we had our mind set on the air conditioned luxury of the Cairns Central Shopping Centre. I knew they would have sushi.

Long before we got to Cairns, Nick spotted an advertisement for Cairns Coconut Holiday Resort, Australia's first and Queensland's only 5 star caravan park. The activities and amenities sounded magnificent - loads of activities for the kids (huge play areas and pools, water park, movie nights, pancake breakfasts), free shuttle bus into the city.

After our big drop in morale, this place was the only thing keeping Nick motivated to come to Cairns. So we were disappointed (understatement) to find that on top of the $30something they were charging for a powered site, they wanted to charge $15 extra per child. That's a bank-breaker, that is. So we decided to stay at another place while we were doing the touristy stuff, and maybe stay at Coconut for just one day to enjoy all of the kiddie stuff.

You might remember that we got into Cairns really early, so we thought we'd just stay at Coconut that first day and move on to a cheaper place for the rest of the week. We were delighted (understatement) to learn that this month's special is... kids stay free with adults if you stay for two nights! Conveniently, Eli isn't quite 2 years old this week (it's only a white lie, right? It's not like they check ID), so we are just paying what we would be paying at any old place.

But here's the thing - we had mentally prepared to spend the extra for a night because it was worth it to us. So we have decided to shell out for a villa for two nights (it's gotta be two for that kids free special) before we head back south. We'll have bedrooms and TV and a full kitchen with our own big fridge and an oven, a spa bath, ahhhh. I am looking forward to it (understatement). We can give the motorhome a good scrub so it's ready to go for our trip back.

BUT FIRST... The Great Barrier Reef. We leave in 45 minutes! I can't believe it. We chose Sunlover for our tour - Nick actually liked it best before he discovered that it was one of the cheaper options. I'll tell you all about it, I promise.