Day 62 Aug 25 Thurs Port Douglas Moss Man Gorge and David's Birthday

David's Birthday! David opened his few little presents in the van and enjoyed another cooked breakfast and we all sang Happy Birthday! A young Dutch couple at the end of their travels who we had spoken to the previous night present David with an unexpected gift of a boogie board with instructions to "pass it on" at the end of our Australian journey. We drive a little way north again to spectacular Mossman Gorge and enjoy a rainforest walk for an hour or so. We see bush turkeys, cassowary warnings,but no platypus - which the lady at the van park had assured us was hiding under the footbridge if we were quiet!



There are several waterfalls and a bouncy swing bridge to cross 

and near the end of the walk there is a small but chilly water hole. Rowan wastes no time stripping off and wading in. No sense, no feeling!  There is a fallen tree crossing the pool and she eventually plucks up courage to plunge fully into the water (with a little encouragement from a now gathered crowd of seniors!) and swim through the arch.

A scenic drive up through the scenic Cairns Tablelands in the afternoon.  A wide flat plain which is home to coffee and tea plantations and some spectacular views. We stop for lunch in Kuranda and explore the local craft markets before driving down again and a quick stop at a beautiful waterfall, said to be Australia;s most photographed and featured in several Qantas adverts.

 It is getting dark and we are not sure where we are going to stay so consult the Camps 6 book and head to our first free campsite at El Arish on the Bruce Highway. It is dark when we arrive and attempt the bed routine and supper! There are several other vans parked with a variety of occupants, some backpackers and several older folk who seem to have been there for ever. Slightly concerned by the "dont stray too far into the undergrowth" warning signs and hope we dont stumble on a stray croc on our way to the toilet in the middle of the night!

Sun14 Aug day 51 Rotorua ROWAN'S BIRTHDAY!

Rowi's Birthday! Hurray! At last the day has come - we have been plagued with the countdown to it since before we left the UK and are all pleased to have finally reached August 14th!  When we open the curtains we find to our surprise that the Silver Oaks Hotel overlooks one of the two geo thermal visitor parks in Rotorua - and we have a free and fantastic vantage point overlooking the famous Pohotu   geyser which spurts up to 30ft in the air throughout the day.

It is also another fantastic sunny morning. A real bonus! Everything seems so much better after a good nights sleep and a free continental breakfast and we console ourselves with the fact that we are actually only paying $20 more a night here than we have had to in some previous places and the fact that it is warm and there is a double bed for the grownups and singles for the girls. We have had many and varied sleeping arrangements along the way - single bunks, topping and tailing, bed base and mattresses to name but three! Rowan reads her birthday emails and cards and unwraps her few little gifts, bits and pieces which we have picked up along the way and which wont take up too much space. The best birthday surprise we save till last - a morning at the Luge - a massive and very fortunate discovery and also the one thing which we probably should have done when we were in Queenstown.
Rowan had asked at the time to do the luge runs(along with every other activity and day out on offer!)  but conscious of the cost we had said no - not realising until a few days later when she was drawing in her journal just how disappointed she was that we hadnt done it. A picture speaks a thousand words and when we asked what she was drawing she said "that's the luge that we didnt do" - promptly bursting into floods of tears! We hadnt realised that the same setup was in place on the North Island until we reached Rotorua and stumbled across it in the "What's on Guide". A real coup and a complete stroke of luck.

The best person to tell you about the day has to be Rowan herself so here is her journal entry for the day.
My birthday! I had birthday emails from Granny and Grandpa, Auntie Carol, Auntie Janet, Izzy and Mattie lots of presents. I had a kiwi keyring and a kinder egg and a NZ tshirt and IOU letters for ice cream out, cake out, birthday supper a new pair of pyjamas and a luge leaflet. We went to the luge for my birthday. I did not go on my own - I went with Daddy and it was sunny. It is a sledge with wheels that doesnt need snow it needs a track to move down quickly. We had lots of goes each. We had to wear helmets. We got to the top by a chair lift. When I went with Mummy  crashed and fell out and I hurt my knee.  Mummy tried her best in the day to make cakes. She made little buns with chocolate on top and they were sort of lemon flavoured. I had seven candles to blow out and Daddy, Mummy and Tiegan sang Happy Birthday to me. I chose new pyjamas at the shops. We saw the Pohutu geyser from the hotel window and it blew lots of steam and a water spout all through the day.We went our for birthday supper at the Bad Dog Cafe and I had pasta, garlic bread and an ice cream sundae.