Sunset in Townsville

Hi again, since our last blog we've had a few really busy days
sightseeing and driving.  After I signed off from Townsville we
 headed into town and enjoyed fish and chips while watching the
 sun go down from the Esplanade then headed over to see our friends Todd and Antonia and their two kids.   In the morning we headed up the coast towards Cairns stopping at Cardwell for a look around.  It's a sleepy little place but I can imagine the beach would get busy during the summer.  From there we continued up the coast and

Cardwell Beach

called into Paronella Park.  I wasn't keen mainly because it was
going to cost us $38 each to get in but Michael really wanted
to see it so we took the 23km detour off the highway.  Paronella
Park for anyone who isn't familiar with it's story is a heritage
listed site on acres beside Mena Creek Falls. A man called
Joe Paronella came out to Australia from Spain to cut sugar cane.  He had a dream to build a castle so spent 11 years buying farms
improving them and then selling them for a profit.  It was during
this time that he came across the perfect location for his dream

The castle at Paronella Park

alongside the falls. Joe first built a cottage for his family to live in while he created the rest of the property.  He then built a 47 step
grand staircase to gain access to the riverbed where he got the gravel for the concrete that he made all the buildings out of. Joe also built picnic areas, tennis courts, tunnels and bridges all of which he surrounded
with about 7000 tropical plants and trees.   You can see his fingerprints in the cement on all the building as he did about 80% of the work himself. It's a truly amazing place and I am so pleased that we went and would love to return one day and do the night tour as I can imagine how beautiful all the
old buildings would look lit up at night.

We arrived in Cairns quite late in the afternoon so checked into the first
caravan park that we came across.  It happened to be a Big 4 park called
Coconut Resort.  An fantastic park for families as there is so much for

Gravity feed water feature
at Paronella Park

young children to do but it was a bit too noisy for us so in the morning
we checked out and set down camp in a lovely park near Lake Placid. 
It is so nice to be in the one place for a few days we even managed to
get the annex up.  We then had to head into Cairns and pick up a few
items that we realised would make life easier while we are camping.  I always imagined Cairns would have a beautiful sandy beach along the Esplanade but it's more like mudflats and all the people you who would usually be sun baking on the beach are on the grassy area instead. 

On Wednesday we headed up the coast to Port Douglas, it was
spectacular scenery all the way up the coast so there was lots of
stopping to check out the look outs.  Port Douglas is much
bigger than I thought it would be and I can see why it was
such a busy place as it would be a beautiful area to spend a

Us at Port Douglas

holiday.  On the way back down the coast we took the inland
route so that we could call into Mossman gorge.  There were
several tours which we could have done but we didn't really
have the time so decided to take the shuttle bus into the gorge
and have a walk around ourselves.  It was a magical place, we
would have loved to have done the longer trek but unfortunately
the walkway was closed due to damage.  Oh well next time...
We then started heading back to Cairns stopping in at Coffee
Works for some yummy coffee and chocolate and then at Kuranda
to have a look at the Barron Falls lookout before heading back to the camper for the night

Mossman Gorge

And that brings us to today.  We decided to take the Skyrail up to
Kuranda again.  Once again I wasn't keen as I am petrified of heights
but Michael managed to convince me it would be safe.  I was so relieved
when we got onto number 11 car (it's my lucky number) but this didn't
help my sweaty palms or my stomach doing flips for the first half of the
trip.  Once I relaxed a little bit and was able to actually turn my head to
look out it was a pretty amazing view but I still don't think I would be in
any big hurry to go on it again.  Kuranda itself was really disappointing,
I guess I thought it would be a little bit like Montville but it was just full
of tacky souvenir shops.  We did have a lovely lunch in one of the original pubs, which helped make up for the disappointment.  We then managed to get our tickets changed and caught the 2pm train back down the hill.  I loved the train trip (wasn't scary at all)

Barron Falls

it took about an hour and a half to wind it's way down the hill and there
were plenty of photo opportunities along the way.  We also had a
commentary along the way telling us all about the history of the train track
so this made it all the more interesting. 

Well sorry it was such a long blog, I will try and get on everyday so that
it isn't quite as much reading in the future.  Michael is still training hard
and has been getting up early everyday since we have been here going
for about 2 hour rides.  He was going to head up the Kuranda range as
a training ride but after coming down it in the car it would be a little too
dangerous to attempt on his own so that one will have to wait until
Sunday when the ride begins. 

Soooo high!!!

Tomorrow we are just heading back into Cairns, Michael needs to put
the bike into the shop to get something fixed and I want to grab a few
things so I won't have anything interesting to say so therefore won't
be blogging.  So until next time, keep happy love Bec and Mick xxx

P.S. Sorry about the arrangement of the photos, I so need a lesson
on this blogging business can't for the life of me figure out how to
arrange them!!

Thank you, we made it there alive!



View out of the Skyrail






Kuranda Railway Station

Michael inside our train

One of the bridges

The Big Rig!!