We were all awake by 7am and were on the road 8. The drive up to Cairns was much prettier then the drive across from the NT border! We were flanked by mountains most of the way and passed endless fields of sugar cane and bananas. Clouds came over and covered the mountains as we hit patches of rain and Jonny thought they were on fire!! We reached Cardwell in time for lunch and had our first glimpse of the ocean - felt like it had been a while! We found a bakery for lunch where Nick had problems operating the straw dispenser and then we walked the jetty with a take away coffee. The ocean was very muddy looking and not inviting at all even though we didn't spot any crocs! Back on the road again we hit multiple sets of roadworks and finally reached Cairns around 2.30pm. We are staying in a caravan park in White Rock, about 10 kms from the CBD. There's not much here but the owners are friendly and it's cheap at $50 a night - we were quoted $115 pn at some parks in Cairns!!! The kids were happy watching TV for an hour so Nick and I sat outside and read and then Nick took the three smaller ones for a swim. It was absolutely freezing and they only lasted ten minutes before coming back for a hot shower. We sat outside and had dinner but soon had to move inside as it started to rain and turned quite cold. We spent the evening watching a film and fell asleep listening to the rain