Port Douglas

We've just spent a week in Port Douglas.  We did wonder about the sense of having a holiday before the wedding but it has proved to be the best thing out.  I spent most of my time fighting a virus and then Harry caught it, so it was a reasonably quite holiday on the North Queensland coast.  First of all the weather - it is a bit rich for Wellingtonians to say it was windy - but it was.  Cooled the temperatures down a bit as it wasn't quite the high 20's we were hoping for - still teeshirt and shorts weather so we can't complain.  Only one day of rain - when we aptly visited the rain forest so all pretty good. There's some pretty good views from the Captain Cook Highway and on the way up to the Tablelands, Daintree Forest and Kurunda.  Climbing above the coast and rain forests into the dry grasslands above.

We loved the nature...picture a golden sandy beach lined with coconut palms (a few coconuts lying on the ground), a few bougainvillea and hibiscus - though not as much colour as we thought - thinking about it rain forests do have a natural 'green' look about them similar to the kiwi native forests.  The colour is in the garden and the wildlife.

In Port Douglas there is an apartment complex, with the bathroom cupboards open to full view of the streets - it's true - we can see the medicines residents were taking, find out whether they were tidy, work out the most popular face wash ... wonder what the architect was thinking.

The birdlife really is amazing.  Lots of noise early morning (who needs an alarm?), early evening with bats flying around and signs on the road to watch out for cassawary.   We decided the signs are a bit like 'kiwi' and 'little blue penguins' crossing the road signs - have you ever seen one - nope. A few wild indigenous turkeys were all we saw. We ended up visiting an animal reserve/refuge centre to catch some of the bird life.

On our trip up to Cape Tribulation (across on the car ferry) we stopped at a sandy beach.  What a find.  Beach art - the artists hidden below the surface probably little crabs 6or periwinkles making their homes in the wet sand and warm water - swimming pool temperature.

Our first walk around Port Douglas started with an evening walk along the beach - dark with the tide in, possibly not the best time to explore.  Still it was fun heading for the village along the sandy shore with the lights obscured by trees and coconut palms.  We stayed about 1 km out of Port Douglas, in a apartment, so breakfast was cereal and fresh fruit and lunch was salady stuff in wraps.  Dinner was out - Italian, Pub, Seafood - some restaurants didn't have much choice for vegetarians but others were very good, and we had some lovely pastas and salads.  One night we had fish and chips and couldn't find anywhere to eat them so settled for a park bench under a tree.  It was pretty dark and we listened to the band playing across the road, while eating salad with our fingers (didn't find the plastic forks until after our meal - it was dark remember).  So, we went back the next day and took a photo of the bench and the tree...

We drove up to Daintree Rain forest one day, and took the car across on the little car ferry.  Did a few boardwalks through the trees and mangrove swamps (Rainforest, Wetlands, Grasslands are all pretty close really) and went for a boat trip to spot a crocodile in its natural inhabitants.  Saw a baby - a couple of inches long, a teenager (couple of feet), and big Daddy (3 metres).

There is some pretty big industry up here - besides sugar cane, tea and coffee growing, there is ice cream (flavours from the natural seeds like wattle) and the local Atherton dairy cows, wineries and lots of fresh fruit etc, so we didn't starve.  We drove up to Kuranda one day - I have memories of my visit 30 or so years ago.  We must have caught the train from Cairns as we soon discovered that this little tourist spot didn't offer a train trip through the forest unless we went back to Cairns.  The place is very touristy now, with lots of cheap clothing and coffee shops.  The little church St Saviours offered a peaceful respite - and have a look at the stain glass window photo.  Not far from Kuranda is the Baron Falls which would have been spectacular in the rainy season.

Another day we drove to the Tablelands.  Experienced coffee and icecream makers are up here. There are lots of dairy cows here, termite mounds, tea plantations and mango and pineapples.

Another day we went to Atherton table lands - which was a bit of a non adventure.  I was not feeling wonderful and so didn't really enjoy the driving - but the fig trees (that take over other trees) was quite spectacular.