Monday 5 Aug, we pull into Wonga Beach Caravan Park, we've booked a week here. This park is just south of the Daintree River, right on the beach. Our site is approx. 20 meters from the sand. There's lots of regulars who come here to stay for months of the year, so there is little room for travellers like ourselves, we are lucky to secure this spot.

The boys have kept busy fishing from the beach and putting out the crab pots. We've caught a few mud crabs, but most have been females that cannot be kept.

Lachlan has mastered the throw net he recently acquired. He's been able to catch a few bait fish, unfortunately, these have not led to big fish being caught.

The boys were very lucky to be taken out twice by the park manager on his boat. The first day they fished in the Spanish Mackerel breading grounds, its off the Daintree River mouth a few kms off shore. The long term campers here tell us and show us pictures of some of their big catches in other years. But the weather hasn't been suitable to take out their tinnies much this year, and when they do, they find the professional fishermen there with their big nets capturing everything in its way, so they have caught very little. On the second day the boys went fishing, they tried a different spot and each caught a Spanish Mackerel. These are great eating fish, we were also able to put some in the freezer.

We took a trip out to the outer parts of the Barrier Reef from Port Douglas and all had a fabulous day. On the way out we saw Hump Back Whales and Dolphins. There was next to no breeze and very low swells. The visibility of the water was very clear, close to 25 meters. We all found Nemo and many other colourful fish. Saw lots of bright and vibrant corals. Large clam shells, a sting ray,

Brad and I were able to scuba dive (separately as one of us had to stay with Cam), whilst Lachlan was able to do 2 introductory dives.

The laws in Qld are very strict re scuba diving, in 10 days Cam turns 12, they would not bend these rules at all to let him dive (we had spoken to a few dive companies), we thought about waiting out the days, but as Cam is on medication for his Asthma, this presents bigger issues on his ability to dive. In the end he was happy to snorkel. However, Cam's being Asthmatic created challenges with the crew and their rules even for snorkelling. As, in the past they had other guests have Asthma attacks whilst out on the reef, so they wanted him to wear a life jacket at all times and have a identifying tag on his snorkel. For those of you who know Cam, you could imagine he was not happy with this. Cam is a strong, confident swimmer, he swam 3 years ago in the rough ocean with the Whale Sharks, regularly swims in deep waters, there was no way he was going to wear a life jacket.

We informed them of this and that Cam's medication keeps his Asthma at bay and sport never induces Asthma for him. In the end we compromised in that Brad or I would be with him, and also a guide had to stay with him. Roman became Cam's private guide, informing him on the marine biology they encountered on the reef. He really enjoyed the information.

We've explored around Kuranda and the markets, unfortunately, it's lost the old charm, its far to touristy and focused on shops and cafes.

Mossman George has been overridden with tourism development. They almost force people to pay for their shuttle bus into the gorge and don't want you swimming there. We ended up finding a river crossing along Shannonvale Rd, that is part of the river stream flowing thru Mossman Gorge, where we were able to have a swim. We were away from all the Tourists, amongst a few hippies each time!

Our time at Wonga Beach has flown by; we were been able to spend an extra couple of nights, and will depart tomorrow.

We will miss eating our breakfast on the beach daily, walking the beach and listening to the waves crashing into the sand thru the day and night.