Feeling the effects of a long, cold winter and a nasty bout of the flu, the school holidays were a welcome opportunity to get off the island for a week of sunshine and warmth in Cairns.

While the flight is about as long as a domestic flight can get (1 hour or so to Melbourne, then three to Cairns with Jetstar), when we stepped off the plane, it definitely felt like we’d left the cold behind. Ready to explore, we checked into the Shangri-La Hotel – a large international chain hotel with a central pool. Perfect really! Our small-but-comfortable room was great for a younger family. Every day started with breakfast on the balcony, watching a stream of holidaymakers walking along the boardwalk – hurrying to meet their watercraft to ferry them to the Great Barrier Reef for the day. The reef is big business here, with a number of operators and travel styles to choose from.

Our main driver for visiting Cairns was to show our kids the reef and we got straight into it on our first full day. Because our youngest is six, a gentle start was needed so we travelled with Sunlover Reef Cruises for their Moore Reef Day Tour. We checked into our comfortable boat and motored for an hour or so to the outer reef to the Sunlover pontoon, which was our station for the day. My eldest was straight out into the water when we arrived but my youngest was a little hesitant so we hung about in a little enclosure to get a feel for it, then gradually ventured out. We saw a turtle pretty quickly and then it was on – he didn’t look back and was independently viewing the colourful and abundant fish, and the coral below. With tired but happy kids post snorkel, we enjoyed dinner at Villa Romana on the waterfront – a classic Italian trattoria, with salads, seafood pastas and a kids pizza menu.

On our second day we drove 20 minutes to the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway – a family-owned cable car that sails across the treetops and takes in the views back to Cairns. From our little pod, there were two stops along the way to take in waterfall views and rainforest walks. Our destination, Kuranda Village, was a cute town to explore – we browsed the markets (hello rock shop, handmade lolly shop and galleries) and enjoyed a local Mungalli Biodynamic Dairy ice cream. We took the historic train back to Cairns, chatting about how life must’ve been different back when the track was carved out. A bit of advice though, make sure you book transfers, as we ended up stranded at the end of the line with our car back at Skyrail, and no sympathy from the bus driver as they drove off! After making it back, we took a dip in the lagoon, a large public pool on the waterfront, perfect for cooling off.

From our room we could see the Prawn Star boats – two prawn trawlers converted to an on-water seafood restaurant. We enjoyed a platter of fresh prawns at sunset, with a mango daiquiri and XXXX beer, then hit up the excellent night market for pho and sushi, as well as chatting with lovely local artist Linda Johnson and the glass artist at Gift of Glass, and buying jibbitz. Lots of jibbitz.

We had a slower day planned next with a trip to Cairns Aquarium, which we followed up with a pool afternoon and a trip to the basketball that night to watch the NBL’s Cairns Taipans play a home game, with ex-JackJumper Jack McVeigh on the court.

We checked out of our Cairns hotel and headed north to Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures, about 45 minutes away. If you’re keen on seeing a croc, this is the place for you. We walked in and the first thing we saw was a huge beast, just casually skulking in the water past the cafe space, then took a short boat tour to see another ten or more crocs. Along the way our captain fed a couple – hearing that jaw snapping sound up close was incredible. Back on land we enjoyed fresh salad wraps at the cafe, then walked through the zoo section to see crocs, alligators, snakes and more.

We kept going to Port Douglas, finding ourselves perched with a cold sundowner at Rattle and Hum. Dinner this night was at Jungle Fowl, which was hands down the best meal of our trip. Benjamin Wallace (ex-sous chef at Longrain Melbourne) and partner Rachael Boon opened the restaurant in 2022 – utilising their four-acre farm produce nearby. The food was superb, balanced and interesting, and we all enjoyed the modern Thai menu

After a night at the perfectly simple Birch Resort, an ex-dive resort with a beautiful salt water pool, we enjoyed a beach morning playing in the small waves of Port Douglas’ Four Mile Beach. About 20 minutes inland from Port Douglas is Mossman Gorge, which we visited on our way back to Cairns. The Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre is an Indigenous ecotourism development and was created to provide a more engaging, immersive experience for visitors to the Mossman Gorge World Heritage site and share the rich culture of the Kuku Yalanji people. We jumped on a shuttle bus that took us the short distance to the Gorge. It was calm and restful – the water is so cold it takes your breath away, but as the day was about 27 degrees, we loved it.

But was one day on the reef enough? It wasn’t enough for us, so we decided at last minute to head back out, but this time with a smaller group and no pontoon. Dreamtime Dive and Snorkel also go to the outer reef, but to different spots, depending on the weather and winds. Along the way we listened to the Great Barrier Reef creation story from cultural guides, as well as heard stories of the topography we saw along the way. We snorkeled from the back of the catamaran, and without the pontoon, it felt a little more wild. Watching a shark, albeit a reef shark, swim past my kids was a reminder that we were in the open ocean. A delicious lunch filled us up, then we got to fire questions at the marine biologist on board and watch a cool fish feeding at the end. One more day out was a great move and we left with enduring memories of a week of vitamin sea and summer vibes.

The writer travelled as a guest of Tourism Tropical North Queensland and Dreamtime Dive and Snorkel. All dining was self-funded.