Yesterday's blog was written poolside. Today I am in the kitchen of our room, looking out the glass wall, over the deck to the palm trees surrounding the pool with the stream and waterfall gurgling below. Yesterday we went to the pool after breakfast, then after lunch we went to the beach. The children loved it! It was slightly warmer than the pool and they had fun with the waves and sand. Today we drove into Cairns (about 20 minutes), went to the botanical gardens, the Muddy's playground, and the Lagoon.
The botanical gardens were very cool--full of bamboo and palms. Even a boardwalk through a "swamp" that had many unusual trees and vines (it looked more like a jungle). It is fairly small but pleasant. Then we went to the children's playground that the guide book mentioned. It was big, but had many of the same features most playgrounds have, just spread out. What sets it apart are the water features--streams and shooting water that children can play in. They have a special walled-in small children's park that is nice for the little ones. We were underwhelmed--I think we expected a special playground and it was a large typical playground. Then we walked from there to the Lagoon. The ocean in Cairns had some type of dredging happen that turned the area next to the shore into mud flats at low tide so it is not a pleasant beach. Instead they have a swimming area right next to the ocean that is a man-made lagoon, complete with sandy bottom. The water is not shaded so it wasn't cold, just cool. The children swam, then played on the sandy beach along the edge, making sand castles and elaborate waterways. This afternoon we will most likely go to the beach again. We have decided to celebrate July 4th (it is July 4th here) by going to the beach and singing the "Star Spangled Banner." The weather today is a bit cooler, though when the sun was shining it was warmer. The air is definitely more humid than the outback, but not as bad as a Minnesota summer.
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