I wouldn’t describe myself as an overly spontaneous person, but from time to time I get an urge to do something that feels very unplanned!

One such example was back in March when I was feeling like the four of us had a bit of ‘Brisbane cabin fever’ and I booked us a long weekend away in Cairns. You know sometimes you just feel like you need to get out out of your own routine… well, I had decided Far North Queensland would be a wonderful place to disappear to for a few days, so off we went!

If only it was that simple! ugh…

We thought it would be really fun to surprise our boys and so we had kept it a secret from them and planned to tell them when we had to wake them up at 4.30am to go to the airport. That plan backfired - spectacularly. Lets just say, having two crying children at 4.30am who would “rather stay home” was not exactly how I thought it would play out! Anyway, we managed to get them into the car and off to the airport, and thankfully by the time we had coffee and they had $9-a-slice-banana-bread at the airport, they were happy to be going.

We packed so much into our trip! Here are some of the highlights!

Mossman Gorge

Mossman Gorge was the most beautiful, dense and untouched rainforest I think I have ever been in! It had babbling little streams running through it and the air was so humid and cool (surprisingly!). We waded in the very shallow water at the swimming hole, but didn’t dare venture out past our knees, and I am so relieved we heeded the advice of the bus driver and didn’t “swim”!

While we were there we saw a couple swim out into the deeper water and watched the man swim into an area where there must have been a really strong current, which he then got caught in. We watched him try and scramble to get a grip on a large boulder and nearly slip off. It was a terrifying experience to watch someone come slow close to being in washed away..

The water areas in Far North Queensland can be incredibly dangerous for so many reasons (crocodiles being one of them!), so always listen to the advice given and keep an extra close eyes on your little ones.

The Great Barrier Reef

We also took a day trip to the outer reef with Quicksilver Cruises. It was a 90 minute boat ride to the outer reef from Port Douglas. This was definitely the part of the weekend that I was most excited about and it didn’t disappoint. It even rained most of the time but it was still SPECTACULAR!

Going to the reef also gave me a chance to give my Go Pro 9 a really good workout! I bought it earlier in the year and it is so fantastic for taking on holidays, especially when water is involved. The videos and underwater photos I was able to take are my favourites from the whole weekend, by far!

Zoom Wildlife Dome

The last day we were in Cairns it rained a lot so we opted for some semi-indoor activities instead. We headed over to the Zoom Wildlife Dome, above the casino, which was across the road from where we were staying at The Pullman. Zoom is a cross between an outdoor education park and a zoo! They have several high ropes courses and other extreme activities like jumping off a 24m platform. The last high ropes courses ends with a zip line over the resident 4m crocodile! Watching my husband and the boys launch from the platform (veeeery tentatively) was quite entertaining!

The variety of wildlife in the park was also great, with a really broad variety of animals and birds in a relatively small area. The tiny baby koala was my favourite.

Cairns Aquarium

We headed to the aquarium about 90 minutes before it was due to close on the Sunday, which was the perfect time to avoid the crowds. Much like the reef, it is such a soothing and interesting place to go. I am always a big fan of the “touch tanks” and we got to hold shark eggs (who knew sharks lay eggs?! not me!) and an actual megaladon tooth, which they estimated to be over 10 million years old that was originally found near South Africa.

And some other great spots!

“Best playground ever”… it reminds me of where the Gummi Bears lived!
Hemingway’s Brewery - can’t beat the chorizo and prawn pizza!! We went there twice!
Beautiful Port Douglas
Drive between the Northern Beaches and Port Douglas… it has to be one of the best drives in Australia!