Almost nine months to the day after we left Narrabeen, we finally hit the east coast. We broke up the 750km drive from Karumba with a stop at a station on the outskirts of the Atherton Tablelands. Lovely place to camp for the night and luckily we arrived on pizza night – dinner sorted! Even better to share it with some friends. the kids made in Karumba.

The next day of driving took us through the stunning landscape of the Atherton Tablelands. After several months of the very dry and relatively flat landscape of northern Australia, it seemed strange to see green rolling hills and different types of vegetation. The temperature also dropped a few degrees (but quickly rose again as we got closer to the coast). We started to see the banana plantations and sugar cane as we got closer to the east coast and lots of excitement as we passed the mango plantations.

First camp on the list for the east coast was the Billabong at Kuranda. The camp is settled into the rainforest and has a cool vibe to the place. We arrived on Sunday – just in time for the Sunday evening music session from a local artist. We couldn’t help but smile as she sang her lyrics which gently poke fun at city folk and tell a story of growing up in Far North Queensland.

We took a walk to see the impressive Barron Falls and enjoyed the sounds of the rainforest.

As we are officially on the East coast and close to the ‘big smoke’ of Cairns, we treated ourselves to a rare lunch out and found the nearest sushi train! Happy kids!

We found the local kite surfing shop and picked up a new 2m four line kite for Finlay. Thanks to some tips from a local, we found the perfect beach for his maiden flight. Lots of fun.

After two nights at Kuranda, we hit the beach for a couple of nights at a small camp just north of Cairns – Ellis Beach. Feeling the wind come in, we took a drive up to Port Douglas and the very beautiful Four Mile beach – time for some long overdue kite surfing.

Creeping gradually north, we left Ellis Beach and made the short drive to a camp site just outside of Port Douglas. Big4 campsites are not really our usual style but I have to admit that this one was pretty good. Unlike many campsites, everyone had heaps of space and the trees between each site made it feel private and a little more like waking up in the bush (but with the added bonus of power and water!). We were certainly thankful for being on a powered site for a change as the temperature was a consistent 32 degrees from about 9am onwards every day – aircon was a blessing! The most amazing feature of the camp site however, had to be the pool. It got a 10/10 from the kids and it is probably our most used pool of the trip so far.

The boys booked into a fishing charter and came home with lots of smiles and two decent fish for dinner.

Yum!

Celebrating almost getting to the end of term 3 of road-school, I booked us on to a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef. It was an incredible day and one which will stick in all of our minds as a highlight of the trip I am sure.

Three fantastic snorkelling spots and some incredible scenery, we all came home with big smiles (and rosy cheeks from a day on the ocean).

We were supposed to stay in Port Douglas for four nights but ended up extending to six. We hadn’t really worked out a plan for ‘where to next,’ and we knew internet would be limited as we ventured further north, so we took the time to slow down and cover off on some logistics before we hit the road up towards Cape Yorke and our next adventure.