Today was a great day! We got up and packed up for our drive through Cairns to Port Douglas, which would take about 3 hours...a short drive! We stopped at Innisfail, QLD so Leanne could do a 3 minute happy dance in the parking lot of a gas station. She was finally done her course for her masters and wouldn't be taking another one until the new year!

We drove through Cairns and up to Port Douglas. We were instantly amazed at how beautiful the beach was along the highway so we decided to stop alongside the road and hit the beach for some boogie boarding and some sun. After about 2 hours at that beach it was back on the road for 30 minutes to Port Douglas. We drove around this tropical resort town until finally finding a small sign that read "Beach Access" and pointed to a path. We followed the path and came to the beach which was stunning. Leanne immediately started sun baking and Layla and I attempted to crack a coconut as you could hear the milk inside sloshing around. Layla diligently worked on it and between the two of us, we managed to pop a hole in it so Layla could drink the milk. We then busted it on a rock and took the shell and ate the coconut...it was great!

We finished up at the beach at around 3:30 and headed back to the van to find the ice cream truck coming down the road...what a miracle! The drive back to Cairns to our campside was quick and picturesque.

After a quick shower we headed into Cairns to check out the promenade. It was amazing. We went to the night market, played on the playground, and ate fish and chips on the sidewalk of a cafe. The city was almost as beautiful as Darwin! After our adventure in Cairns it was back to the van to pack up for the flight home tomorrow morning. We will definitely miss Northern Queensland!