See ya Pearl, gudday J and Grumps!

After our breakfast with 4 inquisitive wallabies who grazed on grass and leaves just in front of us at our campsite we packed up our bags and gave Pearl a bit of a once over. Then it was off to Cairns via the Crystal Caves in Atherton. The Crystal Caves is in a shop on the high street of Atherton that has over 600 crystal formations and fossils on display, including 'the Empress of Uruguay', a 2.5 tonne amethyst geode. The back of the shop had been converted into an artificial cave system and had the kids enthralled for 2 hours. After purchasing a couple of treasures for the kids we set off on the winding road down to the coast to Cairns. It got noticably hotter as we descended and was 28 degrees and high humidity by the time we reached Cairns central. Mum picked up the rental car and followed Pearl around to the Kea depot where we loaded all of our stuff straight into the rental. It was a quick goodbye to Pearl and then a short scenic coastal drive up to Port Douglas. We checked into our digs, which turned out to be a disaster as the unit we had booked was double-booked and we were put in a dark, dingy unit beside the main road. With J and Grumps flying in from Brisbane and due to arrive any minute we needed to sort something more suitable so dad went for a quick drive and found some new accomodation up the road. After a short delay with their flight J and Grumps arrived in time for drinks and nibbles on the balcony. There was lots to catch up on and after a late dinner we fell into bed.