Port Douglas and Cairns

Paul and I have found a little piece of heaven in northern Queensland. We have an apartment for 9 nights in the pretty little seaside town of Port Douglas, and I love it here. The apartment is perfect - everything you need with a pretty view out the balcony so that I can sit and eat breakfast and enjoy the weather and the birds while Paul sleeps. That said, I'm not letting him have many sleep-ins. Today we were up at 7 so that we could get to Cairns for me to do a dive refresher, and tomorrow we'll be up at 7 again so that we can go out on the reef with a boat.

We arrived at the Cairns airport on the 10th, and headed to the car rental agency. They pick you up at the airport, which is the only good thing about the company. Called, "Older Car Rental Cairns", we had expected cars that were 5-10 years. What we got was a beater. The price for the rental of this little Ford Fiesta ($500 for 9 days including insurance, though goodness knows why one would ever need insurance)was more than what they could ever sell it for. The car had no safety features, and so we were feeling rather gypped. We had to take the car for 48 hours, so we drove off with it creaking and groaning the whole way. Our Trip Advisor report will express our displeasure.

The drive from Cairns to Port Douglas is amazing. Ocean to your right, green hills and mountains to the left. Much of the drive is around twisty road as it follows the coast. The beaches are beautiful with white sand. I knew that I'd like it here. We stopped in a swishy town called Palm Cove for lunch and paid way too much for sandwiches, and then headed to our accommodation in Port Douglas. After checking ourselves in, we did a bit of grocery shopping, had dinner of takeout pizza, but generally spent the day relaxing and reading on the balcony. THIS is vacation!

On October 11th we slept in and then headed to the Port Douglas Sunday market. It was held in a park, with each vendor under their own white tent. There was a disappointing amount of fresh product, but a plethora of local crafts. There were also a lot of masseuses doing massage on people lying in little tents with a view of the ocean in the background. Very hippy, much of it, but rather enjoyable.

We headed to 4-mile beach next. It's a beautiful white-sand beach, made more attractive by the mangrove trees partially submerged, the rocks around the edges, and the spectacular mountains in the background. We clambered over the rocks for a while, and enjoyed the surf and then found a yummy ice cream. We got the stuff needed for supper and headed to the apartment to relax, and then have steak on the bar-b-que (the apartment building has a communal barbie). Night was spent relaxing while I did some reading up on scuba diving skills.

On Monday ,the 12th (Thanksgiving in Canada), we were up early to head to Cairns. First, we picked up a new rental car, at a credible agency, and then dropped off our piece of junk. The diving course was excellent - a much appreciated review after a few years above water. I was taught by this Canadian from somewhere 3 hours north of Edmonton, who must have been only about 22, but somehow has gotten to be a dive instructor. He said he feels like he gets paid to go on vacation, since he spends a lot of his time out on the reef scuba diving with tourists. Not bad.

We hit the mall to eat lunch and get Paul some Crocs so that he can be on the boat without being in his hiking boots, and then did a bit of Cairns sight-seeing. Cairns is a bit of an icky town, actually. The water-front isn't really charming. There is a long boardwalk, which is nice, and there is a huge saltwater pool which is attractive and seems to draw a huge number of sun-seekers. I also really enjoyed watching the egrets and pelicans congregate on the edge. But the water is murky, and the other side of the boardwalk is lined with ugly shops. There is nothing quaint about Cairns. The inner streets are livable and practical, but there is nothing there to recommend the city. The very best part of the city, and the one thing that I'd suggest people see, is the Botanical Gardens. They were beautiful! Tropical greens and flowers everywhere, a lily pond, guinea fowl-like birds and turkeys that scampered away whenever we came near. Of course, they made more noise and were more conspicuous trying to hide than if they had just stood on the path in front of us. The little fowls make me laugh, the way that they dig at the ground throwing away anything in their path to lunch.

We spent the evening having supper at a nice place called 2 Fish, and then Paul had to go to a take-away joint to fill the rest of the holes. Now we sit watching TV and relaxing before another early morning heading out to the Great Barrier Reef...Yeah!!!