Toddler friendly Cairns - April 2012

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This is a very toddler centric blog. I am nearly embarassed writing it and the fact that we didnt do anything that the exciting tourist destination of Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef should bring with it but we have been here heaps over the years and 'done' all that you can 'do' tourist wise so this was a family catch up and a relax and keep the kids happy trip. Which turns out, is extremely easy in toddler friendly Cairns 😊

My dad's health is not so good and when they said he was about to go on dialysis we decided it was time to venture to Cairns and visit. Turns out he is still doing pretty well and although they couldnt really drive after daylight hours they managed to handle the activeness of toddlers quite well 😊 He has moved up to Kerrara Beach which was about 20 minute north of Cairns city and it was a very tropical residential estate very close to Trinity Beach that has a great 2 story Tavern overlooking the beach, a couple of great cafes beside the beach and a playground. The strange thing about Cairns is the city itself is surrounded by mud flats and the beaches north are full of crocodiles and jellyfish. So all those wonderful stories about Australian beaches most certainly dont apply here! But the kids played on the beach at least 4 of the days and we managed to have no rain until the last day so that was great timing weather wise.

The pubs/taverns/league/football clubs in Cairns are amazing! Thanks very much to pokies (which we dont have in WA) they have heaps of money (my apologies to those who are addicted and pay for these) so they have amazing restaraunts, seperate sports bars, seperate pokie areas and importantly for us, seperate toddler/child play areas! In Perth you can honestly count the number of restaraunts or pubs that have playgrounds or child areas - as in there are 5! so to be able to go to any random place in Cairns and find this is fantastic! A big mention to the 'Red Berret' which was very impressive and if i happen to win Lotto i would set up a place like this in perth without a seconds thought!

Cairns city has a 'Lagoon' built on its foreshore due to the mudflats full of crocodiles and it was great that the weather (about 30 degrees) was warm enough for the kids to play in this during the day...and my hubby to admire the view of bikini clad europeans lol! There is also a huge kids playground called Muddies about 3km north of the Lagoon that kept the kids in great delight for over 1/2 a day.

The adult part to our trip was a game of golf - wahoo! I used to play competition pre kids and hadnt played in more than 2 years so it was very exciting to have no children and 5 hours to ourselves to play at 'Yorkies Knob'. Better still that i may have even beaten my hubby and certainly did beat the other two girls we played with (yay for good drives!) but my step sister stole and destroyed the score card so unfortunatly the truth will never be told 😊 Yorkies Knob was an interesting local golf club with a 2.5m crocodile taken that week from the main water hole beside the 4th - eeek! They had left the couple of 2 metre crocs as the rules allegedly say theyre only dangerous once they hit 2.5m!?!

We also went one day to Paradise Palms and if youre ever in need of toddler friendly accomodation this is the place for you! My goodness, ive never seen so many kids playground equipment in one place, a water play area, a giant jumping pad thing, mini golf and a pool. We went here initially for mini golf and I might have to give up my Seattle MVP minigolf award as my Dad with dodgy eyesight came equal last with me...hmmm 😞

My only other comment about Cairns is its wildlife. Along with crocodiles and jelly fish there are lizards, snakes and spiders abound. The rest i dont mind but spiders freak me out...at my step sisters the window out of her bedroom had these huge webs going from her house to the next house covered in spiders! over 4 metres in distance and just hundreds of them! There was no way i was going to stay in that house unless she showed me she had surfaced sprayed around my entire room including all window opennings! That was without thinking about the story of the Brown Snake found on her back deck on the garden setting....eeeekkkk!!!!

So all up it was a very nice easter break. We didnt do much but entertained children which is actually quite a relaxing thing to do 😊 We ate out for lunch everyday and did heaps of swimming. So very nice weather in the mid 30's and minimums in the low 20's so pretty much perfect.

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Photos

Plane
The little Miss has her own chair!

Comments

[deleted_46288]

Err.....
So, it's safe to go swimming then??? :S

[tamandfamily]

only if you're a gambling a man lol!
On the weekend there was a little white netted area you could swim in at each of the beaches but my Dad reckons crocodiles have been known to swim in those too!

[Danielle]

Glad you enjoyed Cairns
Hi. I'm a Cairns local and have just started a travel blog for families traveling with a baby or small child. Glad to see you give Paradise Palms a mention. One of the best places to dine with a little one that I have ever come across. http://www.bubsonthemove.com

[tamandfamily]

Thanks
Hi, thanks for the input and had a look at your blog and it looks really good. You'll need to add some of your past stories! There are quite a few people on travelblog travelling with small kids...one family has been on the move for over 12 months with 2 under 3, i've no idea how they do it and love reading their stories. tam