Day 167 - Tuesday 13 June - Port Douglas for a day

Day 167

Tuesday

13 June 2017 –

Cairns – Port Douglas

We woke relatively early and once awake we were happy to be up and about. Paul got the washing on, while did the set up inside before eating breakfast and having a shower.

We were on the road at 9.15am making our way towards Port Douglas. First stop though was the shop for some lunch bits and then we continued on the road. Port Douglas is about an hour north along the Captain Cook Hwy. The road enters world heritage forest and hugs the coast, with the Coral Sea just beyond the door in some points.

There were many wow points along the drive. We stopped at one point near Ellis Beach to take a walk along the beach, the quintessential palm tree lined, white sand beach, just beautiful. Not much further up the road there were plenty of people camping at free camp spots so we may just join them at some stage.

Check out the dive bombing butterfly.

We continued on, stopping at Rex Lookout to look out over the beach and back towards Cairns.

After returning to the car we finished our journey into Port Douglas. The road in was lined with luxury resorts and golf courses, much like Asian tourist spots. We drove in to town, found a place to park and then began our exploration, walking the main strip and following the sign to a lookout. It was a bit of a hike up a steep hill and past some luxury homes. At the top we checked the view back over the beach before making the controlled descent stopping near the bottom to look at an old lighthouse and the view.

We returned to the centre via the beach on the other side of the point, checking out the old church, before stopping in at one of the many pubs to have a drink and watch the 5^th game of the NBA finals between Golden State and Cleveland. We stayed for the first quarter and then the food smells began getting the better of us, so we left, returned to the car, grabbed out lunch bag and walked to the main beach to eat our rolls.

After we had eaten we walked along the beach, packed with tourists taking advantage of the sun lounges. As we waked back up a side street we located a caravan park, so we enquired about staying but unfortunately they were full for out dates.

We walked the main drag again, returning to the pub to watch the last quarter of the NBA final. This year Golden State took out the prize 4 games to 1 with Kevin Durant taking out MVP with fire 30+ games. We watched some of the presentations and then we returned to the car for Paul to change into his beer shirt and we made our way to Hemingway’s Brewery. Paul had their tasting paddle, upset he had to pay for it. He wrote his notes and I took the photos.

We made some decisions about where we would be over the next couple of weeks and I rang a caravan park in Cooktown to book in and then we walked back to the car and drove out to a caravan park to check on their availability. No one was in the office and we saw the price on the board and figured we would check the only other park in the area.

We made our way 8km out of town to the Glengarry Park, made enquiries at the office, checked the sites and then booked in for later in the month. Paul finally got a hold of Ballsy, so we returned to Port Douglas and met him in the centre of town.

We enjoyed a couple of drinks at Paddy’s Tavern, chatting about our respective trips and catching up on all things home. It was good to see a familiar face for a change. We followed Ballsy back to his accommodation – Mantra – just to check it out. It was a little oasis hidden behind the main street. We then said our goodbyes and made our way back home as it became dark.

We finally got in at 7 and it was straight into dinner both of us starving and in need of food. I spent the evening continuing to add photos while Paul did up his beer reviews and by 9am we were both in bed ready for a big day of exploring tomorrow.