Port Douglas, Palm Cove and Cairns

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After some more chillout time in PK’s Jungle Bar, we drove on to Port Douglas via the Daintree and Mossman. Such a beautiful area! We had already holidayed in Port Douglas a few years ago, so we only stayed for a day and a night. Even if we had wanted to stay for longer, Port Douglas is way too expensive! Full of exclusive resorts and boutiques, you’ve got to have a decent budget to spend any amount of time here. We were shocked a few years ago and nothing has changed in the meantime. We maximised our time there by having a lovely swim at Four Mile Beach, browsing the swish shops and having a yummy Thai dinner. I discovered the relaxed and cosyWhileaway Bookshop and Café where I treated myself to a coffee and rhubarb & apple friand. I wouldn’t mention that here if it hadn’t been delectable! My mouth waters just thinking about it!



After Port Douglas we made our way back down the coast to Palm Cove, an equally exclusive (but much smaller) beach resort. It’s the kind of place where you can come on holiday and do absolutely nothing. The many restaurants, bars, cafés and boutiques provide plenty opportunity to while away the afternoons. Unbelievably, we managed to free camp without being busted in both Port Douglas and Palm Cove.



Our next destination was sunny Cairns! This is where Dean’s cousin Grant was going to join us for a long weekend. Lucky boy: that was his birthday gift from his wife Robyn!



We spent good times at the Esplanade and Lagoon Pool (this had been undergoing refurbishment during our last visit to Cairns – and what a great job they’ve done). We visited the Saturday market, went to the night market for dinner (we piled our plates as high as we could but were quite disappointed with the quality of the food) and went to the cinema to see Looper (not bad).



Dean and Grant spent a day on a scuba diving trip while I cycled out to the Tanks Arts Centre where I was lucky enough to catch the monthly market that’s held there. The centre is so named because it is housed in three converted WWII naval oil storage tanks. It’s really cool and the displays are interesting and thought provoking.



I also spent a good few hours in the library, catching up on my studies. Cairns City Library deserves a bit of a mention as it’s absolutely beautiful. It was constructed in 1929 and served as the City Council’s Chambers until 1998. It remains on the Queensland Heritage Register and I can certainly see why. The colonial architecture is impressive and many of the rooms have wood paneled walls and marble floors. I was quite happy studying the human endocrine system in those surroundings!



The library is surrounded by huge fig trees which are inhabited by hundreds of bats. One lesson learnt is to NEVER EVER park or stand underneath a tree that is full of bats. I made the mistake of leaving the van’s passenger door open and one very crafty bat managed to do an enormous poo al over the inside of the door. Even after washing and wiping it down, the smell still lingers…



Whilst in Cairns, we also had a couple of interesting evenings. I went to the German Club to catch up with my friend Shanna, not realising until I got there that they were having a full-on Oktoberfest. Despite having lived in Germany for 20 years, I never made it to the real Oktoberfest so this was a great alternative. They had the lot: dancing, a best costume competition and of course beer and good old German fodder.



The other night out was on the evening before Grant’s flight back to Melbourne. We went to the Rattle ‘n’ Hum bar and grill for dinner… and cocktails… and drinks. I stopped after a glass of wine and a cocktail, but the boys kept going and by the time they came back to the flat they weren’t in the best shape. Apparently they had tried to take the bar’s mascot (a large emu in a cage) for a walk ‘because it needed the exercise’. Needless to say, the bar staff weren’t too thrilled with that idea. Ah well, I guess they were catching up for lost time. Hopefully they got enough man love to last until the next bromance weekend :-)



Our plan was to leave Cairns on the same day as Grant, but we ended up staying a further 3 days because of my teeth. Unfortunately my retainers had been stretching and I hadn’t been able to get any decent advice from the local dentists. Luckily I made a new friend whose golf buddy is Cairns’ top orthodontist. I had already contacted his clinic but had been told that there was a four week wait for appointments. Thanks to my new connection, I got an appointment within a couple of hours and my treatment (wires on the back of my teeth and new retainers) was completed in two days. It clearly isn’t what you know but whom you know! Thanks so much for everyone involved!



During our last couple of days in Cairns, we made good use of the lagoon pool (and its hot showers, yay). The weather made a bit of a turn for the worse but thankfully that didn’t last long.

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