At around 3am i woke up and walked outside for a smoke. living north of cairns the night skies can be very clear. i was listening to the normal sounds of the night when it seemed to go really quiet. i didn't pay much attention to it but while looking up into the night skies i became aware of something moving off to my left in the sky. i turned my head to see 5 bright round objects in what i can only describe as a upside down tick formation. this formation was traveling from the north to the south very quickly. i became aware that right then it was dead quiet. not a sound. at first i wasn't sure what i was looking at. there was no reference for me to use. i observed this formation till it disappeared out of sight. it didn't deviate in direction or speed that was noticeable to me. i waited for a little while for the sounds of jet engines or some sound of propulsion but there was none. being ex military for many years, i'm well aware of what a jet fighter traveling at faster than sound leaves. there was no sound. no afterburners. the formation was far to close for that speed and at night, no navigation lights. the light of these "orb" like objects was visible from the front to the rear. no change in intensity. no rumble felt. just silent orb ike objects traveling very fast from north to south. there were no other lights in the skies other than the stars. shortly after it had disappeared the normal sounds of the night seemed to come back slowly. this is what i saw....... o o from north to south rapidly o o o i had no reference point in which to judge the size of them with only the backdrop of the black skies. they weren't close to the ground, and my feeling was that they were well over 500ft above sea level.