The cane fields around Cairns are everywhere, up to maybe 3m high with those fluffy bits in bloom on some crops. We heard that the cane railways are in use and to watch out for them at road crossings. Cane trains are to Cairns what the iron ore trains are to the Pilbara. Sort of. I was hoping to see one chugging along laden with freshly harvested sugar cane, but we didn’t. Maybe on our way back down south.

No fluffy tops on this crop.

Heading out of Cairns, through all the new subdivisions, the built up areas finally start to disappear. Heading off the highway to the coast, we stopped in at Palm Cove. I guess it was probably once a normal sort of residential beach side town, just out of the Big Smoke. But now it is cheek to jowl resorts all along the beach front, plus the second row too. But the nice thing was that it has a lovely relaxed feel about it and none of the glitz of similar Queensland beaches. There is also a distinct lack of parking for cars with trailers (us), so we moved on to Port Douglas. I’m sure this is a spectacular drive along the coast, with the towering rainforest mountain sides sliding down to the water in good weather. But we just got drizzle and mist (mizzle) and no sunshine.

The sun came out in Port Douglas! Yay!

Famous Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas

I’ve decided I should take a holiday up here with some friends and play golf (after I have learnt how) on the spectacular course here, eat out every night at swish restaurants and lie by the pool the rest of the time. For a month.

But for now, Port Douglas isn’t really our kind of camping town.

How could I forget to post this!!

Life’s good in a tank.

Harry has a fascination for all things guns and tanks. Feel free to pass on the contact details for any good psychologists you know. He begged and pleaded to visit the Australian Artillery Museum which was only a few kilometres from where we were staying. So that’s where we found ourselves on a drizzly Monday morning in Cairns.

Happy Harry

And John thought this would be a good family vehicle for our next adventure. But I disagreed, and I am always right. Right?

Never.

Well, last night it rained. Then it rained some more. Then it continued. Most of the night. We applied some waterproofing solution to the canvas of the tent a few months ago, and this was the first time we tested it out. Albeit involuntarily. Well, I’m happy to report that it works. Not a drip. Just wish we’d brought all the towels in last night.

But onto the Tourism. It seems that no trip to Cairns is complete unless you go on the historic train to Kuranda up in the hills above Cairns and visit the Bird Park. So we did. There’s also a cable car ride that goes there too. One would expect that these two options might connect in Cairns so you can go up in the train and down on the cable car. Wrong. Too easy. Why would that happen when you can purchase the optional extra of a bus connection between the two stations?

Lucky we have JJ on our team. We left a bike at the bottom of the cable car (I think it has another name like Sky Rail to entice the punters) and then left the car at the bottom of the train. Everyone knows about this train. You’d never see a brochure or a tourism promotion about Cairns without a photo like this one….

The famous Kuranda Historic Railway

You can spend as long as you like at the top in Kuranda where you really have to hand it to the locals. There is the usual array of markets selling the standard items you find at markets right across this wide brown land: dreadful art, hand made clothes, smelly candles, wind chimes, crappy jewellery, cheesy souvenir Tshirts, hippy soap, belts with disgusting buckles, tarot card readers (yep), tie dye anything and the latest addition to every tourism outlet – selfie sticks.

But aside from the markets, there’s the Bird park, butterfly display, Venom Museum, wild creatures zoo, and many, many cafes, restaurants, burger joints – blah, blah etc. We contributed to the local economy by visiting the Bird Park ……

Blue Macaw

Cute ducks, no idea what they’re called.

and the butterfly place…..

The Cairns Birdwing butterfly

We did a lovely walk back through the rainforest and along the Barron River back to the cable car. By now the weather had deteriorated somewhat and the wind was blowing rather more than I was pleased about. I was starting to wish we were going back on the train. A lot.

A lofty ride down to sea level.

It was a stunning bird’s eye view down on the dense forest below and despite the windy conditions, it was well worthwhile. Needless to say, I was pleased when we got to the bottom.

After that, John rode off on the bike to collect the car while we walked almost all the way home. We decided to have a dinner out to celebrate some rather good school report results that Fergus achieved this term. We will celebrate Harry’s good results separately. That way, I get two nights off camp cooking. But it’s not all about me. Really.

A quick change after the white water paddling escapade and it was off on the bikes to fish with The Dude. Finally, success. Harry couldn’t be happier.

An enormous something or other. Can’t remember what they said it was.