Cairns

Monday 30^th June 2008

I hired a car for us to use since John has to work all week and we can’t all fit into Fiona’s car. It’s a cute little bright red Hyundai thing. I took a little while to get the clutch right for first gear – it HAS been a while since I’ve had to worry about gears – so we had some kangaroo starts and high revving but once I’d got back into the swing of it I found the car a delight to drive – so nippy.

We drove into Cairns to look around and compare it to when we’d last been here – 1994 with Terry. Paul noticed lots of changes and to me it just seemed a whole lot bigger. We took the kids to a major playground along the sea-front (more like a mud-front while we were there because the tide was a LONG way out). They climbed ropes and did dangerous things, as is their wont, while the adults tried hard not to watch.

We then went to the ‘lagoon’ – a giant swimming pool right on the esplanade, open to everyone, no enclosures or anything (they can do it because it is classed as a lagoon and they use highly processed sea-water to fill it!). It had just been re-opened after a three week closure for cleaning and maintenance and the backpackers and families were definitely making the most of it (it being the first day of the school holidays). Phoebe didn’t get in – too chilly for her – and Imogen couldn’t stay in for long but I was really impressed at Holly’s staying power – she has obviously toughened up after all those swims in freezing gorge pools!

We fed the girls on chips and ice creams and then found a sandwich bar for us before wandering into the Cairns Art Gallery. They had some great art on display – a black and white collection, some art of national significance and one room full of hats made from hardware equipment!

Back home Holly and Imogen got stuck into various activities – making of earrings, crafting of mud men and houses in the front yard, usual stuff – while Katie found the tv had kids’ programs – joy!

We took them out for dinner at Vivo’s (their restaurant of choice for family celebrations) where we ate some excellent food. Katie had two serves of her pasta and cheese, Phoebe and Fiona had soft-shell crabs and the girls had a killer chocolate dessert. It was a great evening with some very good friends.