Port Douglas

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Leaving Airlie Beach and the lovely Whitsundays, we headed up the coast to Mission Beach, staying overnight at the posh but remote Rollingstone Beach Caravan Resort. We spent a few days hiding away at the quiet Mission Beach Hideaway Holiday Village before heading further north, bypassing Cairns and arriving in Port Douglas.

Port Douglas is quite posh with its 5 star resort accommodations and boutique shops, and it seems to have been visited at least a couple of times by Bill Clinton, judging by the photos of him displayed in the windows of various eateries.

Amazingly there's still a van park in town and apparently a council one to boot (Tropical Breeze Van Village - compact sites but a very well managed park), sandwiched between a street full of expensive 'resort' buildings. Actually, there are 2 campsites in town but the other one is dreadful - shocking camp kitchen, badly maintained grounds but, reportedly, it has been/ is being sold to a developer, at a premium no doubt, although they're still taking good money from unwitting campers. There's also a Big 4 holiday park about 6 km out of Port Douglas, just off the highway, but we wanted to be in town so opted for the van park.

It's a small sized town, with one main street of shops and cafes - brekky from Cafe Fresq is a winner and there's a nice chill-out internet cafe called Re:hab. Oh, and about 3 ice-cream shops who've all got it wrong with a capital R - ice-cream should be decadent and lush, not artificial and plastic looking! One place doesn't even display the ice-cream - just has coloured circles on the wall to represent the ice-cream!?? We need to see over-flowing napoli pans with waves of creamy and freshly made ice-CREAM - what's this non-dairy rubbish and 94%!f(MISSING)at free business??! Very disappointing.

There's a lovely stretch of beach, with stinger nets for safe swimming, and loads of coconut trees and fallen coconuts ready for the taking. And there's a pleasant marina where the tour boats depart from. There are umpteen reef trip tour operators vying for people's custom, offering essentially the same thing - snorkeling and (optional) diving at the outer reefs, with lunch, but the difference seems to be the numbers of people on the trips. One trip reportedly takes up to 300 people to a huge pontoon on the reef! We gave that a miss; perhaps we'll snorkel again before we leave Oz...

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Photos

Flagstaff Hill Lookout
... over 4 Mile Beach, Port Douglas

Rollingstone
'Where's our van?!?'

Arachnophobes Look Away!
...our new pet spider, called Bruce.

Sugar Cane
... field upon field of it in Nth QLD

Cracked It!
'Ambassador, with this coconut you are really spoiling us'

Comments

[Rose]

Attack on Port Douglas Ice Cream
As a resident of beautiful Port Douglas and a soon-to-be-employee of one of the ice cream stores you so virulently attacked, I believe that I have a right to defend our ice cream. Firstly, the store with the round ice cream photos show extremely accurate depictions of said ice cream, which is also very satisfying. Secondly, ‘waves of creamy and freshly made ice cream’? I think you are referring to specialist gelati stores, not ice cream stores, which the tourist crowds seem to appreciate much more than you. Thirdly, Non Dairy and Fat Free ice cream caters to lactose intolerant people or those that watch their weight who would also like to enjoy a delicious cold snack. Fourthly, the ice cream is not artificial and plastic looking but appealing and fresh; I doubt you have sampled ice cream from every shop mentioned. I myself have and it is all exemplary by Australian standard. Fifthly, wrong is actually spelt with a capital “W”. I would think this to be obvious to most people, even those who cannot appreciate decent ice cream. Lastly, as you yourself mentioned, the Burma cyclone and credit crunch seem much more serious issues that you should be concerned about, not the quality of ice cream in a beloved town. I do not mean to cause distress or offence, but rather defend our beloved ice cream stores that do no harm to anyone. Thank you for the few compliments offered, and I hope in the future you will come to value small community business that provides delectable frosty snacks and amiable, friendly service. Regards.

[Lichie]

Apologies!
Hi Rose, Thanks for your comments and responses to what now seems to be quite harsh opinions of Port Douglas's ice-cream shops. Having sampled lots of ice-cream on our travels around the world, we had become a bit particular and quick to judge. Being back in the 'real world', I can now see that the comments are a bit harsh and not supportive of the shop referred to in the blog. I'm sure the ice-cream sold there is lovely and if you could 'Beam-me-up' Star-Trek style to Port Douglas, I'd have some now... if you'd serve me that is! Apologies again and kind regards.