We awoke to the sound of birds singing and the ocean breeze blowing. It was one of the most beautiful mornings we've had so far this trip. Our snorkelling tour didn't leave until 9:00 so we had some time to chill out and enjoy the warmth of the Northern Queensland before we headed down to the boat launch. Upon arriving we saw a large sailboat already leaving and we panicked thinking we were supposed to be on it. The tour company was a bit sketchy on the details...

We had about a 7-hour drive ahead of us to get to Mission Beach in Northern Queensland. That would put us about 2 hours South of Cairns, our final destination! On the way we saw the world's largest Mango and Layla ate some bad Chinese food which left her barfing on the side of the road…poor thing; nothing a Golden Gaytime ice cream bar couldn't fix though! We arrived at Mission Beach, dodging the cassowaries at around 3:30 pm. This little town is absolutely b...

Today we were up early and off to Dingo Beach, just North of Airlie Beach to meet Steve, Mary, and Grace, the family we ran into in Alice Springs last school holiday. When we got there they were grilling up bacon and eggs and doing a traditional aussie brekkie for us; it was delicious! Dingo Beach was a great little town with an amazing beach just off the beaten path. Layla and Grace had a great time beachcombing for starfish, hermit crabs, and other various se...

It was an early morning (again) but we were very excited as we were finally going to see the Great Barrier Reef! We boarded the Derwent Hunter, a tallship built in 1946 to set said toward Hayman Island, in the Whitsunday Islands to go and see the reef. The ship was beautiful and the turquoise water was very warm and inviting. We put down anchor and were ferried to the beach where we put on our snorkels and headed into the water. What an amazing sight! The coral w...

This was by far, the longest day of driving our family has ever done! We were up, not necessarily awake, but up at 4:30 in the morning to be on the road by 5:30. IPhone maps said that our drive would be 12 hours, that wasn't accounting for traffic, the endless road construction, and stopping to eat every now and again. The weather was good and the road was fairly self-explanatory. We ended up rolling into Airlie Beach, our destination, at 7:00 pm. Luckily we had ...