Cairns

 2 - 10 November 2025

We packed up at Kurrimine Beach and headed back to Cairns for what we hoped would be our last week in the camper trailer. We didn't book this time as we knew the caravan park wouldn't be full as all the southern tourists had retreated from the hot and wet conditions. Once again we scored a spot near the creek  - and once again we spent plenty of time in the pool.

While we were in Cairns, our daughter Jo let us know that she would be stopping in Yorkeys Knob for the day so we arranged to go and meet the catamaran "Eviota" when she arrived. This was a research trip for Reef Life Survey that would take them from Airlie Beach to Darwin and back to Thursday Island. Quite an adventure for someone who had only ever been out on day trips.

As they made their way up the coast Jo kept in touch and we arrived at the marina at the same time as the boat and her small crew. Jo had been tasked with doing some shopping while the others refuelled the boat and carried out other essential tasks. We drove her back to the big shopping centre at Smithfield so she could get groceries. Dropping her back, Jo gave us a tour of her temporary home. She certainly seemed to be loving the experience and was learning a lot about sailing.

Jo has really taken to live on the high seas

For the rest of our time in Cairns we continued our regular visits to the library to work and also did some more birding - of course.  While we were on the Esplanade one day we also went to the Art Gallery. 

We were starting to get a bit anxious about returning to the Tablelands and continuing to camp in the camper trailer as the wet season approached. There had been further delays to our new home and it was doubtful that we would be in before early December. We felt it was time to consider our options and look for alternative accommodation. As luck would have it we saw an ad for short term accommodation at Lake Barrine that might suit us so we made contact and arranged to meet once we had met all our commitments on the coast. We had already booked to go to Port Douglas for a couple of nights so wouldn't be back on the Tablelands until mid-week.