Australia Part XIII – Port Douglas & Adios Brisbane

It’s a two and a half hour plane journey to get from Brisbane which is in south Queensland to Cairns which is in North Queensland it’s just like flying to Spain! It’s about another hour drive from Cairns to Port Douglas but it manages to take me three.. but I won’t go into that or I’ll just get angry again… anyways after hanging around and getting steadily more annoyed I did make it to Port Douglas around 3 o’clock. The hotel is really nice so that cheers me up! I check out the little town and try find some lunch as I’m starving but all the kitchens are closed from 2:30 to 5pm. I manage to get into Mockas, a famous pie shop by the skin of my teeth at two minutes before 4pm when they close. I’d read in my guidebook that they have crocodile pies and luckily there’s one left. The girl is really nice and tells me I can have it for free as it would have been thrown out. I sit on a bench and mill it!!

There’s a lovely little church down by the marina called St Mary’s by the sea

I’m too full after eating that pie at 4pm to go out for dinner so I have a snack and a glass of wine and get an early night ahead of the next two days tours. [Has anyone noticed this pattern of early nights…. I must be getting old!]

Today I’m on a full day tour that starts with a visit to Tjapukai Cultural Park. The Tjapukai people are said to be the oldest living culture, dating back forty thousand years. They show us how to shoot an hour, throw a boomerang and play the didgeridoo. It’s an interesting couple of hours.

Next we head for the Skyrail Rainforest cableway. I get a gondola to myself and there are beautiful views of Cairns and the rainforest as it travels higher.

There are two stops along the way. Firstly where you can walk a boardwalk through the Rainforest and secondly to the lookout for Baron falls. They’re quite extensive falls:

The cableway stops at a little town called Kuranda which is full of little shops and touristy cafes. I’m hanging out with a lovely Canadian couple who I just met and we see there’s a small wildlife park where you can “cuddle a koala”. We only have an hour in the town but decide that’s what we should do.

After the excitement of the koala (which is a major highlight of this whole trip), we make our way to the train station as we are taking a one and a half train journey back down on the Kuranda Scenic Rail.

It really is a very scenic journey. I’m traveling in gold class so I get nibbles and wine and have a great time chatting to the people in my carriage. The lady looking after us i.e. regularly topping up our wine glasses, is going to Ireland in September so of course I give her a few tips and the bare bones of my now quite honed Dublin tour!

A little tipsy we board the bus back to Port Douglas where I get fish and chip and drink a liter of water before bed!

Another full day tour today this time starting with a trip through the Daintree National park

and a cruise along the Daintree river to see crocodiles:

Apparently this little fella is two years of age (not sure if the guide was having us on)

I get to sit up front beside the driver and it’s quite a climb up and jump down for these short legs!

Along the roads there are signs for cassowaries but unfortunately we don’t get to see one.

Our next stop is Cape Tribulation which sounds fantastic even though honestly I’ve no idea what it is…. we’ll it’s a cape!! A picturesque inlet with a beach that’s unusual because the Rainforest grows right down to the sand of the beach. The tide was out and the sky a bit cloudy but it was still nice to see:

Next we head for the Mossman Gorge which is hard to photograph as you’re essentially in it, so it’s more rainforest, we take a short walk from the visitor center and it’s pretty but not very exciting, I think I may be on the wrong tour, a hike out here would be lovely…. maybe next time!

Before I leave Port Douglas for Brisbane I get a chance to walk 4-mile beach. It is gorgeous and there’s a steady flow of people out for their early morning walk.

It’s a nice way to end my little trip up north and I head off to the airport to catch up on the baby bump progress and life back in Brisbane.

My last dinner on this amazing trip is a fabulous Japanese meal at Sake restaurant on Eagle Street pier. We share a variety of sushi rolls, tempura, karaggi and it’s all delicious. A nice little drinkees and a chocolate dessert for Fiona and that’s our final meal together done.

Oh and did I mention that as we were leaving the restaurant Barry Humphries aka Same Edna was leaving the Italian next door… locked !! We followed him to make sure he got safely to his taxi!

Well my final day of this amazing trip is here. I get out along the river for a final run and have a few hours enjoying the sunshine before I have to pack and say goodbye. It has been amazing from start to finish. I can’t believe it’s four months since I left for Sri Lanka, that trip seems like a distant memory at this stage. I can’t wait to look back over the photos and video I’ve taken, there’s so much I haven’t had a chance to look at. I’m hoping this blog will help me remember where I’ve been as I know I’ll get mixed up and forget some parts.. there’s just been so much. What I won’t forget is all the amazing people I’ve met along the way.. so many who I’ve no doubt I’ll stay in contact with and hopefully meet again on further travels around the world.

For now thanks to my latest hosts Ian and Fiona who have been amazing and wish me luck on the longest journey home I’ve ever had to take on.