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Published: April 9th 2014
Monday morning and we headed back out to the airport for our trip to Cairns and then on to Port Douglas.
Amazing how a 3 hour flight feels like a quick hop after the previous trips but actually Sydney to Cairns is the equivalent of flying from London to Athens even though it does not look far on an Ozzie map.
After arriving at Cairns we took a bus up to Port Douglas arriving around 3pm and checked into a fantastic appartment which is right in the heart of the town......it is beautifully appointed with a wonderful terrace, outside plunge pool and jacuzzi and the envitavble outdoor barbie.
Port Douglas is a tourist location set up to serve both the Barrier Reef and also the Rainforest, both of which are world heritage sites. I wont bore you with the details but google them and you will see that both are absolutely enormous!!
After a quick unpack we headed out to explore the town.....which is basically 2 mins left for the start of "4 mile beach" or right for the 10 minute trip down the high street to the marina.
First impressions were not great as we
entered onto the beach passed a helpful sign which warned about the killer jellyfish and also the risk that if you survived those you could be joined by the odd saltwater crocodile.....so we opted to walk down the beach to a nice surf cafe for a snack and then down to the Marina to check out the various trips on offer.
One of the downsides of this part of the world is that it is not safe to swim in these waters for 6 months of the year due to the box jellyfish (or about 10 other varieties) which can be deadly, so you are limited to a small area which is netted off despite the wonderful beach stretching as far as the eye can see.
Things perked up once we meandered back along the high street past the most wonderful array of restaurants you will see in a long time.....we knew then that we were in for a great time.
On Tuesday we had a leisurely day around the appartment with the odd swim thrown in before heading down to the marina to get aboard a large catamaran and heading out into the ocean for a
sunset sail. It turned out to be a glorious evening and also great sailing as there was a pretty stiff breeze blowing once we were out of the inlet.
This was the first time that the kids had been on a large sailing boat and they loved it....also Michele was able to enjoy it without any threat of sea sickness so we were well set for the barrier reef provided the weather held out (more on that later!!)
We got back into port just after sundown and then headed out to a restaurant overlooking the bay called "On the Inlet", where we sampled some of the best fish we have had in a long long time. Highlight was Alex's Indonesian fish soup which had us all in raptures!!
By this time we had also booked to go out on an all day safari into the rainforest on the Wedensday so with a very early start we headed back ready for the next adventure......
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Grandma
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Blog days 9 & 10.
Great blog today with some lovely photos. I was particularly impressed with Alex, Izzy and Michele when they were standing on the bow of the sailing boat. They were really gorgeous. You do sound as if you have been very lucky with all the hotels/apartments you had booked in advance. Thrilled to bits to speak to you all today and to know you are all well and elated with all your experiences. Safe journey back to Sydney. Love Mum.