Qld - Cairns

We have now been in this city on and off for the last three weeks and it is starting to feel like home.
The streets down town are lovely and wide and many of them are tree lined. Along the waters edge runs the Esplanade and the boardwalk which are both about two kilometres long. At the harbour end of the boardwalk is a large pool. As you walk or ride your bike to the north, there are exercise stations, barbeques, play areas and water play grounds for the children. It is the perfect place to walk or bike and then choose one of the many restaurants to have a meal or cook your own.
On friday, saturday and sunday on Sheridan St, Rustys Markets are open and full of the most amazing array of local produce. The markets are huge and my mouth waters just thinking about the fresh fruit and veg that we bought. There are also night markets which have many touristy type stalls as well as great food. We have eaten down there several times and enjoy the price and variety. You can get anything from a roast meal to fresh japanese.
We spent a day at Barron Gorge National Park with our grand kids. We caught the Scenic Railway train up to Kuranda where we spent three hours wandering around this quaint little town, and came back in the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. Both directions showed great views of the waterfalls and the rain forest and are both engineering marvels. Definitely worth a trip.
Another great day was at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures. They do a wonderful job of walking around with many native animals so that you can pet them. The kids got to pet snakes, turtles, baby crocodiles, kangaroos, water dragons and birds. There are free talks and feeding sessions all day. The crocodile feeding from the boat was a hit as the crocodile jumps out of the water beside you to grab his food. Boy, are they scarry! It happened to be their 75th birthday the day that we were there so we had free sausage sizzle and crocodile cake.
Cairns is a great stopping off point to visit the reef, Atherton table lands and Port Douglas is only an hour away.