After a play at the Mackay water park, we headed down to Homebush and joined a tour of the sugar cane farm. This was a great hands tour, where we were able to tour one of the fields and watch an old harvester in action. The kids loved watching the cane being pressed and made into sugar cane juice for them to drink and the boys munched on sugar cane all afternoon. We were fortunate enough to be able to watch a deisel train engine hook and take a load of cane off to the mill. It is interesting that most sugar cane farms have a series of train tracks in front of them connecting to the mill. We also had a lovely afternoon tea after the tour and the kids enjoyed chasing the farms chooks around. Once again, I really recommend this tour!

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We then continued north and checked into Big 4 Airlie Cove, where we would stay for the next 4 nights.

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The following morning after an early rise, we joined the lorrikets for their breakfast feed. The boys loved feeding them, though Kaytlin was a little wary of their claws and the fact that she was ‘blessed’ by them…twice! We then enjoyed our own gorgeous BBQ breaky by the pool, followed by a long leisurely swim and waterslide. We also pulled out the snorkels and masks and the kids practiced snorkeling ready for the reef the next day.

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After much deliberation, we decided to head off to Long Island for the day. This was very special as we honeymooned there just over 10 years ago. It was quite strange, however, to now be returning with 3 kids in tow! Following our cruise out there, we joined in with the resort activities. Firstly, we all enjoyed a kayak around the beach area and Zach even learnt how to paddle his own kayak. Whilst Joe and the boys hired a jet ski for some fast action on the water, Kaytlin enjoyed a fruit cocktail from the dive-in bar, followed by a hot spa. A true little miss!

After a buffet lunch, we caught the train back out to the wharf and joined in on the fish feeding. It was amazing to see the many batfish being fed right off the wharf- the kids were quite surprised to be feeding them lettuce! After the fish feeding, we attempted to snorkel off the beach. Due to troubles with the tide and the oysters, we opted for a spa before heading back to Airlie Beach on the boat. We had a great day at Long Island and the kids experienced many new things.

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The following day, we had an early rise again and took a 7:40am transfer down to the marina. Today, we headed out for a two island cruise- first stop Daydream Island, followed by an afternoon on Whitehaven beach. We were particularly looking forward to seeing Daydream Island as neither of us had been there before. Once on the island, it proved to have a surprise around every corner! Daydream was such a big island with so much to do. We enjoyed the adventure playground (complete with sound effects), spotted sharks/rays/fish/coral in their man made reef and joined in on marine feeding show. We also headed down to a beach made purely of dead coral (lucky we bought beach shoes!) and had a snorkel. It was a lovely beach to snorkel off and we were really impressed with Josh who learnt to snorkel by himself. There was quite a few fish as well as live coral to see and we also had a visit by a couple of wallabys on the deck area above the beach. After a lovely 2 course lunch by the water, we once again joined the boat for a cruise to Whitsunday Beach.

Whitsunday Beach is a must visit whilst at the Great Barrier Reef. It’s crystal clear water and gorgeous white sand is so inviting! We were transferred to the beach from our boat via a smaller boat and enjoyed a couple of hours swimming and making sandcastles on the beach. Melinda taught the kids how to make a drip castle and they proved to be very patient as their castles got higher! We also had a walk along the beach and you could venture into part of the national park if you wished. Heading back to Airlie beach, we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset over the islands.