We could almost be in a foreign country. Admittedly
everyone speaks English, although we have heard the occasional accent, mostly
of European or Chinese origin. Things are so different to what we’re used to at
home. Apparently it’s cold and wet back home, but here it’s hot and dry. The
rare shower of rain is lovely but never lasts long. The trees can only be
described as tropical – either large broad leafed canopies or tall slender
palms with coconuts strewn on the ground. The main crop is sugar cane and it’s
at every turn in the road; the cane plantations go as far as the eye can see.
We’ve seen a cane toad – an ugly looking thing it was, too. The beer is “XXXX”,
the footy is Rugby League, the seawater is warm and the locals complain when
the temperature goes below 30OC.
We’ve finally made it to Port Douglas, which is a place
that we’ve heard many people rave about. Now we can see the reason for its
popularity. The hour’s drive north from Cairns is simply spectacular, surely
one of the most scenic coastal roads in the country. Your eye is drawn to the
blue sea on your right as it extends to the horizon and seems to blend into a
cloudless blue sky. The beaches are white sand. There is little or no
population, just the sporadic house, business or accommodation along the way. Until, that
is, you reach the turn-off to Port Douglas, and the pace picks up.
Along both sides of the palm-tree lined road leading into Port Douglas
are resorts, hotels, beach bungalows, caravan parks, backpacker hostels, retreats,
shopping centres, pubs, restaurants. There’s no wonder it’s a holiday
destination of international reputation. The marina is loaded with boats and
cruisers of every shape and size. You can fish, helicopter, scuba, snorkel, swim
(in a stinger-free net) and parasail, or bushwalk in the Daintree Rainforest. For
instance we were sitting in a dockside bar with the water lapping just below us
and watching a pair of eagles soaring over dense tropical rainforest on the
other side of the bay.
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| Port Douglas |
The Mossman Gorge is part of the Daintree National Park,
and it is run by the local indigenous people who have lived there for thousands
of years, well before James Cook visited three hundred years ago. By the way,
this Jimmy Cook fella is pretty influential up here. We arrived via the James
Cook Highway, and drove past several campuses of the James Cook University, and
we intend to visit Cooktown in coming days. Anyway, we walked the Mossman Gorge
on some well-laid tracks and were shrouded in dense green rainforest. In fact
it rained but I didn’t get wet, as the overhead canopy kept me dry. It reminded
me of Fanghorn Forest in Tolkein’s “Lord of the Rings”.
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| The beautiful Mossman Gorge, Daintree National Park. |
Just down the coast is another favourite holiday seaside
town called Palm Cove, and the day we visited we stumbled upon an open-air bar
with musical entertainment provided by a 42-piece ukulele orchestra. I happened
to have mine in the car and so made it 43. It was a surreal few hours –
ukuleles, beer and beach under coconut palm trees.
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