Port Douglas Northern Queensland

When we arrived at Cairns Airport we sorted out our hire car problems with a very nice lady Jennie.

The car worked fine, the Satnav got us there without any problems using the Cook Highway (him again), and because we were self catering, we stopped at Woolworths (Fresh Food in Australia) on the way and stocked up, but after arriving at Port Douglas we realised we were missing some important stuff (Christmas Dinner) so we went to the local Coles (you find these everywhere).

Our apartment was spacious in a nice complex with a lovely pool. We had a couple of days rest to recover from our hectic schedule so far.

Christmas Day we went down to the beach with Steak, Chicken Fillets, potatoes and salad and cooked them on the public electric barbeques which took a while but the end result was lovely.

We even had some Christmas cake, but alcohol was banned on the beach so we went back to our apartment for some very nice Australian Chardonnay.

On Boxing Day we headed north to the village of Daintree which offered River Cruises to find crocodiles, but we missed one tour so we had a snack and went off to the end of the tarmac road at Cape Tribulation.

The trip meant going over a chain link ferry (£18 return) and some very hilly and windy roads where the Satnav got lost a few times. The end of the road was not even a village more a staging post for people taking the Bloomfield Track, a 100km dirt road to Cooktown; named after you know who, after his ship Endeavour hit the Great Barrier Reef and found the inlet to make repairs, thereby founding the first settlement in Australia.

Next day a visit to the Kuranda Scenic Railway, which was built in the Goldrush days of the late1800’s, and was last used for non tourist reasons in the 2^nd World War when the area was used as a staging post and hospital evacuation with over 100,000 American and Australian troops going through here on the way to the South Pacific.

There were some terrific views along the way, with the train on viaducts, the Baron Falls at the hydroelectric dam and views all the way back to Cairns some 30 miles away.

The town of Kuranda is now just a tourist trap but has a lot of history, the Kuranda Hotel has hardly changed for a century.

We had intended to take a River Trip here with Crocodiles on the itinerary, but the train was a bit late and in any case it was a long way down to the river with steep steps so we decided against it. 

We instead went through all the tourist shops, there was everything from plastic tat to paintings and prints costing up to A$5,000.

When we returned to the station there was a sign asking us to enjoy their wonderful river, with the top recreation being swimming !! methinks the mention of Crocodiles is used to sell tickets you hardly ever see one, and certainly not here.

Out to the Great Barrier Reef on a very large boat Quicksilver (over 400 passengers). We docked at a pontoon over the Agincourt Reef at the outer edge of the GBF. It was foul miserable weather, completely overcast and raining, at times very hard.

The only view we had of the reef was from a semi submersible boat, but the colours were lost due to a combination of the thick windows and the overcast sky even the bright coloured fish turned grey.

About an hour later the weather improved a bit and we tried snorkelling but so did every man and his dog.

On the way back the weather changed dramatically and we got a view of the Low Isles which are part of the reef but close to the shore and feature a lighthouse.

On the last day we drove down to Cairns for a look round but it wasn’t worth the effort, not impressed at all. Then next morning we repeated the trip but this time to the airport, arriving at 6am for our 7:30 flight to Uluru.

Overall this is a lovely place but we had a few disappointments. Talking to other tourists over the next few days the conclusion was that Hamilton or Fraser Islands would have been better for the Reef, but at least we spent Christmas with a Barbie on the Beach.