For ten days now we have had the pleasure of hosting special guest and celebrity blogger Casssandra Boyle and her family. This is how she recounts her experiences#offthemooring:
“After a super big term us Griffo-Boyles finally set off for Cairns and 13 days of being off our mooring. The brief (my brief) was swim up bar resorty. This is not what we got.
After a night in Cairns we set off too collect our Maui van, sit through the briefing (Kel did) and make our way to Port Douglas to meet the Moors. After an epic supermarket shop we kicked things off by leaving Georgia behind on our adventure to Mossman Gorge, only to be saved by Sydney who said ‘are you guys sure Georgia is in the other car?’ A quick double back and we were all on our way.
As someone who is new to swimming in anything other than a pool, what an amazing experience! We spent hours walking the track and swimming on a gorgeous QLD day.
Prior to our departure from Port Douglas was the much coveted and highly anticipated James Moor Sugarcane tour (ie. kids grab a knife and come with me!).
Next stop was the Daintree where we pulled into our camp site that was protected from the local crocs with orange plastic fencing in 1 section. Apparently we had ‘nothing to worry about’ but I found that hard to believe given there was a safety fence in the first place. The kids actually loved sitting (behind the fence) croc watching but nothing was better than the actual croc tour we did seeing such incredible creatures in their own habitat.
Cape Tribulation was the furthest north than anyone off their mooring was going to be and once we arrived the heavens opened and it rained rained rained. A gorgeous camp site by the beach where swimming is not permitted due to the crocs, without any fencing and a croc living about 100m away. Thankfully we learned of this as we were leaving. The kids loved entertaining themselves under whatever shelter they could find and when the rain finally stopped we swam in beautiful isolated swimming hole, ate fruit gelato from a farm and packed up for the Atherton Tablelands.
Mummy Kel demonstrating the perfect tuck
Next up was a few days in the Atherton Tablelands exploring waterfalls, going on beautiful drives and living off grid. Us Griffo-Boyles went hard and fast using our power in 1 night before realising that if you just start the van engine you get power again 🙂
An absolute highlight for us was our 2nd last stop, Woodleigh Station. We spent 2 days and nights off grid on our way to the outback, by a river with a tree swing. We were blessed with awesome weather, the kids had a ball and much chatting occurred. On our last night the station recorded a temp of -1 and we left a window open. Not even the longest night ever for us 4 could dampen such a special spot.
Our last stop, Undara. In the outback (tick!), it sure is dusty. We’ve just done a tour of the lava tubes learning about the geology and history of the area. In the morning the Griffo-Boyles are Cairns bound for 1 night in a resort and Billie is STOKED. We’re on the homestretch, back to civilisation featuring heaters, washing machines and showers.
Things we’ve learned on this trip : we’ve never bought so much food in our lives nor did we plan on doing a tour of FNQ supermarkets, I didn’t realise how much I love washing machines, it really doesn’t matter if you don’t shower for a day, emptying a dump is deadset the WORST job in the entire world but its all totally worth it to be offthemooring!
Off the Mooring 