We made the short trip (all of 12km) to our next caravan park.

This park was well recommended by my Aunty Barbara and Uncle Tony who are “seasonal nomads” and travel up here during the Victorian Winter to stay for 3 months at a time. They are not the only ones who do this, as the park is just about full of retirees enjoying the weather, wine and the opportunity to while away the hours doing their crafts, (the women) or gathering at the garbage bins to chat for hours (the men). 
Aunty Barbara is so much like my mum, her sister. They look similar and have the same mannerisms. It was just so good giving her a hug. Uncle Tony is actually my Dad’s cousin, yes sisters married cousins, and it blew me away how much like my Dad he is. They speak in a similar way and although they don’t look very similar, they hold themselves the same way. It’s very uncanny! So, coming to stay a week here is a bit like an antidote for me and the homesickness I’m battling.
We spent some time catching up, meeting others in their “posse” and then had some lunch. We thought that since this was our third day in Cairns, we had better do some exploring beyond caravan parks. With detailed instructions from Uncle Tony, we headed off to the city. 
The Cairns foreshore has been the recipient of a 9 million dollar grant from the local council. They have established a world class lagoon area, water park and playground along the beach front. It is not advisable to swim in the Cairns beach area for fear of stingers and crocodiles so the council have provided an amazing resource to counter the disappointment. 
The lagoon area was huge! It was the most impressive council funded facility we have come across, and it was packed. We wondered at the hundreds of 20 something age group sun baking on the grass and surrounding areas. We just couldn’t get over how many there were. Literally hundreds!
While Caleb was playing in the playground, I spoke to a local about it. It seemed that every second shop front was a backpackers hostel or information kiosk for them. They lined the streets, sitting outside shop fronts offering free wifi as long as they didn’t stand and block their shop window displays. It was truly an eye opener!
The Cairns night markets are a tourist attraction so we thought that we might as well wander through them and get some dinner while we were out. 
The markets held a collection of Aussie souvenirs, fit for overseas tourists, the majority of which were made in China. We did see boxes of chocolate macadamias being unpacked with the return address of Knoxfield, Victoria stamped on the side. When we pointed out to the Asian shopkeeper that that was near where we were from, I’m sure he thought we wanted to steal the box and he quickly moved it out of our reach. Oops!
We were asked numerous times if we wanted to indulge in a massage, $15 for 40 minutes. There were plenty of tourists enjoying the service and it was really cheap compared with usual massage services. We politely declined.
We got some take away for dinner, and as we returned to the car, noticed that Cairns was just beginning to get lively with all the younger tourists venturing out for the night. Good luck to them!