Day 3 - Townsville - Cairns (Thur April 26th)

After saying goodbye to the Jacksons, we were 'on the road again' heading for Cairns. Our morning tea stop was at Frances Creek, just south of Ingham, right on the highway. Didn't actually see any creek though.

On from there we stopped at a great spot called Five Mile Swimming Hole, which is 9km sth of Cardwell

This is just a day stop, no overnight camping, which is a shame. It would be an awesome spot to camp. We felt like jumping in, but did'nt. If the sun had of been beating down, we would of.  It was so clear, we could easily see the bottom, even though the sun was hiding behind the clouds.

Lunch was along the waterfront at Cardwell, we pulled up on the grass beside the beach.  It was beautiful looking across at Hinchinbrook Island. We would love to camp there one day with the boat, im sure we will sometime in the futute.

After lunch we continued on through Tully, Innisfail, Babinda and onto Cairns.  This drive is really nice, so lush and green, its mostly sugar cane with mountain ranges behind. The highest mountain in Qld is along this stretch between Innisfail and Babinda, its called Mount Bartle Frere and is 1622 metres high. 

Just on the northern outskirts of Innisfail we noticed a bakery on the left hand side of the road which was selling frozen pre make bread mix for dampers. We had already gone past, but thought this was a great idea, thought i'd share this for anyone that may be travelling through Innisfail.

We arrived into Cairns about 3.30pm and checked into The Big 4 (Coconut Palms) Caravan Park, this one is for the kids!!  It has its own water park, 2 jumping pillows, mini golf, 2 pools with water slides, kids play ground, and a heap of activities for the kids. We thought we would shout them some luxury before we go bush bashing up to Cape York!

Dad set up camp, while mum took the kids straight to the water park, and whale slide pool.  This was a treat for them as they traveled so well in the car today.