Paradise in FNQ

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Port Douglas
October 7th 2008

Published: October 7th 2008

Hi all,

To start with: Yes, I am still alive. It’s been a while since my last update of this blog but when you’re living and working in the beautiful Far North Queensland town of Port Douglas, time seems to lose some of its touch on reality.

Once again I am writing you from an exotic place, although this time not quite as remote as last time. I’ve been living at Dougie’s Backpackers for about three months now. It’s a hostel with a big campground out the back, set in the rainforest which is so prolific in this area in general and in and around town in specific. It’s become a second home of sorts, a community of working backpackers from around the globe, although altogether too many of them come from Germany. In the last few weeks a lot of people have moved on -or back- but there still remains a strong bond between the ‘long stay’ inhabitants, as I guess is to be expected after such a long time.

I’ve been working as a waiter and kitchen hand at the Central Hotel which is one of the oldest businesses in town having been constructed in 1886,

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4 mile beach running along the length of the Port Peninsula, the town is in the rainforest behind it

something Australians are always keen to display where ever possible. It came as something of a surprise to myself that I would actually enjoy such a job, but I can honestly say I have. The people I work with are great and the work itself is varied and consists of taking orders on a touch-screen computer, doing prep work in the kitchen and even making things like Caesar salads for customers, plating up dishes, taking dishes to the tables and clearing them again. We also set up the kitchen before each service and clean it again after each service. I usually work a split shift, from either 10.30 or 11.30 in the morning to 3.00 in the afternoon and again from 5.00 or 6.00 to 10.00 at night, five or six days a week.

Life here is pretty amazing, with a four mile long, palm-tree and rainforest lined beach at just a few minutes’ walk and all the beauty of the rainforest covered hills and the ocean all around. Day trips to Cape Tribulation -a national park just an hour north of here- are a normal way to spend a day off, as is diving or snorkeling on the

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Central Hotel Port Douglas, my workplace for almost three months. And yes, it's big. There's a huge garden behind it as well

Great Barrier Reef, which is still mostly intact this far north. All in all I would describe this place as pretty damned close to paradise. The climate is hot with temperatures around 28 degrees each day and even now, before the start of the rainy season, humid. There's loads of wildlife, from thousands birds from dozens of species, to snakes (yes, even on the campground), geckos, frogs, the ever present fruitbats and bandicoots -little marsupials that are somewhere inbetween rats and hedgehogs- who roam free among the tents after dark. Port Douglas is a small town of 2500 inhabitants, with only about 10.000 inhabiting the whole shire, although it plays host to over 1 million tourists every year. Because of this the hospitality industry is booming and there are many jobs for backpackers. Walking around town is meeting friends and colleagues at every turn. Free coffees at one place, discounted or free food at the other. I love to get a coffee and a sandwich and then walk up to Anzac Park to sit under the palm trees and look out over the whole northern Cape coastline, watching ships enter or exit the marina, all the while surrounded by the

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view from Anzac Park towards the Marina entrace and 'the inlet'

sound of birds, the waves washing against the rocks with not many people around to spoil it.

After living here for such a long time I have so many good stories to choose from, but I will tell you one that only transpired last night since it is by far the most outrageous and farfetched.

After work I usually go down the block to the Café Fresq where several of my friends work. There we sit down and have a few beers after service before either going back home or going out. Yesterday, as we were sitting and talking, two severely drunk Aussie men of around forty walked by and started a conversation. After a few minutes one of them said: “I’ll give you a hundred bucks to drive us back to the resort in our rental car.” We laughed but he remained serious and then even upped his offer to a hundred bucks for each of us. One of the girls challenged him to get the money and sure enough, he staggered off to the ATM to return a few minutes after with a big fan of fifty dollar bills. He then proceeded to hand the money

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one of many great bbqs at the Airlie Beach lagoon

to all of us. Since I was the only one with a license and also not under the influence, I was to be the driver. After some more talk another hundred changed hands to one of the girls for reasons I can’t even recall anymore and then the two men were asking for pills. Being locals, two of the girls thought they could hook them up and got in touch with one of their friends. After ten minutes or so of back and forth calling we were off to the house of this dealer to pick up the pills. When we arrived there he took off on the premise of getting the pills from somewhere and we realized that we didn’t have any cigarettes left. Tony, the one with the money, promptly gave me fifty bucks, got back in the car with me and told me to drive him to the servo to get two packs of cigs and keep the change. No problem Tony!

When we returned there was still no sign of the dealer so we decided to give up on the pills. Tony thought a joint would be nice, which was something I could easily accommodate

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Second night in Room 29 at Magnum's Backpackers in Airlie Beach

him in so we went a few houses down the street to our hostel, he handed me another fifty and I got some weed. This they smoked and afterwards I drove them back to the reception of the Sheraton where they were staying. My car was still in town and the girls needed to go home as well, so he got reception to call us a cab, while handing the porter fifty dollars to park his car. When the taxi arrived, he handed the driver another fifty and told him to drive us anywhere and keep the change, as well as giving me the money for driving them back. Life does not get much stranger than this! He spent roughly 700 dollars in two hours for a drive home, two packs of cigarettes -one of which he gave to the girls- and two joints. The funny thing was that he wasn’t a weird or scary guy at all, he was actually really friendly and funny and more of a rock star living it up than a rich guy trying to buy his happiness. Meanwhile, the 175 dollars or so that I made are quite welcome.

So now that you

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Partying hard in Airlie with some crazy Aussies we met there, as well as our friends and roomies

know a little of the where and what of my present life, I’ll go back and give a quick report of the weeks spent after my last blog entry in Mackay and before I came here. As you may recall we were working as labourers building a big tent in the Mackay showground. From there we went up the coast to Airlie Beach, a tiny backpacker’s town and the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands where partying and sailing are almost religiously pursued pastimes. We spent ten great days there and although we didn’t actually go out on a boat due to a combination of lack of funds on the parts of my friends and my infected legs (which are all better now and with cool scars to show ;-) ), we had a blast going out to proper clubs, meeting crazy people and having fantastic nightly barbecues in the artificial lagoon next to the sea.

From Airlie we went up to Cairns, now in the company of Chimene, one of our roommates from Airlie. Through all of our trip we’d been pretty excited about going to Cairns as so many people speak highly of it but to be honest

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more partying in room 29 with the boys

it is an absolute shithole. It’s ugly, with all its streets laid out on a grid and very few distinguishing landmarks. The streets are populated with drunk backpackers and even more drunk aboriginals. The whole place is a commercial backpacker trap with special deals on every corner, stupid games in all the pubs and clubs and a general lack of class or character, much reminiscent of holiday resorts like Salou. In short, we didn’t like it much. Still, we had come there to get work and tried to do so for about two weeks. Granted, we did have a good time at the hostel where we were staying but that was more in spite of than because of Cairns. Just when it became obvious that we weren’t going to be able to find any job worth having, we heard of this small town just an hour north which was essentially a working backpacker’s heaven with well-paid jobs and affordable accommodation. Within a few days we were packed and ready to go to Port Douglas. Chimene was staying behind but we were traveling on with two German girls, Lena and Lena, who we’d met in our hostel.

On arrival here

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preparing for a night out in Cairns with Lauren and the boys

we instantly loved the place. It reminded me most of Noosa Heads, which is a slightly larger tourist town in New South Wales. A good vibe, beautiful and with character it was a breath of fresh air after Cairns. It didn’t take us long to find job openings and within a week and a half we all found employment at different places.
Pretty soon we were all settled in a routine again which I found to be quite nice after months of living day to day. Get up, go to work, come home for a few hours for my break, go back, have a drink after work, go to bed, etc. On days off we’d go to the beach or go fishing at a beautiful spot on the nearby river where we saw things like a six to seven foot shark, loads of leopard rays, seahorses and many different species of fish, both on the end of the line and in the water.

We also soon discovered that our friendship with the Lenas was to be short lived as they were just not the people we thought they would be. I guess age can sometimes be an issue after

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With the Lenas at a waterfall near Mareeba during our stay in Cairns

all, or maybe it’s just personality. Thankfully they took the hint and after a few weeks moved out of the tent so it was once more just the three of us.
We’ve met loads of other people here in Port Douglas that we got along with very well. Backpacker’s are always places where you meet strange, different and interesting people and this one is no exception. From a 40-ish year or mother and her 16 year old son to a middle-aged man in a wheelchair and of course the token young Aussie alcoholic, it’s all here and everyone has a story.

The funny thing about a small town like this is that after a few weeks, you know everyone. I never thought I would see that as a good thing, having come from a relatively big city, but it really can be very nice. It’s my strong belief that if North Queensland didn’t have a rainy season, a lot more people would end up in Port Douglas permanently. As it is however, there is a rainy season and it’s just around the corner.

With that in mind, it’s time to make a move once more. With a healthy

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Anzac Park in Port with its palmtrees. I love palmtrees..

balance in the bank and a lot of tax to come back into it soon, I’ll be able to travel for 2-3 months without working and that’s exactly what I have planned.
On the 13th, a week from when I’m writing this, I’ll leave this place - with mixed feelings, of this I’m sure- and go on a 12 day trip through the outback and rainforest, to end up in Darwin. It’s around 2500 km of which about 1200 are off-road and mostly through remote areas. It will be the first true adventure of this trip and I’m very much looking forward to it. What I’m not looking forward to at all is leaving people behind here. Ajay will stay here and save up for another month before heading off to Fiji and New. After five months of traveling together I count him among my best friends and leaving him behind will suck. We’ll be travelling on with Janine, a German girl (yes, yes, there are some good ones ;-) ) who I met here and one of her colleagues, a Canadian girl called Nat.

In Darwin I hope to meet up with Joris, one of my best friends

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Janine on the side of the river at our favorite fishing spot.

from back home, to travel through Kakadu National Park for about a week. After that it’s down through Litchfield and through the true outback of the Kimberley region to Broome. At that point another of my friends from back home, Roy, might join us and we’ll travel down the west coast to Perth. At this moment I’m not exactly sure of my plans after that, it will depend on timing and money, but I still really want to spend New Year’s in Sydney so I will probably fly to there in December and back to Perth in January. As things stand now I’m fully intending to apply for my second year visa and remain here for a bit longer. How long that will be is impossible to say, but you should probably start booking tickets to Australia if you want to see me before the end of next year 😊

So, this has been quite a long installment of my blog but after three months of radio silence I felt like I could get away with it. I hope all of you are safe and happy where ever you may be. During the next few weeks/months it will probably

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A viewpoint in Daintree River NP looking back south

be difficult for me to be in touch regularly as cell phone coverage in the outback is sketchy at best and I’m not sure they’ve even heard of the Internet out there. However I’ll try my best to update a bit more often as I’m sure I’ll have plenty of pictures and stories of adventure and exploration to make you jealous with. For now I’ll leave you with the thought that life is too short not to enjoy it, so if you’re not enjoying it right now, make a change!

Much love,
Martin

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