By Roy Weavers

With the long Easter weekend coming up at the end of this week, why not have a go at something that you haven't tried before.

The Port Douglas yacht club is putting on an Easter weekend "Come and Try sailing"course from April 2nd to April 5th.  Five lessons for $100. This is your opportunity to have an Easter Cruise and come back to shore with a new set of skills and either a fresh or renewed enthusiasm for the sea.

Don't forget that the Yacht Club also has free sailing trips every Wednesday afternoon from 4pm. Just come along and they'll find you a boat to crew for a couple of hours of sunset sailing. To sign up for the Easter Sailing lessons just call (07) 4099 4386 for full details.

On Easter Saturday the Port Douglas Surf Club is hosting an appearance by the Easter Bunny at 11.30am and again at 3.00pm.  This is a great opportunity for Mums and Dads to come down early and let the kids 'loose' in the secure playground adjacent to the Surf Club.   Mum and Dad can sit and relax with a cold drink in the Surf Club Bistro while the kids get active this Easter. The whole family can then enjoy the visit from the Easter Bunny and have a nice lunch or afternoon snack from the seafood specials that the Surf Club are laying on. That seems like a fair option, don't you think?

A great idea for a family day out is waiting for you at The Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary.   They are open on everyday over Easter for Breakfast with the Birds and Lunch with the Lorikeets and after your meal you can go for a fascinating stroll around the park interacting with and feeding many of the animals that you meet along the way.  If you haven't been to the Habitat before or maybe you haven't visited it lately you really are missing a treat and it's right on our doorstep.  They have some fantastic new animals to see as a result of their superb endangered species breeding programmes. It probably falls under the category of being local, the locals forget to visit.  Well this is a great opportunity to put that right this Easter weekend and they'll even give you an Easter Egg if you mention their advert.

Of course if you don't fancy going to an organised event you can always have your Easter on the Beach.

What better way to get active than a good old fashioned game of beach cricket with your family and friends. Take a picnic down to the beach, spread yourselves out and have a relax or take a stroll while the kids are racing about doing 'crazy kid stuff'.  They can wear themselves out digging sand castles and playing footy so Mum and Dad can have a nice quiet afternoon siesta ready for the second innings of the Beach Cricket match a little later towards teatime.

You won't even notice how active you have been all day until you get home and collapse in front of the television.  Even the kids may stay quiet for a while!

Now, the weather is bound to have an effect on your plans with the after effects of Cyclone Paul currently lurking way up in the far North so it might be an idea to have a 'Plan B' up your sleeve to still have your active Easter.  If the weather decides to play nasty, you only need to make a few minor adjustments.

Let's face it Australia wouldn't be Australia without backyard cricket, so that solves that activity problem and rain can't stop play when you don't have umpires! And instead of the picnic, well again that's easy isn't it..just BBQ.

The added advantage to this new plan is that it's not so far to walk, however I guess that's not a good thing if you're trying to get active, but at least the clearing up is easier being so close to home. If you have a pool and your lawn is a little bit soggy for cricket, then get the pool volleyball net out and play the rain at it's own game.  Playing this game it doesn't matter how wet you get!

Editors comments: That's what I love about the far north, the weather rarely stops you doing what you want to do. You just have to be a little bit creative.

Don't forget to send any photographs of your fun Easter weekend to us, who knows you may win the photo of the week competition. Have a great Easter and if you are going to have a drink, please do so responsibly...you'll score more runs!