This place has to be one of my most favourite places near Cairns – and you can only go there if you know Mr Ideas Man. Because Mr Ideas Man owns the property that is home to "Camp Run Amok". I am privileged to have met Mr Ideas Man 4 years ago, randomly when I was working on a charter boat and he had come out with his wealthy mate who had chartered the entire boat for a week. Mr Ideas Man and I have stayed friend ever since purely because he is one of a few people who are able to truly care about another human and not expect anything in return. He genuinely cares about people's welfare and happiness and generously helps others at his own detriment. I have a LOT of time for Mr Ideas Man.

I’ve now come to Camp Run Amok on several occasions – one of my birthdays, my going overseas party, my welcome home initiation and “how to cope with life” pep talk - and now for the Cairns SUP (stand up paddle) Christmas Party! Yes, it is a weekend dedicated purely to SUPing & celebrating the end of another year . I do love this festive time of year, when people gather to celebrate the upcoming holidays and everyone is relaxed and in party mode. The holiday spirit is alive in all of us and everyone is all about eating and drinking and being merry. I love it. I also love wearing my reindeer antlers and singing Christmas carols and (over)eating special Christmas treats.

This weekend was super fun – with camping Lakeside in my teeny swag tent, cooking meals together, sitting by the camp fire telling stories, roasting marshmallows and of course several paddles over the course of the weekend, including night paddles under the moonlit sky (when the clouds parted). It’s amazing how only one hour drive from Cairns, and at 670m elevation, the night temperature can feel soooo different. It feels 10deg C cooler up here than it does in Cairns which is currently dripping at 31 deg C in the day (20 deg C at night) which I think is due to the difference in humidity and general heat retention because of cloud cover . Over the weekend we had to battle several rain showers which put my swag tent to the test and to which it held true and kept me dry.

This weekend I was also faced with a dilemma – to choose to stay in Cairns for the next month or accept an offer to escape on an unknown seafaring adventure sailing a yacht from Cairns to Sydney, which could have gone either good or bad…..I waited all weekend for a sign of what to do, and then out of no where, I just felt so happy. Happy to be home and to be surrounded by my old friends that were there at this camp, but also so happy by the new ones I had met just that weekend. I felt so happy and alive – and it was all because I was at home. I was actually loving being back at home! To be surrounded by so many positive people who also shared my love of the outdoors and doing new things – I was happy. And with this happy feeling, I decided I wasn’t ready to leave Cairns just yet. I still had more to see and do and I had people I could rely on around me .

It was an awesome weekend away, and of course, big thanks goes out to Mr Ideas Man – so called because he has amazing ideas and he actually goes out and makes them happen, not just talk about it. Just sit with him for a while and hear of all the achievements in his life and you too will be amazed. True to his typical generous nature, Mr Ideas Man created the outdoor toilet for all our comfort. He went to extreme effort to put the system together just to make sure all us ladies were taken care of and also to cater for when the inevitable No. 2 came along :) Mr Ideas Man also went to the trouble to mow the lawn for us, trim trees, pile up the wood for our fire, etc, etc, etc all because he wanted to take care of all of us. He is just too kind! Thank you Mr Ideas Man – you know who you are!