Here are a few more things that might be important regarding traveling with a baby:

Restaurants close early, like 8 pm. I’m not kidding. Stuff in Cairns may stay open a bit later because of all the tourists, but its hard to find eats after that time.

Many shops are closed on Sunday. Its only been in the last couple of months that the big grocery stores like Woolies and Coles have been open on Sunday, and its only for 4 hours or so.

If you enjoy a drink now and then, its ok to bring your kid with you to the pub. All of the pubs in Queensland are non-smoking, and many of them serve pretty filling meals at a decent price.

Expect to be horrified at the high price of prepared food here. An average Caesar salad with chicken will be at least $18, and steaks are between $25-30.

Lots of things are more expensive here, including vegetables. Most veggies have to be shipped up from down south, and that adds a lot to the cost. On the flip-side, bananas will be dirt cheap and taste better than anything you’ve ever had in the states.

It may be harder to find a baby-sitter in Cairns than in the U.S. Many people won’t trust their kid to anyone else to watch, so teenagers don’t do this as much. However, the corollary of this is that kids are welcome almost anywhere as long as they aren’t a complete nuisance.

We are definitely going to be checking out the Tree Tops Lodge, at least right when we get there. Thank you so much for the suggestion. I’ll have to call and get some of the going rates from them for sure.

When you get back to AUS, if you ever find yourself in Cairns let me know!

Baggage: I’m jealous. Traveled here with three bags. The trip home in five months will require a pick up truck to get us to the airport (there will be five of us).

Deals on Airfare: Got burned the same way. Found great rates, but didn’t know that two months later could fly the family of four round trip for $2,500 total. I suspect V-Australia will keep the prices low for some time.

Frugal Accommodations: SIL (Summer Institute for Linguistics) a church affiliated organization has a nice guest house. Just Google Tree Tops Lodge Cairns for more info.

Enjoy your stay.

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It’s awesome to hear yet another example of how planning and saving really does pay off. I know for us the vacations have just really felt different when they were paid for ahead of time. It’s cliche, but it’s so true.

I love the tips on planning ahead and the peak season travel. I always make sure I do those things.

When we planned for our Disney Trip – I planned and saved for a year. We did go the day after Christmas and stay through the new year but having talked about the parks, what was there and what to do – we were able to navigate through it with little effort.

We also saved for vacation for a year and gave each child money as a Christmas gift so they could have a little extra spending money.

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Tips for packing: If you can, get a compression sack. You can stuff an insane amount of clothes in there and it saves mega room for shoes or toiletries. Just be sure you have an iron where you are landing!

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Thanks so much for all the other suggestions. I would appear that gas is like 3x as expensive! Even more glad we’ll be doing public transportation at first.

I really hope you will drop a line if you are in Cairns. It would be awesome to meet up!