Travelling With Kids Travel Blog: Palm Cove, Tropical Far North Queensland...

The stunning colourful village of Palm cove

I have to admit that we are definetly creatures of habit and this of course includes holidays. Once we find a spot that we totally fall in love with, we seem to keep going back. Our first trip to Palm Cove was pre children but once we had children this was the first spot that we decided on holidaying to. Back in the old days, pre Jetstar and Virgin I remember the flight for my 2 year old costing $865.00, boy times have certainly changed since then, for the better of course.

Palm Cove is located almost equidistant between Cairns and Port Douglas and is the perfect location to base your tropical North Queensland holiday, with a similar climate to famous tropical cities on the same lattitude such as Hawaii and Jamaica. Palm Cove is a stunning tree fringed beach overlooking two majestic Islands on the horizon, one being Scout Hat Island and the other the very exclusive Double Island, which is booked out to small groups, this is where Keanu Reeves stayed for a few months after filming the Matrix, after my Auntie and Uncle declined Keanu and his entourage in Trinity Beach as they were booked out...NO WAY!!!!! http://www.doubleisland.com.au/about.html. The village is also absolutely beautiful and very colourful with some of the most amazing restaurants on offer in Australia, it just has such a relaxed vibe.

SO WHY PALM COVE
We absolutely love the tropics and are always guaranteed of warm weather, it generally rains overnight, but the days are stunning. There is so much to do with the children. The kuranda skyrail is an absolute must which will take you to the stunning village of Kuranda, full of markets, attractions such as Birdworld and The Butterfly park and an absolute must is a return on the Kuranda Scenic Railway.http://www.skyrail.com.au/. The kids will be delighted by a visit to Hartley Creek Crocodile park http://www.crocodileadventures.com/ as they will be amazed by the Cairns Tropical Zoo. /http://www.cairnstropicalzoo.com.au/

HAVE A BLAST AT HARTLEYS CREEK CROCODILE FARM

8 month old baby Lucie, on her first of what would become many trips to Palm Cove, discovering Charlie the crocodile. Seriously..What sort of Mother does this to her child???

Having fun at Hartley's Creek Crocodile farm...xx

For any fishing lovers, Palm Cove will have you hooked! Each year my husband takes his rods and we spend hours on the Jetty waiting and wondering what monster we will hook. We will generally have an early fish in the morning from 6am -8 am as then the sun comes out and then we will night fish for a few hours on dark, which is so much fun. Over the years we have gotten to know the locals and they have given us some fantastic tips, we even met Sir Thomas 'Sean Connery's' scottish cousin who lives in Palm Cove on the jetty one morning, Strangley enough he sounded exactly like his famous cousin!

Robbie Lands a Giant Trevally from The Palm Cove Jetty...

William catches a Wolf herring and was beside himself...great bait fish..

Nice catch...Fingermark...x

Louis becoming a local and learning the art of the dragnet...

Bait fish LOVE..xx

Lucie and her baitfish, hoping to catch a monster..xx

Baitfishing fun..xx

Night Fishing On The Jetty

So nightime brings out a whole new variety of fishlife and we had an amazing time catching gummy shark, stingrays and squid.

Very happy boys with their stingray

Louis proudly shows off his Gummy shark, with our loveable larrikin mate 'DAVE'

CHARTER FISHING

If your not skillfull to pull a monster off the jetty you can always take a charter trip out and be guaranteed of a catch! Its a great day out , we all managed to catch a few fish each and even spot Dolphins, which was just magical.

Louis lands himself a beautiful Barracouta...

Will is very proud of his 'Catch of the day' a beautiful Mackeral that was almost as tall as him, and he cooked for dinner that night...xx

And a tuna for me...eek, slippery sucker...xx

Captain William..xx

This is the life...all fished out...xx

SNORKELLING......

A day out to the Great Barrier Reef is an absolute must when holidaying in Palm Cove. You can experience one of the '7' wonders of the world with a day trip to one of the pontoons, with underwater viewing platforms, semi submersible submarines and glass bottom boat tours, there is something for all ages. If you are travelling with very young children I would recommend the Sunlover as it has fantastic family options including a cage where toddlers can play and feed amongst the fish http://www.sunlover.com.au/index.php

The children and I in the children's paddling pool interacting and feeding the fish..xx

The Great Barrier reef is the world's largest and most complex living coral reefs, supporting varied forms of marine life. The entire family swimming with a 'Sea Turtle' 2 years ago at 'Michelmas Cay' was one of the most amazing experiences.

Snorkelling fun in the crystal clear ocean at Michelmas Cay..xx

William finds a Starfish at Michelmas Cay...xx

Getting ready to snorkel off Green Island the previous year....I must thank my gorgeous friend "Amanda for not freaking the girls and I out when we came across a shark...ARGH...xx

THE BEACH

The beach in Tropical far North Queensland is full of so many deadly creatures that we never swim in it, as much as my gorgeous daughter Isabella continuously pleaded, of course there are swimming nets to keep out the stingers, but unfortunately the stingers legs get through, not ensuring safety.and lets just say that one morning as we were having breakfast and reading the local paper...as you do when on holidays, front page...a 50 year old woman was doing her morning laps in the nets when her arm brushed by what she thought to be a piece of driftwood....but to her horror..It was in fact a 3 metre plus salty that had become trapped in the net, she eyeballed him and swam the hell out of there, a very lucky lady, this is the 2nd time that I have heard of this occurring , but it is in fact quite common.....'See MOTHER knows best', I told Isabella. We tend to stick to the stunning pools at our resorts..you just never know......http://www.ronebergcairns.com/2008onwards/trinitybeach08_001.html In fact you can read all about it here.

THE ESPALNADE IN CAIRNS

Now, if you do want to hit the beach, I would suggest a day in at the Cairns Esplanade http://www.cairnsesplanade.com.au/home. This stunning man made lagoon is the perfect spot to spend some time with the children and they will love it.

Lucie enjoying the stunning lagoon at the Cairns Esplanade..xx

Little Miss Isabella, in her teeny, weeny Bikini..xx

Lucie and Isabella enjoying the stunning Cairns Lagoon..xx

CAFE CULTURE

Now, if fishing, lounging by the pool, watersports, snorkelling or a round of golf aren't quite your scene, why not try a trip to the stunning Daintree ,scenic railway and Kuranda sky rail, enjoy the cafe culture and relaxing bars that Palm Cove have on offer or just be pampered at one of the day spas.....the choice is yours...but whatever you do enjoy!!!