Saturday 6th September - Fitzroy Island
Heading into Cairns today. There’s a bit of wind and rain coming, and we have a bunch of jobs to get done.
With the wind already picking up, I rigged the main with #2 reef before we set off.
Dropped the mooring and motored out into the wind, already getting quite fresh!
Hoisted the main and left the headsails furled up. The wind was SSE, so more or less dead downwind from Fitzroy to the headland just to the north of us.
With the main fully out we were getting some good speed down the waves, hitting 10knts a couple of times.
Once we got around the corner the wind was more on the beam and easier.
Easier until it picked up and we were getting 20-25 with gusts closer to 30!
Dropped the main just before the shipping channel and then motored up to the marina.
We had been given our allocated mooring earlier in the day, but we called back and asked if they had a “blow on” berth, as getting in was going to be tricky in this wind!
Thankfully they could swap us.
Stuart and Sanne (Vanetta) walked down helped Shawn (Ports/marina guy) catch our lines.
With three on the dock we had a relatively stress-free time.
Shawn was very helpful and checked us in as well. The Marina office is quite a walk from where we were and not that well located for regular visits.
ROAM1 was at the end of E arm, just 3 boats down from us. Peter came over to say hi as we were pulling in.
The girls invited Teagan for a quick tour of our boat, then she invited them back to theirs (Leopard 46!).
We left them there and went to the Post office and Woolies. We had 5 packages to pick up that we’d sent to the PO ahead of us.
Did Woolies and picked up a hot chook for lunch.
Enjoyed the showers and other usual boat jobs: laundry and rubbish. We had been warned by Sanne that the bottom-right dryer doesn’t work… turns out the top-right doesn’t work either.
Had to hang up our cloths when we got back to the boat.
Filled up our water.
With the plan to leave Cairns and head away to Lizard for an extended time we needed a big shop. So time for a bit of a stocktake and put together a LARGE Woolies order
(e.g. 1 month worth of long life milk!)
Quick dinner, and then we headed out to the Cairns Festival. Teagan came over for a visit just as we were starting to get ready, so we invited her to come with us.
We had fun with the whale puppet, bubbles, and a laser/light show at the lagoon.
The Whale by the “Spare Parts Puppet Theatre” is a 15m puppet travelling around Australia.
We then moved on to the bubbles, which was a bit like a DJ set with two guys that mixed bubbles instead of tunes.
Everyone had turns interacting with the bubbles and the people making them.
They closed the Lagoon for a light show. At the end they had fish lights displayed on the water.
The main walk way up to the marina was full of lights, lasers, and smoke. And a lot of people.
Stopped back at the whale for more fun again.
Walked down the light tunnel, and back to the whale.
Kristina’s recount about the Cairns Festival
When we were in Cairns we got to go to the Cairns Festival.
Earlier in the day we motored from Fitzroy Island so we could be sheltered from the upcoming swell and wind.
We got Lazuli tied up to the Marina at about 10am and met another boat with a kid my age.
Her name is Teagan. We invited Teagan to join us for the evening.
Our first stop was at the giant whale puppet. It was the size of a real life whale, with different strings that you could pull on to make the body parts move.
We all lined up for different parts, some of them being little animals on the side.
After we had finished there we moved on to the bubbles which were just up the road.
At first not much happened but soon enough two men in creepy costumes came over to get the party started.
There were several machines producing bubbles in all shapes and sizes.
Another one was making a bit of fog which kept on floating up.
Emma, Teagan and I made our way to the front of the crowd so we could get some bubbles on our heads.
The music was loud and funky but that definitely matched the vibe.
The two men made a bubble mix that ended up being a mix between foam and suds.
After getting that dumped on our heads, we decided it was time to go clean our hands.
We got them clean, but we still don’t have the bubbles out of our hair.
Emma’s recount about the Cairns Festival
We sailed to Cairns just in time for the Cairns Festival and to meet a new friend, Teagan!
Teagan’s parents wouldn’t go, so we took Teagan with us.
Soon we were at the bubble station where some creepy looking people (in costumes) made lots of different bubbles!
There were lots of bubbles everywhere, they even put some on our heads!
After the bubbles we walked over to the lagoon for the laser light show.
Teagan had already seen a tiny bit, but she still sat with us through it all.
Each section was five minutes long with pictures and music.
We couldn’t touch the water otherwise we could get an electric shock.
It was really beautiful and long but most people left at the end.
They didn’t know about the fish lights!
Luckily Teagan knew about the fish so we stayed next to the water, waiting for the fish.
The fish were so cute!
They swam away from us and tried to act like real fish.
The fish looked just like nemo, orange, white, and bigger than my foot!
Eventually the others got bored and wanted to go to the whale puppet.
The whale puppet is basically just a life sized puppet, we could pull on some strings to make the whale move!
It was heavy though. At night the whale lit up making it look beautiful!
Sunday 7th - Fathers Day
Started the day with pressies from the girls and Kristie.
Always special.
With presents done it was time to get back in the kitchen and make us breakfast.
Bacon and French Toast with maple syrup!
We had planned to catch the Skyrail up to Kuranda today. However the day started with rain, and didn’t look like it was going to stop any time soon.
We deliberated for a bit, but decided it’d be cool anyway to head up in the clouds.
Walked up to the road and booked an Uber to take us to Smithfield and the bottom of the Skyrail.
When our turn came it wasn’t raining, but it wasn’t long before we were up in the clouds and couldn’t even see the gondola in front of us!
We did the two stops. The first being the rainforest walk. We made good use of our umbrellas, and took our time reading all the signs.
The lookout was still in the clouds, so not much of a view.
Back on the Skyrail and to our next stop for the Barron Falls walk. It had stopped raining so we could actually see the waterfall.
There hadn’t been too much rain recently, so it wasn’t raging.
Back on the Skyrail for the last leg up to Kuranda.
We were lucky enough to see a couple of blue Ulysses Butterflies flying over the canopy below.
By the time we arrived in Kuranda, we were all a bit hungry, so stopped at the first place we saw to grab some lunch.
After lunch, we walked up the hill and to the butterfly house.
We all enjoyed this and spent a good amount of time inside.
The girls got given a sheet with a butterfly attracting spot.
They also both wore the butterfly cloths in the hope to attract more butterflies.
One of the rooms had a microscope and a few butterfly wings that you could examine.
Emma and Kristina also had their colourful loom bands that they thought would also help attract butterflies.
We had thought of getting a bus down (cheapest option), but discovered that the timetable had changed last week and they no longer ran a bus service up here on Sundays :|
The Shuttle bus was also booked out!
Girls played on the playground while we tried to find a way home.
I ended up being able to book the last 4 tickets on the train back.
At some point between the Butterfly house and booking the train we manged to loose one of our Bunnings umbrellas :(
Walked down to the station via the shops for some good window shopping.
These carriages were old. Very old.
Got on the train, one stop to get out and see Barron falls.
Emma didn’t like the noise nor the smell. The family sitting across from us all fell asleep for most of the journey down
(which was better than their young kid kicking everywhere)
1.5hrs later we were off the train and ready to be back on the boat.
I had suggested dinner on the boat, but Emma countered with a “sushi” request.
So Sushi train at the shopping center on the way home. Lots of tasty dishes were devoured.
We walk past this every time we go to the boat. Still haven’t been on there yet.
Kristina’s recount about Fathers Day
Three days ago we celebrated Fathers Day by taking the Skyrail up to Kuranda.
It wasn’t the best day to do it because at the start we got rained on, although later on in the day we got a sunny, blue sky.
The Skyrail was expensive but at the end we decided it was definitely worth it!
My favourite thing was when we got to open the window while the carriage was inside the clouds.
Emma and I both took turns getting mouthfuls of air and then trying to think of what it tasted like.
After we had passed the clouds, we got off at our first stop. It was a mini walk to a small lookout.
Mum said it was special that we got to do it in the rain, but I say it was kind of annoying trying to not hit the trees with the umbrellas.
The walk itself was only about 100m but that didn’t stop the view from bring great.
When we walked back we got into the Skyrail and made our way to the next stop.
After about 20 more minutes of enjoying the Skyrail view, we arrived at our next destination.
Barron Falls.
Again it was a short walk to a walkthrough lookout. The view of the massive waterfall was astonishing and we understood why we had to pay so much by now.
We walked back over again then we did the final little bit of the Skyrail, taking us all the way to Kuranda.
By the time we had done all of that, me and Emma were starving!
So, mum and dad spent even more money buying us lunch at Kuranda Hotel.
The meals were absolutely massive! For example I got the kids burger, but when it arrived, it was about half a centimeter smaller than dads!
I had nearly all my chips but I could only finish half of my cheeseburger.
We’ve noticed that the kids meals were more our size down in NSW but they have just been getting bigger and bigger the more we got up north!
After we had finished eating, we started the slow walk over to the butterfly house.
One of the facts we learnt as we went in was that butterflies like very vibrant colours and floral patterns.
They handed us a slip of paper with a neon target on it.
Apparently the butterflies would land on it!
When we got into the greenhouse I immediately saw butterflies everywhere.
We spent approximately 2 whole hours in there, waiting to get photos with all the butterflies.
There were only 2 we missed by the end.
Although that doesn’t mean we didn’t get photos of them on us!
I hope dad puts those in the blog!
It was a big day and one that will definitely stay in our memories.
Overall… it was awesome!
Emma’s recount about Fathers Day
On Fathers day we took and Uber to Smithfield for the Skyrail.
We got our tickets and hopped on our gondola.
Sometimes we stopped at different stations to do mini walks.
On the first walk we learnt about how plants survive in the battle for light.
We got back on the gondola for Barron Falls.
When we stopped we did the small walk to the lookout overlooking Barron Falls.
We hopped on our gondola aging for our trip to the tablelands in the cloudy sky!
Eventually we reached Kuranda, got off and started to walk to the butterfly house.
Kristina let me borrow one of her loom bands so the butterflies would land on me, it worked!
So many butterflies landed on me!
We got the train home and had sushi for dinner.
Monday 8th
Work and school.
Kent (Stitch Trim) came and took the infill so he could replace that.
Girls and Kristie walked to the Post Office, Kmart, and reject shop.
Kristie dropped the girls back off to Lazuli, and then took off by herself to Woolies and for some other appointments.
By the time Kristie had returned, it had started to rain, so I made Kristie a bit of a hovel with a tarp and umbrella or two.
Tuesday 9th
Kristie picked up a Year 1 day supply teaching.
Girls and I did school and work.
After early lunch I took the girls out for a walk:
- doctors for me
- shopping center (swapped some board shorts and got some presents for Kristie’s imminent birthday)
- OfficeWorks for some card making materials
- Bunnings - there’s always something to get at Bunnings!
Got back to Lazuli to find Kristie waiting to get in as her school finished at 2:30pm.
Wednesday 10th
Kristie picked up another day, this time supporting the swimming at Freshwater primary school.
She packed her togs for day in the pool.
I had work and daddy-daughter school.
Kent returned the infill. It looks great, but now it makes the dodger and bimini look worse!
After Kristie got back (from being in the pool), we took the girls and Teagan to the lagoon for a swim.
Ice cream on the way back.
Movie night on the boat, Kristina picked “Over the moon”.
We had dinner up top watching the movie on my laptop, and then popcorn once dinner was done.
Thursday 11th
Kristie had been booked to go back to Freshwater to do PE for the year 1-3 classes.
Another morning of work and daddy-daughter school.
We had decided that we’d also get Kent to replace the dodger while we were around Cairns.
I called up the Marina to extend our stay (we had been booked in until Saturday morning) so we’d have time for him to do it.
We couldn’t stay in our current spot beyond Saturday as another boat was coming in. They had space right next door though.
I finished my morning meetings and the two guys from the marina turned up to help me move the boat (better today than on Saturday when there was going to be more wind!)
Just the girls and I onboard, but they did well throwing the ropes.
Kent returned and took the dodger so he could make up the new one.
That left us very exposed for the rainy week we had a head.
Teagans dad Peter gave me a lift to Anaconda to fill up our gas bottle, and then next door to Bunnings to grab a cheap 7mx5m tarp.
Much nicer getting a lift rather than having to walk the 2km each way with a gas bottle!
(The marina is convenient for shops and cafes but not much in the way of services you need for a cruiser).
Once back, I set up the big tarp - it could do from the mast all the way back to the end of the boom and under the bimini.
Teagan came for a play and spent all afternoon onboard.
The deputy from Freshwater called up while Kristie was up showering, and asked if Kristie wanted to work tomorrow.
I suggest it was most likely she would, but I couldn’t (in good conscious) make that decision for her :)
Went all went to the night markets for dinner in the food court, and then walked through all the shops.
We all ended up getting a massage from there as well. The girls just got a quick 10min massage, 25min for Kristie and I.
I was in with Emma, and Kristie in with Kristina.
Kristina also picked out a temporary tattoo and got that for $5. We enjoyed watching the glass blowing that was in progress.
Friday 12th
Kristie was back to Freshwater again to teach Year 1.
The previous afternoon our marina cards stopped working. They’d open the laundry, but that was it.
I had work and daddy-daughter school.
While I was doing meetings, the girls set up a cubby up top. They lasted an hour or so until their iPads ran out of battery.
I had a quick walk to the Marina office to get our cards reactivated.
Walked to Woolies to get some sourdough for Kristie.
We had booked a hire car for the weekend, intending to do Mossman Gorge on Saturday, and Hartleys Crocodile Adventures on Sunday.
However, with a bike race and road closures taking place on Sunday we wouldn’t be able to get to Hartleys.
So we changed the booking to Sunday/Monday.
Saturday 13th
Heavy rain throughout the night meant Lots of water pooling in the sail bag ended up downstairs. I had left the companionway hatch open not realising it would come through :(
It was raining when the alarm went off for Parkrun.
Kristina had been up since 3:30am and decided it was too wet for her, and I let Emma keep sleeping.
I set off in a break in the rain and did the 3km walk to the start, then 5km run, and then the 3km walk back.
It only really rained a little bit on the walk home.
Teagan came over at 11am.
Rained all day, but girls were more than ok on their devices.
Kristie had a bit of an arvo nap, and was starting to get sick.
Kristie had booked to go out to Thai dinner with Stuart and Sanne.
The dinner was amazing. We followed it up with some ice cream.
During all of this we had left the girls onboard with Teagan.
(yes we did feed them before we went)
Sunday 14th
I walked down by myself to collect the hire car. Had booked a Toyota Corrola hybrid, but ended up with a KIA Sportage.
Met the others back at the marina, and we set off to Mossman Gorge. Got 20min north and discovered the road closed the whole way due to a bike race.
The same bike race that made us change our booking originally :|
Turned around, and went to Mossman via Kuranda and Mareeba! Just a quick 90min detour :(
Up on the tablelands we saw lots of ant nests; Kristina wanted to know if they were “rock farms”.
Kristina didn’t enjoy the windy road that much either… she gets boat sick and car sick
Got to Mossman Gorge carpark and lunch at the back of the car.
Paid the money and jumped on the shuttle bus to take us to the walk.
We had packed our togs and towels with the intention of having a swim once the walk was done.
We enjoyed the walk through the forests, and spent time exploring the creeks along the way.
Got changed and we all had a swim and explored the rocks.
Back to the car, and took off towards Port Douglass with the intention to have dinner somewhere there.
Went up to the lookout; it was very windy - gusting to 30knts.
Kristie figured we’d make the most of having a car and stock up on some cider for her.
It’s not the most common drink of choice up here so we had a to visit a few places before we had enough!
Parked at the end of the main street, and walked back to find somewhere for dinner.
Ended up at the pub, listening to the first of the NRL finals between Brisbane and Canberra.
Drove home along the coast road that we couldn’t see too much of; also lots of roadworks on that section at the moment.
I did a late night round of washing and drying all our wet cloths/togs.
Monday 15th
We still had the hire car and parked it overnight at the marina park.
We left at 7:30am to Hartleys Croc adventure, just 50min up the road.
Nice views on the coast road that we didn’t get to see much of in the dark coming home last night.
It was a great day out, and can highly recommend stopping there if you’re in the area!
Rough overview of our day out:
- Bird / raptor avery - owls and frogmouths
- Hand fed a Cassowary some fruit (I also chose to pick up and feed it a dead baby chicken - protein++)
- 20min boat ride in their man made lagoon - houses 30+ croc!
- Snake show
- Lunch at Cafe
- Croc feeding show
- Freshwater crocs
- Gallery of living art (reptiles/amphibians)
- Gondwana - feeding wallabies and kangaroos
- Croc farm tour (it’s a farm with a zoo on the side really).
As we were coming in one of the staff was unloading a Tawny Frogmouth to stand guard at the entrance.
First up was the raptor avery. A few cool owls (and the frogmouth) that you could get up close to.
The curlew wasn’t that impressed with a camera in its face, but it didn’t move.
The first actual show we went to was handfeeding the Cassowaries. We had two there, a male and female.
They had a bucket of fruit each that we could to feed them.
It was then time for the boat cruise. A 20min ride around their man made lagoon, full of crocodiles.
We did a snake show, grabbed lunch and made it to the croc feeding show before it started.
Good entertainment, glad it’s not me in there with them.
They keep the freshwater water crocs separate from the salties. This island looked a bit insane!
A few other enclosures for the crocs that need to be kept by themselves.
Gallery of living art had some cool exhibits.
The Gondwana section had a few feeding troughs for the kangaroos. The girls grabbed a few handfuls to feed a few of the animals.
The final attraction at the adventure zoo.
We had to have the hire car back by 3pm.
The rain stayed away while we were at the zoo, but as soon as we were back in Cairns and at Lazuli the rain came down.
I took the car back to Hertz and walked back via Woolies.
Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening catching up on a bit of work.
Kristina’s recount about Hartleys Croc Adventures
Yesterday we got a hire car and drove to Hartleys Crocodile Adventure.
Although after we saw the whole area it looked like an amazing zoo!
There was so many animals to see and shows to attend to but first of all we went to the predatory bird avery which had so many cute owls.
It looked like a small greenhouse that had a winding path through it, lots of both cool and cute birds, and double doors so the cheeky little owls wouldn’t escape.
We got to spend about 10 or so minutes there before we got to move onto the Cassowary feeding show.
The lady there talked about different types of Cassowary, what they did to survive, then about the ones they had at the zoo.
When she finished talking, we were able to pick up some of the fruit pieces and hand feed two of the massive birds.
Mum got a couple of photos of us doing so then we speedily walked over to the boat tour.
We waited in line for about 5 minutes before everyone started piling onto the 9:30am croc tour boat.
It didn’t cost any extra money (which is good as Cairns is already making us poor!).
We saw lots of crocodiles lounging on the bank of Hartleys lagoon.
Some of them had opened their mouths to cool down, while others were in the water waiting for the tour boats to dangle the chicken over the side.
After the crocs felt the vibration of him splashing the chicken, they crept through the water and leapt up to get their mid morning snack.
We did a coule of other things before visiting the komodo dragon. It was bigger than me, which would explain it’s massive enclosure and the bull skull sitting in one of the corners.
There was only one of the black and yellow beasts because komodo dragons are very territorial.
After we had finished up at that enclosure, we moved onto the last enclosure.
Out of the whole zoo this one was my favourite, containing the animal which in my opinion is the cutest, the Tamarin Monkey!
Their enclosure was full of small trees and little tubs containing fruit.
I loved the whole zoo and was sad when we had to go home. Hopefully we can go there again some day.
Emma’s recount about Hartleys Croc Adventures
At Cairns, dad got our hire car and drove us to Hartleys Crocodile Adventures.
Dad parked the car, we hopped out, got our tickets and then walked inside.
The first thing we looked at was the avery to spot all the birds and owls.
It took us a bit to find all the birds but we did find them all.
My favourite bird was the chubby curlew next to the path!
At night 9:30 we hopped on the boat for a tour of the tiny river to see crocodiles.
The man driving the boat made lots of jokes.
He dangled a piece of chicken over the edge the boat so we could watch the crocodiles jump.
After the 20min boat tour we walked over to the snake show.
They lady there showed us her snakes and told us lots about them and told some jokes too.
We saw a King Brown snake and learnt that they eat the worlds most toxic snake for breakfast!
In the afternoon we visited the Gallery of Living Art.
Like it’s name it had lots of beautiful reptiles and amphibious creatures.
There was a cool looking Skink standing on a small rock, looking at us looking through the glass.
We walked over to our next place, Gondawana. We grabbed some kangaroo pellets from the trough and slowly walked in.
When we walked in there were two kangaroos on our left so we spent time with them.
After a bit, me and mum went for a walk on the path looking for more.
We found a wallaby with other people so we gave them some food to feed it!
We had lots of fun and I want to go back!
Tuesday 16th
Rained. Still just a tarp up. Many of the eyelets have already pulled out, but it was a cheap tarp.
Work and school.
Heavy rain meant the girls did school down with me.
Kristie went to doctors and got antibiotics.
Woolies on the way back.
Hot chook for lunch.
Kristie back out for a remedial massage. (not one where she could pay for “Extra happy ending” that she was offered by another thai massage place up here!)
I got all hot and sweaty changing the engine oil.
Wednesday 17th
Heavy rain meant work and school downstairs again.
Kent turned up with the dodger and installed that back for us. It looks so good; we can finally see out the front clearly.
I tidied up downstairs to get ready to leave the marina tomorrow morning.
Kristie filled water and cleaned upstairs, including removing the remains of the last spanish mackerel (Thanks!)
Whilst hosing the boat, the hose nozzle popped off our dodgy hose and is now at the bottom of the marina.
Our Woolies delivery turned up; not a big shop this time as we had done our big shop earlier.
I went to Bunnings and Anaconda, I had to get some carpet to try and stop the tender rubbing on the davits, and some extra camping toilet paper for our heads.
Kristie did a load of laundry, thankfully the dryers on the left were free.
Another movie night, this time: Sea Beast.
Tomorrow we leave, heading to Fitzroy Island for two nights until we get the “reef weather” on the weekend. We’ll head out to the reefs on Saturday.
Booked into Cairns again next week when the weather turns for the worse again.