Warning- it’s gonna be a long post.

The clock in paradise is on a different timeline than you will find on your regular clock. Ask anyone in Far North Queensland, they will tell you. It’s called “Cairns time”, or “Cove Time” (as in Palm Cove), or “Port Time” (Port Douglas). There is no sense of urgency here. No need to rush, or be worried if something doesn’t happen today, it will happen tomorrow…maybe. The remoteness of this town impacts on so much here. Even though all the major services and shops are here, deliveries are not as regular as what you get used to them being in major cities so it was not unusual to be in one of the major supermarkets and for the shelves to look remarkably empty. (Reminded me of lockdown days in Melbourne) No-one was worried though, “looks like a delivery will be here soon, I’ll just use something else.”

The days were long, slow and we have had a very relaxing and enjoyable week, or so, in Cairns. We had planned to travel further north to Cooktown but upon further investigation we decided that, with The Captain travelling with us, all the activities we could do were outdoors and this really hot weather has been very difficult for him. We decided to save that for our next trip and as we have been there before we don’t really feel like we are missing out on too much.

I haven’t written over the last 8 days, preferring to relax and sleep most afternoons – but we have enjoyed our time here a lot. Here are some highlights/lowlights depending on whichever way you look at them!

Ray is known for his atrocious April Fool’s Day Jokes. My mum has vowed never to be sucked in by him again as each year he “gets her”. This year was no different. He creatively made a fake cyclone text warning from the weather meteorology bureau. It looked legit to me. Because we are in a prime cyclone region and we are just coming to the end of cyclone season, everyone here is on tenterhooks waiting for the season to pass.

Ray sent the text message to my mum. My poor mum! She was beside herself with worry. Suggesting that we pack up and move. Tie the van down, anything. He then got a few more people at home. When he knows he has reeled them in, the glee on his face is just like a 10 year old who has played a trick on his teacher.

We went for a coffee to the cafe at the front of our caravan park. He showed the “text” to the ladies in the coffee shop and at reception. He got them too. Locals for goodness sakes! I was embarrassed but there is no controlling Ray when it’s a day for FOOLS!

He needed to come clean pretty quickly because they were onto the BOM website quick smart. Mum was annoyed to know Ray got her again, but relieved that we weren’t in danger.

Ive been struggling with terrible midge bites. They started in Mission Beach and have continued the whole time I have been here. Midge bites flare up when your body temperature heats up and the itch is so annoying. If you itch them they weep and create big sores. Some people don’t suffer from them at all and then you see some poor people with bites all over them. That’s me. My friend Karen ordered some locally made, natural repellant and we picked it up and I’ve lathering my body in that every day. It’s a bit expensive but I think it works better than the 15 other products I have bought. The only thing to stop them itching once you have been bitten is Voltaren Gel or putting Vicks Vapor Rub on them. We also tried WD40 which worked but I smelt like a mechanics garage. If you are prone to mosquito bites, come prepared if you are visiting the tropics!

One morning I woke up and Ray was gone. He had left Henry and I asleep and snuck out (again) to go fishing. I think I am what is known as a “fishing widow”. He caught a catfish. He couldn’t be out all day because he promised he would be home to look after Henry so that Karen and I could go out together. True to his word, he came home, disappointed because he went to the secret fishing spot that Fred had taken him to and he had used Fred’s lure. I had one very disappointed fisherman on my hands. Best that I leave him at home to think about what went wrong and that he should have gone out on a fishing charter like his wife suggested more than a week ago!

As Karen and Dave are now locals one weekend afternoon we all ventured to Muddy’s on the Cairns esplanade. This is a playground and water park provided free of charge surrounded by lush green grass and a lagoon pool. The council maintains it and there is a strong police presence so that it is a popular and safe place for families to congregate. There is also an awesome cafe/restaurant. We went for an early dinner and enjoyed smoothies, burgers, halloumi fries and fresh juices. Logan ran off some energy in the playground and then splashed around in the water park. We sat overlooking the mud flats of the Cairns waterfront while the tide was out. Ray and Dave popped over to one of the hotels for a beer and Karen and I kept an eye on Logan while we talked. The time slipped away.

We made plans to go to a couple of markets while we were here.

Ray has always been fascinated by helicopters and will go for a ride in one whenever he can. He’s seen some amazing sights (over the Grand Canyon in USA being the best) and one of the things on his bucket list is to get his pilot’s licence! I’ve been up a few times but I can take it or leave it and would rather shop with the dollars spent so Ray usually finds someone else to go with or goes on his own. Even though he has flown over Cairns before I suggested he go again. His birthday is coming up! Amazingly there was a spot the morning we popped by to enquire and we hung around until the afternoon, shopping, eating and relaxing until he had to be there for the safety check and take off. Ray isn’t backwards in coming forward so he asked straight out if he could ride up front next to the pilot. It all depended on the weights of the other passengers as there has to be balanced weights in the front of the helicopter and as Ray is quite a tall, solid man, he had to sweat it out for an answer until the others arrived.

Luck was on his side because not only did a group of skinny French tourists climb onboard the helicopter, but they spoke next to no English so the pilot didn’t bother pointing out landmarks or being a tour guide, instead, he gave Ray (what Ray described to me as) his first flying lesson. Ray got a first hand guided tour of the cockpit data display, how it worked, inside information on the headset communication protocols and by the time Ray disembarked he was grinning like a kid. He is more determined than ever to start his flying lessons when we get home. Watch out residents near Moorabbin airport!

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One of the amazing things about being in the tropics is the availability of fresh, locally grown tropical fruit. There are vendors selling by the side of the road, at markets or honesty boxes at stalls. We have enjoyed bananas, the most amazing passion fruit, pineapples and mangoes. Whenever you eat at cafes they use locally sourced fruit and vegetables and you can definitely taste the difference. Everything tastes like it is supposed to. Like it did when I was a kid. Especially the passion fruits. They are simply delicious.

Both Palm Cove and Port Douglas have markets so we planned to do both on the same day with Karen, Dave and Logan. This may have been ambitious especially as The Captain overheats outside quickly but we thought we’d see how it went and we could always pop back to the air conditioning of the car to give him a break if need be. Logan always makes sure Henry is hydrated and gives him plenty of water (and hugs) so we had that covered.

We set off on a Sunday morning to Palm Cove first. This market is organised by Rotary in Palm Cove so we hadn’t even stepped foot in the market before we had lost Ray to the Rotarians. The market was huge and full of local artisans peddling their wares. There were very few manufactured items, almost all of it was homemade.

We kept losing Karen to parents and students she bumped into (a part of working in the local area and such a nice event for students to see their teacher out of the classroom on the weekend). The morning was warm and deliciously tropical. The palm trees swayed on the breeze on the foreshore and we realized that we still had a 35 minute drive to Port Douglas to come and that we had better get going.

It was a relief to get in the car and put the air conditioning on. It’s not the actual temperature that’s the problem, it’s the humidity (and the midge bites which flare up when your body swells with the heat). Regular air conditioned environments are a must. This said from someone who absolutely LOVES the heat.

The market at Port Douglas was twice as big and getting around it took some time. There was an amazing amount of unique stuff being sold that we hadn’t seen elsewhere. People are so very clever, maybe it’s the fresh ocean air.

While we walked through the market, Ray had organised to meet up with Tim. Tim had contacted Ray with some great news. He and his wife had gone out on a full day fishing charter and they had caught so much fish that he wanted to share some with Ray! Ray was stoked! Lucky we have a huge car fridge in the back of the Ranger to put the fish in.

Dave had made reservations for lunch at the Port Douglas Yacht Club. We spent a very pleasant few hours drinking and eating on the open decking overlooking the Marina. It was very warm, Henry finding being outside all day pretty difficult, but we made sure he had plenty of water and shade and he splayed out underneath the table. This didn’t stop the pats though. They kept coming to him.

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On the way back to Cairns we stopped in at Ellis Beach for an afternoon drink on the deck at the local pub. Dave had been wanting to come to this for some time and has heard about the saxophone player who played as well. We sat listening and drinking cocktails (me), mixed drinks (the others) and lemonade (Logan). The pub was renovating its decking area and when it is finished it will be an amazing venue for Sunday afternoon sax sessions!

During these 10 days Ray and I returned to Port Douglas for lunch and a wander around the shops. We were particularly looking for a new singlet top or two for Ray. We went into a mens store. The air conditioning was blowing full on and Henry collapsed, legs splayed on the cool tiled floor in front of the fan. Heaven. We looked around the shop…slowly. Ray didn’t like anything I picked up. Then Ray spotted some thongs. He’s been looking for a particular brand of thongs that he bought years ago and hasn’t been able to find since. I did look them up online and can get them sent from America but with postage and the conversion rate they were going to be very pricey. Well, Ray had just spotted the brand. He was checking them out and asking for his size, (12) and was doing the “Ray prance” to test out the comfortability rating. While he was prancing, another couple entered the shop.

After asking what they thought of his thongs, a conversation started about where they were from.

Scotland! They were here on holidays travelling. They love Australia and are already making plans to come back next year. They have grown up kids in university but don’t want them to come here because they know they would never see them again because they would lose them to our beautiful country. We were standing and talking for so long, the sales lady too, (ex Melbournian) that by the time we all said goodbye, Ray really had to buy the thongs because they could be classed as second hand! He parted with $100 and walked out very happy.

On our way home from Port Douglas we were amazed to see a wild dingo dart out of the forest on the side of the road. I had my phone in my hand and quickly snapped a pic. It’s pretty fuzzy from zooming in but it’s clearly a dingo.

Henry and I did some walks, ever mindful of the weather. The walks have to generally be short or very early in the morning. Ray drove to Port Douglas to watch an AFL football match one day so Henry and I walked to the Barron River Lookout. This was where a dog was taken from the side of the river while walking with its owner a couple of weeks ago. I wouldn’t let Henry go down the path where that happened but I was still on guard walking along the upper path.

Ray’s mate Anthony and his family have also moved up here. They have moved to Innisfail and have literally just moved in. A few days ago. They were keen to go to the Kurunda markets and they are always good for a visit so we decided on a catch up there. It was a steamy, hot day walking through the stalls looking at all the artisan wares and huge displays of crystals and rocks. The original markets are still there from 1978 and have been extended and added to. Ray and Henry and the kids went into a fairy cave owned by Fairy Jenna and did the fairy hunt. Henry loved it because he didn’t have to bend over like Ray did.

It was a long hot day and finishing off with locally made raspberry and fennel ice cream was the bomb for me but sent shivers down Rays spine. (Too exotic).

We were lucky enough to get to go to the Holloway Beach market before we left Cairns. This market is held once a month and is huge. It runs along the foreshore and stall holders set up on either side of the path. There are many second hand stalls mixed in with artisan stalls. Lots of unique goods. One very clever lady had made hundreds of origami birds and created mobiles of all different styles for above cots and in bedrooms. Eco friendly and so colourful. She had other origami based products and her stall just looked magnificent. As with all creative markets, it is requested that you don’t take photos so put your imagination to good use.

We got up early and Ray found a cheeky parking spot right opposite the market on someone’s nature strip. We walked up and down the pathway and found the one coffee stall, yes one, (Queenslanders are not that big on coffee we’ve discovered). Many people order iced coffee and if they order hot coffee we always look at their legs, they are usually white, giving the telltale sign they are from the Southern states, or they are red raw and burnt, also giving the telltale sign they are from the Southern states. The coffee was organic which made Ray roll his eyes but he didn’t complain about the taste of it.

The Captain was kept very busy meeting and greeting new doggie bottoms. There were literally hundreds of dogs out and about on the stunning Sunday morning. At one point I left Ray behind and kept walking and exploring because he got held up for ages with dog sniffing duties and talking to dog owners. If we had a dollar for every time we heard, “Oh, what breed is your dog? He has a lovely coat. So soft! Don’t you just want to squish his face? He’s so cute.” Or something very similar, we’d be very, very wealthy.

Our time in Cairns was very enjoyable. We caught up with good friends, relaxed a lot and appreciated the region for all it offered. We really enjoy the area and know it won’t be our last visit.