Cairns - Etty Bay - Mission Beach - Airlie Beach

after a short overnight flight with not much sleep, we picked up our camper immediately after arriving in Cairns for the next two and a half weeks.. could be Rainer's dad, same model, just older (and with manual transmission).. otherwise 1A vehicle again! 👍 By the way, his name is George! ((-:

After the first shopping, George, Nadia, and Flo explored Cairns a bit and then drove to their first stop at Etty Bay based on a repeated recommendation. The drastic difference from Western Australia: same temperatures, but much more tropical/humid/muggy, so fortunately Flo doesn't sweat even more. 😄😳🙃😉 Also, it's much greener here than in the west: rainforests as far as the eye can see, rainforest mountains.. beautiful!!

Arriving in Etty Bay, a cozy campsite right on the beach, we took a three-hour nap first thing (without setting an alarm!!:), before going to the beach or into the water for the first time. Another significant difference from Western Australia, no two: 1. the water is about the same temperature as the air😳 and 2. due to the occurrence of (box) jellyfish (sea wasps, etc.), you can only swim in so-called stinger nets (netted areas). This means that you are quite limited because these netted areas are not available at every beach section. Of course, you can also go into the water outside of these nets, but after learning more about these jellyfish and the effects of touching their tentacles/stingers, Flo ordered not even to touch the water with his toes.

On Christmas Eve, we took our first refreshment in the sea at 8:30 am (more or less refreshing because it's warm;) and then we were almost run over by a cassowary. 😉 These flightless birds look like they came from the dinosaur age, but they are harmless if you leave them alone, don't annoy them, or get too close to their children. When Nadia later relaxed in the shade, the shock was huge when this 1.50-meter tall colleague stood about 27 cm away from her head and looked down at her. 😄 cool animals anyway, quite relaxed, but somehow mighty.

In the afternoon of Christmas Eve, we were already at Mission Beach, where we also spent the evening, talked to family, and ate our reheated spaghetti bolognese from the day before.. a proper Christmas dinner, don't you think?! ((-:

By the way, there were no gifts.. the Santa Claus probably delivered them at home.. or something. 😛

On Christmas Day (25th December), we actually wanted to visit the Paronella Park, but it is only open 364 days a year. Guess on which one it isn't.. 😉 instead, we went on a hike to the Jourama Falls. The path there was only partially worth it as the waterfall didn't have a lot of water, but it was still impressive to see and the swim in the natural pool was again amazing. This hike was definitely more worth it for the mosquitoes, whose bites we had to treat in a large number in the evening. 🙃 Nadia's travel pharmacy simply has something in stock for or against everything. Preventing would have been somehow cooler though.. well, live and learn (once again!;)!

Now we are in Airlie Beach, where our two-day sailing tour of the Whitsunday Islands starts this afternoon, and we are really looking forward to it.

Gloriously sunny greetings from here..

P.S.: we are thinking of Linda on tomorrow's Friday!! 🎉