Three Kids and a Dog: Cairns, Australia - Dec. 29-30 Including Peyton's 14th Birthday!!

We woke up on Dec. 29th a little bit groggy from a bit of jet lag and early call time that morning for our excursion to the Great Barrier Reef. We had a full breakfast buffet before meeting our group of 37 in the hotel to walk to the boat that would take us out to the Great Barrier Reef. We were thankful for great weather that day as it was less windy than usual which they assured us would make a much better 2-hour boat ride out to the reef. We were grateful for that as Hailey gets a bit seasick on the open water so we medicated her a bit that morning.

The Great Barrier Reef

It was another hot and humid day in Cairns and the sun was shining. We ventured out to the boat where our Disney Tour Guides (Melissa and Kim) had roped off a section for us to sit away from the masses. We also had private tours once we got out to the reef on the glass bottom boat and then another for just our family with a snorkel guide. The hardest part of the whole snorkel bit was getting ready. Since it was jellyfish season we had to be outfitted head to toe in wet suits even covering our hands. I wasn't sure how Hailey was going to do snorkeling but she did great (she has snorkeled before but could never quite get down the breathing) although she kept taking out her mouthpiece and getting water in the tube and then putting it back in her mouth! Much to our surprise, Papa was even up for the snorkeling and got himself all ready although he was having a bit of a tough time breathing in the snorkel mask so decided to call it quits early.

The Great Barrier Reef was huge and there was so much coral and cool fish - we saw lots of Nemos and Dories but the best thing was when our snorkel guide swam down and waved her hand over a giant clam shell that closed up immediately. I went back to check on Papa and then the older kids saw a turtle swim by too (we've snorkeled/swam with turtles before in Barbados so I didn't feel like I missed much).

Probably the highlight of the day though was when Peyton dropped her phone in the Great Barrier Reef. I wasn't there but she said it fell out of her bag and went straight between the two inch gap in the floor of the pontoon boat. Luckily, Melissa (our tour guide) was with her and immediately summoned one of our scuba guides to swim down there and retrieve it (they left a selfie on her phone too). It was probably down there for 10 minutes but just in case, we kept it off for a good 24 hours and our tour guide gave us some rice to suck out the moisture. We had lunch on the boat and then we embarked on the two hour journey back to Cairns where we showered and were on our own for dinner. After a long day, it was nice to regroup but we were tired from the sun and the swimming so we went some place close that was nice (but also quick). We had to be up again the next day for our day in the Rainforest.

The 30th was Peyton's 14th Birthday and we were up early for our breakfast buffet and then she got to open some presents that I brought for her from home. I set up a little display for her and after breakfast the family came up to our big room so she could open them. Then we met with the group and there was more celebrating - everyone sang Happy Bday to Peyton as we embarked on our journey to the Rainforestation Nature Park. There we learned how to throw boomerangs (I was awful and almost killed the guy while Hailey wanted to throw hers after everyone had left - the tour guides were so great and made this happen) and then we got to paint our own Boomerangs. We watched an Aborginal dance and then headed to Kuranda Village for lunch. We were supposed to sign up for some pictures with the Koalas but it was sold out. Bummer. After lunch, we boarded a sky rail that took us over the rainforest from Kuranda to Cavornica and by some breathtaking waterfalls (cyclone = lots of water). It was beautiful but very, very hot and humid. That night, the Junior/Young Teen (Peyton and Hailey) adventurers got their own dinner/party with our tour guides while the adults dined together and the older teens (Austen) got their own table too. The girls had a good time playing games and made some new friends. Our tour guides made sure she got a candle in a cake for dessert too so she could make a wish. Austen really enjoyed getting to know the other older teens too ranging in age from juniors in high school to sophomores in college (he said that was definitely a fun part of the trip). And, we got to know some families better too and were definitely deciding who we wanted to hang out with more on the trip (and eat meals next to).

It was a fun night and a memorable birthday for Peyton capped off by a night swim with Hailey and her new friends from Oklahoma (another 8th grader, Maddie and her 12 year old sister, Annabelle). Then it was off to bed as we were flying to Melbourne the next day.