Our good friends the Rose’s landed on the 1st September and we fell head long into a frantic week. We started out with a few hours of kid and dad fun on the jumping pillows, and in the water park, the pool and the spa. The kids rebonded and enjoyed hanging out together. For the Stephen kids, it was a treat to have a cabin to play in, and the whole caravanning life was an adventure for Ben and Bianca.
The next day we headed out to the reef. We were warned that it would be rough and poor little Ben didn’t fare too well on the bumpy boat ride. But when we got out to the reef platform it was surprisingly calm. We went for a cruise in the semi sub and saw heaps of fish, then Archie snorkelled with Mif and Darren for about 2 hours straight. Darren was a little worried about Archie’s confidence until he took off chasing fish and didn’t look back. We even got to pat a huge Blue Maori Wrasse and the other kids swam and enjoyed the underwater viewing room.
Our next adventure was the obligatory trip up to Kuranda on the train, returning on the skyrail. The train ride was good but the cable car ride was better. 
Archie and Rosie had really been looking forward to Butterfly world. After countless failed attempts Archie persisted and finally got a butterfly to land on his hand. He was very proud of himself and Miff was even prouder that he pulled himself together after a frustrated hissifit! Meanwhile Rosie flapped madly anytime one came near her.
We finished the week off with some time up in the Daintree. We chose to stay at Wonga Beach which had a great van park which was sheltered from the howling winds and rain which had sadly coincided with the Rose’s visit. We went out to Mossman Gorge one day and had a splash amongst the beautiful boulders.
The next day we ventured up to Cape Tribulation, had a play on the beach then a walk through the rainforest.
Miff had been desperately scanning the bushland as we drove past evey Cassowary crossing sign, but to no avail. We had given up hope of seeing the elusive bird as our kids ran and screamed their way around the boardwalk. But Steve’s eyes lit up and he excitedly reported that there was a Cassowary ahead. Mif has been desperate to see one so Darren called her ahead and held the kids back. We needn’t have worried about being in stealth mode as it turned out this Daddy Cassowary was protecting a little chick and just kept coming straight for all of us. We were all very excited/nervous and topped off this experience by spotting another one a little further on.
A forest fruit treasure hunt was also a fun activity that kept the kids entertained and gave Darren the chance to be arty!
Darren and Steve also snuck in an arvo of fishing both landing a couple of Barra. Sounds easy, and it was, as they were at a Barra farm. Good fun though, and absolutely beautiful for dinner that night.
We finished off the week by saying a sad goodbye to the Roses. There was one last thing we wanted to do, so we headed off to the Discovery Centre -Tree Top Walk and Archie was blown away by the Audio guide. He could have listened to that all day. He did let Rosie have a quick go but never let Darren get near it. He kept repeating stuff like . . . “Maculata”, and “Diprotodon” and “25 metres into the air”.
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