Fly to Cairns - a holiday within a holiday

Sunday 29^th June 2008

It was an early rise this morning – before it got light – ughh! And we hadn’t slept as well as we’d expected – must have got used to the bed in the trailer, after all!

We left the car and trailer in the airport carpark which took up two spots but there were other caravans there too and plenty of other free spaces so we weren’t too worried. We checked in with no worries and got to use the Qantas lounge for about 10 minutes – enough time for some decent toast and marmalade, anyway.

Holly and Katie had a new book and magazine to keep them busy and they sat together behind Paul and I so the 2.5 hours flying was very civilised. Even the food was acceptable to the girls – well, they picked out the bacon and the yogurts and left the rest, but that’s good for them.

In Cairns, all the Lewises were at airport to greet us – Phoebe had only just got back from a school excursion to Canberra the day before so it was a pretty impressive effort by her. Holly and Katie were a little shy to start with but it wasn’t long before Holly and Imogen were like they’d never been apart.

We finally got to see their new (ish!) Clifton Beach house and Paul and I were quite envious – it is sort of Mexican in style and so open – all on one level, pool in the middle, everything geared around living outside. And out the back there is national park but so overgrown that barely anyone else uses it. We met their two dogs – Beau/Bodie/Bodie Boy and Minx/Minnie/Min Min – who were a little wary of Paul to start with but soon perfectly fine.

We were served lunch of dips and salad and cooked chook – bliss – and then got to walk some of it off by taking the dogs down to the beach. It is a gorgeous spot with palms all the way along and of course, the ever present rainforest-clad mountains behind.

Paul and John adjourned to Vivo’s bar and grill for a few bevvies and a catch up – and a check out of the real-estate in Palm Grove. Paul was scouting out the hotels for a good deal with a view to us taking a night off from the girls...

Dinner was a roast – bliss again – with apple pie for dessert. It’s been a very long time since we had home-cooked roast anything and Paul and I did our best to show how much we appreciated it.

What more could we ask for? We had excellent company, delicious food, hot showers, comfortable double beds, entertainment for the girls (and even a smidgen of tv for Paul) – all laid on!