Cairns, Beautiful Cairns

What can I say? Cairns (pronounced "Cans") is beautiful. It is tropical and lush and our Seaside apartment on Trinity Beach gives us gorgeous views from our second floor balcony. It is also known for it's creatures: crocodiles, snakes and spiders - oh my! Our driver from the airport told us hair raising stories of a 24ft snake on the road, 300 kilo crocs swallowing people whole and of other beaties in the srea. You should have seen the eyes mom and I were making at one another as we made our way into this paradise.

After our arrival on Saturday, we spent the afternoon playing in the waves at the beach which is 10 metres from the resort entrance. The sand is lovely and the hilly countryside and island views are gorgeous. The boys and I let the waves lift us and then set us down. I love that weightless feeling in the surf. Dad came in up to his thighs and then that was it. Jack raced all over the beach and let the waves play tag with him. Mom relaxed and took it all in.

We went out for dinner Saturday night to Fratelli's, an outdoor restaurant about 20 steps from our door and enjoyed homemade Italian food while we watched darkness descend onto the beach. Mom and I stayed for dessert and enjoyed Tiramisu as well as Chocolate cake with drunken berries and vanilla bean ice cream - YUM!

We enjoyed the beach so much that we decided to relax and play on the beach on Sunday too. The boys helped a man catch clams by digging into the sand with their bare hands. He was taking them home to cook. They body surfed and played in the sand. In the afternoon, we checked out the pool and Jack enjoyed the cool water jet pool. In our apartment, we are equipped with a gourmet kitchen so we have been able to cook as well. We had an Aussie "sausage sizzle" for dinner on Sunday so we could all stay in our swimmers and not get dressed to go out.

Monday morning, we hiked up the hill at the end of our beach and got some spectacular views of the sea and the area within Trinity Beach. We also found crabs and lizards along the shore and Jacob's eagle eye spotted many more than the rest of us could see. In the afternoon, we took a bus to Cairns City and explored the shops. The boys got boogie boards (AGAIN) and we found some other neat items to take back. Then, we headed back to the beach once again. We were tired by the end of the day and so we ate in once again. We are sunkissed and relaxed and enjoying one another's company.

All were in bed early as we were heading to Kuranda via Train and Skyrail the next morning.