Blogs from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 34

i realised i didnt say much about anyone else except myself in that last bit so ill say a bit about everyone else too!! dad is really learning how to 'chill' as he calls it and hes been driving around everywhere enjoying all the gorgeous scenery and taking pictures of absolutely everythinggggg and lauren is still quite messed about with her sleeping pattern but shes cheery and enjhoying everything (except for the animals!!) were all having a giggle and its going to be absolutely wonderful when mum and marcus arrive (marcus i cant waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit to see you i miss you like a big missing thing!!) and were going snorkling tomorrow but lauren might be doing the introductory scuba dive!!! ... read more

Tuesday - off to the Atherton tablelands - to do homage to the Atherton family. Sad the world we live in today. Polly thought that the Atherton Tablelands must be the place in Queensland where they sold tables, the Aussie equivalent of Sofa World or Land of Leather (in my day land of leather was something rather different from the place you bought leather furniture but we won't go into that now). Great treks in the Tablelands amid the tropical plants and the platypuses (or platypi - don't know which) that refused to show themselves. Polly spotted a turtle basking in the sun and Lauren some great butterflies (the Ulysses which is flourescent blue). Did a car and walk trek of the waterfalls in the area, which are spectacular, but didn't swim (yes I know that ... read more

So, Port Douglas has been treating us well, despite the less than perfect weather conditions. We spent our first day here getting to know the hotel itself and town and were happy to just relax and stay still for a few days. The next day, Thursday, we were picked up at 8:00 am by Tony's Tours in a white SUV for a day of fun in the rainforest. We were only 2 of 6 people in the car, plus Tony our guide, and it was a very interesting and informative day. Our first stop was at the Mossman Gorge, where we walked a bit through the rainforest to the Mossman River and saw a beautiful body of water, with lots of rocks and waterfalls. There were tons of bats too that caught our attention. Back in ... read more

On a recommendation from my brother and his family (especially my nephew Anthony), I went to Hartley's Crocodile Adventures, in between Cairns and Port Douglas. There were over 200 freshwater and estuarine crocodiles at the park. Sounds like a lot until you find out most of them are in the farm and are future handbags and boots. I saw a crocodile named Sollie after the pet dog it ate on New Year's Day and a huge (about 15 feet long) croc named Paul who was brought to the park after some rancher got tired of him eating their dogs and biting the heads off their cattle. Appropriately, there was a cow skull in the habitat with Paul. A lagoon that took seven years to grow/build had 26 crocodiles; 18 females and eight males. To visit them, ... read more

Hi everyone, trust this finds you all well. This is being written from an internet cafe in the wonderful town of Port Douglas, where we have been for the last week. Our last 2 days in Cairns were both good and bad. Bad on Saturday cos Ken had money taken from his wallet; he had lost it and found approx 2 hours later, cards intact, money gone. Not happy but at least he hadn't been mugged to obtain the money and he still has access to money. The good was Sunday when we went up to a village in the mountains called Kuranda via a scenic railway and down the mountain via a cable car (Linda was brave). Some of the views were stunning but the weather was a bit against us. We picked up our ... read more