"No sharks here... the crocs have eaten them all" - Port Douglas, Australia
Port Douglas, Australia
We arrived in Cairns after a short coach journey from Mission Beach, and were welcomed by blue skies and sunshine. Our hostel (the bellview) was old fashioned and needed a lick of paint, but had all the facilities we needed, a friendly reception, and a fantastic location just on the esplanade across from the Cairns lagoon. Cairns or "Cans" as pronounced in the proper Aussie way, doesn't really have a beach, but it does have a beautiful marina and a great lagoon. On day one we explored the area, read our books on the grass, and topped up our tans. That evening we met Gareth's relatives and went for a meal at a local pub. Cairns is still relatively small, but has increased in population from 110,000 to 150,000 just in the last 8 years since Gareth was there last. On day two we had a well deserved lie in, and then meandered around the marina looking at the amazing and extortionately kitted out yachts! There was one with 3 boats ON it, and 2 jet skis! Most had a huge outdoor kitchen dining area with a large dining table on the back of the boat, which could probably fit around 20 people. The largest boat there had a HELICOPTER on the top of it (see photo) and we couldn't even get close to it because it was on the other end of an 'authorised people only' pier! A lot of the boats came all the way from Georgetown and other Caribbean locations - we assume the loaded owners would fly over with their families and then pay some lucky person to sail the boat over! We spent a lovely hour discussing what we will have on our luxury yacht once we win a billion pounds! Later that day, Bronwyn (Gareth's relative) was kind enough to take the afternoon off work and drive us to see the sights of Palm Cove, a lovely little place on Cairns' northern beaches with a relaxed holiday atmosphere. We stopped for a late lunch then spent the rest of the day wandering along the beach. Bronwyn accidentally mentioned that they once had a croc on the beach and also one that got stuck in the stinger nets... Eeeek! (Stinger nets are huge nets that are put in place on certain North Queensland beaches so that in stinger season - October to May - people can swim in the nets and avoid being stung by the large box jellyfish which would kill you in an instant). The stinger nets are relatively useful except that other tiny poisonous jellyfish can still get through, they may not kill you but would be extremely painful! Oh and don't forget the stray crocs! But at least there's no need to worry about sharks around here... "the crocs have eaten them all"... That night we went to a beautiful Italian restaurant on the pier. We ordered affordable pasta dishes which were really nice, but felt guilty just ordering tap water in such a posh place, so we convinced ourselves to get a cider and wine to go with our meals. The next day, Saturday, we took a late morning free transfer bus to our hostel in Port Douglas, about one hour north of "Cans". In the true Aussie fashion the name of Port Douglas is shortened to "P.D" or "Port". Port Douglas had been recommended to us by numerous friends and family and we were not disappointed! The town is busy but not too touristy, the beach is beautiful and long (imaginatively named Four Mile Beach) and there are the highest density of stunning, and expensive, restaurants we have experienced on the whole of the East Coast. Our friends from Sale, James and Emma, had arranged to join us for a long weekend and they arrived in P.D later that day. We spent the evening at our hostel's bar, catching up on gossip. The next day was probably our favourite day on our Aussie trip so far. We went on a scuba trip to the Agincourt reefs (literally on the Eastern edge of the Great Barrier Reef - not far from the edge of the tectonic plate - just to increase our fear of falling off!!!). James and Emma had never tried diving before but were keen to join us, so we'd signed them up for two introductory dives while we went for 3 certified dives - our first ever dives together! Not to Kim's immediate delight, the first thing we saw when we deflated our BCDs and headed under the surface of the water, was a shark right next to us! Luckily it was just a white tip reef shark (pretty small and harmless). The rest of our dives were full of amazing fish including rays, clown fish, and more sharks (still harmless, don't worry mothers!) We enjoyed taking photos of the reef using our new polarising filter and topped up our tans. That night we went to a great tapas bar. James and Emma ordered dessert but the kitchen accidentally made the wrong one, and ended up giving us the wrong one and the right one for the price of one! The next day, Monday, we had another early start and headed off on a croc cruise along the Daintree River. P.D is well known for being a place where the Rainforest and Reef meet - it certainly is true and gives the area some amazing scenery. As you can see from our photos, we met a couple of mild looking crocs. They were perfectly still, almost looking fake, although we certainly weren't getting close enough to check! Our guide knew so much about the area, he had lived there for over 50 years, and taught us a lot. Such as: - as a child he used to swim across the river - crocs body temperatures need to be between 31 and 35 degrees for them to digest their food - it is impossible to tell the age of the croc by it's size as they all grow at different rates He also scarily informed us that bull sharks are present in the river, and years ago he saw one chomp a huge crocodile completely in half! Great! Later that morning we took an awesome 4WD to a place called Cassowary falls, a deserted beautiful waterfall and lagoon in the heart of the rainforest. Here we did the usual photo-taking and swimming. After our trip we headed to the beach for lunch, then relaxed in hammocks at our hostel. We had a few games of table tennis then headed out for the best meal of our travels so far, and our last one with James and Emma, at a local Italian restaurant called Buccini. The next morning James and Emma had to leave for their flight back to cold Melbourne. We spent the day shopping in P.D, relaxing in the hammocks, and looking at our photos from the weekend. We are now on our flight back from Cairns to Melbourne, and not looking forward to the change in temperature from 32 degrees to 10 degrees! We have hopefully topped up our tans enough to last us until we get to our next sun destination (the Cook Islands in 3 weeks). We can see why people choose to go north for the winter, as it is dry season, with low humidity and comfortable warm temperatures. However we are very glad we chose to live in Victoria, as the summer humidity and sweat-factor of the tropics would drive us crazy! We have a meal planned with Anne and Rob tonight (Gareth's relatives who have looked after us while we've been in Aus) and a meal planned with close friends from Sale tomorrow night. We then leave Melbourne at 9am on Saturday morning to fly to NZ! We have absolutely loved our time in Australia. The weather, chilled out lifestyle, and outdoor living definitely add to the amazing quality of life people have here. We look forward to coming back one day to explore more of this huge country, but for now, we are packed and ready for the snow, mountains and grass of New Zealand! See you there! G'bye mate!!! Love Gareth and Kim xxx Current location: Melbourne Destination: Christchurch