Qld - Port Douglas and The Daintree

While based at Cairns we spent some time up at Port Douglas and the Daintree. The drive along the coast to Port Douglas has to be one of the most picturesque I have driven. You wind your way north hugging the coast most of the way and pass along miles of palm lined beaches and hidden resorts.

Port Douglas is the home of many exclusive resorts, fabulous restaurants, day spas, art galleries and shopping. The area is unique in that it has two World Heritage listed natural attractions at its doorstep, the Reef and the Daintree.

Every Sunday morning, markets are held in Market Park which is at the inlet end of Macrossan St. The market has everything from fruit and vegs, arts, craft, pottery, clothing, lots of great jewelery, Australian souvenirs and loads more. The quality of everything is very high. My favourite stall was a man on a push bike squeezing the juice from the sugar cane. They added ice and a little fresh lime. It was delicious. It is probably just as well that we are short on space in the van because I could have done some serious damage to my credit card between the markets and the great shops in town.

North of here the Mossman river tumbles its way over the huge granite boulders that line the Mossman Gorge. There is a walking track that takes you through the Daintree stopping along the way to view the water and the swimming holes. We also spent two nights in the Daintree near Cape Tribulation. We even saw a cassowary as we were driving through the area. While we were at the Daintree it rained on and off for two days so we really felt part of the rain forest experience. We went on a crocodile cruise on Coopers Creek and saw four crocodiles on the shore relaxing and swimming.

The wind finally died down and we headed out to the reef on Shaolin which is a Chinese Junk. It was a very relaxing day and we got to swim with the turtles which was the trip highlight. Just to watch them glide through the water beside you is a surreal experience. They then rest at the turtle cleaning stations where the rass go to work getting unwanted creatures from underneath their shells. Fascinating.

All in all, our time here in Northern Queensland has been a magical experience.
We now head west to Normanton and Karumba and are looking forward to seeing what that area has to share with us.