Queensland holiday
As we have mentioned, interstate travel has been very limited due to COVID rules here in Australia. Visiting either Melbourne or Sydney would essentially prevent us from returning back to Adelaide because of their respective case rates. Up until now, states have been snappy with border closure for a few cases (<10) so we were understandably nervous to book a flight to travel out of SA. However, a major bucket list item for me to do while living here was to travel to Queensland and visit the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) to snorkel. The boys are strong enough swimmers to handle a full water day, and I figured that we all would be amazed by seeing the world's most extensive coral reef system. All of this is the logic I/we used to justify the gamble to travel up to Queensland (QLD) at this point in our trip. At this time, we had to submit a form attesting that we all were feeling well and had not visited any known hotspots.
QLD is like the Florida of Australia in a lot of ways. Hot, humid weather, generally warm year round. We were overwhelmed by the number of beach communities, but settled on Trinity Beach about 15 minutes north of the main GBR gateway city Cairns (pronounced "cans"). We rented an apartment that is just across from the Coral Sea, so we have enjoyed gorgeous sunrises daily (courtesy of Jeremy). Our rental has a very helpful on-site manager who has helped with booking trips, advising on best weather for our reef trip (coming up at the end of the week), boosting up our WiFi so we can make work calls, etc. Our rental included a rental car so that has been handy for exploring.
Yesterday we went up into the tropical rainforest that surrounds this area (listed as a World Heritage site for Wet Tropics), and visited a touristy but interesting little village nestled within the forest, surrounded by towering trees, wild birds, and gorgeous waterfalls. We took the SkyRail up to the 1,800 foot peak and down into the town of Kuranda; this was the first gondola ride for the boys, and Miles couldn't get enough and Baxter couldn't wait to get off of it.
In town we did some touristy shopping and lunch, and visit Birdland to see an enclosed aviary with 60+ varieties of local and tropical birds. Some were friendly, especially if you had fruit to offer, but most quickly nipped your hand if they weren't interested in making friends.
We took the rail back down the mountains, winding through the rainforest into town. It was a long, sweaty day, but we really enjoyed getting out into this space. We ended our day with bodysurfing in the sea just outside of our rental. The waves pick up in the later afternoon, and the temperature is pleasant. The boys delight in getting beaten about by the powerful waves, so we stay close to shore and (hopefully) away from any hungry saltwater crocodiles. We are looking forward to getting out to the reef in the coming days, but have tried to take advantage of the diversity of the environment here in gorgeous QLD.
