Day 53 Cairns **HALF WAY POINT**

Sunshine greeted us this morning when we dragged ourselves out of bed.  We actually all slept in for a change.  It was 0750 when we emerged, which was bad as Thursday is FREE pancake day here.  The kids were very cooperative in getting dressed, and we stumbled bleary eyed towards the garden pool for breakfast hoping that we wouldn't be waiting in line too long. 

One of the down sides about staying in a resort is that there are hundreds of people here.  Especially on pancake morning at the garden pool.  We lined up and eventually got served.  The pancakes were pretty good too.  Ashley went back for seconds and then thirds.  Rumour has it that 8 is the record, but he gave up after number 3.

Ashley has been badgering us about the pool since we got here, so we again relented and took the kids for a swim this morning. 


Neither Lisa or I cared to get in, so we let them paddle about in the sun pool until they got bored and then took them back to what is hence forth to be known as hospital park. 

The kids had a ball, and we stressed to them the importance of following the rules today, so we avoided major injuries...for most of the time we were there.  Rowan eventually forgot rule number 2 and climbed on the outside of the play equipment, slipped off and bashed his head again! 

The strangest thing though is that whenever you look around the playground, there is always at least one parent hugging their squealing child, mopping up blood or tending to head wounds of children that have slipped, crashed, fallen, collided and maimed themselves. 

2 nasty acts between brother and sister signalled the end of play time, so we returned to the caravan for showers and lunch.

After a bite to eat, and a bit of school work to remind the kids that they should be able to have fun without hurting each other, we tried again by going to play the mini golf course with clubs for everyone today.  Yes even Lisa played, and gave a real good showing for the ladies having only one poor score on her card for the day.

The kids were loving it until Rowan got bored and started being a bit rambunctious, so we finished our golfing and went back to the sun pool for another swim.

Again Lisa wouldn't get in, and sat peacefully un-harassed by the kids at a table reading her book.  All was good at the pool, and we had a relaxing afternoon between swimming and sitting in the spa.

Emma has found that the spa makes her rashie inflate, and she looks like the Michelin Man (girl), so we all had a go at inflating our shirts.  Rowan was so disappointed when he realised that he wasn't going to achieve lift off like a giant helium balloon.

We tried to book horse riding for Emma's birthday, but there is no operational horse riding between here an Brisbane by the look of it, so we are going to cruise the Whitsunday Islands instead, and spend time at Whitehaven Beach.  I think she is secretly disappointed but put on her most excited face for us when we told her.