Rainy Port Douglas

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  Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

After spending our first few weeks in the cold and rain of Tasmania and southeastern Australian, Paul and I decided to fly from Brisbane to Port Douglas for a few days of sun.  We were also weary of packing up and moving every other day, and were also looking forward to staying in one spot for a few days.  Port Douglas is a small town about an hour north of Cairns.  It's a resort spot and, since it is winter here in Australia, is a very popular destination for Australians because the weather is beautiful (between 70 and 80 degrees) and the water is safe to swim (in the summers here there are jellyfish in the water that make it too dangerous to swim).  Interestingly, we've learned that Australia is just a dangerous place--everywhere you go there's something dangerous that can kill/maim/hurt you, whether it's sharks, jellyfish, snakes, or crocodiles or killer attack birds (also known as cassowaries).  Always something.

Anyway, we were very happy when we arrived in Port Douglas on Friday night--it was a beautiful night and Saturday was a beautiful day

The Daintree River

.  We spent all of Saturday lounging on the beach--it was heavenly.  Unfortunately, it rained the next three days.  Of course it rained.  It always rains where we are.  We spent the next couple of days just lounging around hoping the clouds would go away, but to no avail.  On Tuesday, we decided to just go out anyway, so we spent the day on a tour to the Daintree rain forest just north of Port Douglas.  Along with us on our tour was  British family with three children, ranging in age from 8 to 17.  We were a little worried they would be obnoxious snobs when we rolled up to their very posh resort, but they were actually a lot of fun.  The dad is a radio newscaster for BBC radio, and mom was very interested in American politics and had lived in the States, so we all started chatting right away.  Turns out that one of the advantages of a strong pound (1 English pound is about $2 USD) is being able to stay in very nice places in Australia.

The tour included a trip to a gorge, a cruise on the crocodile-infested Daintree River, Cape Tribulation (apparently Captain Cook's boat got stuck on the Great Barrier Reef at the Cape, so he named it "tribulation" because of all of the trouble he experienced there--he also named a couple of mountains "Misery" and "Sorrow,"so apparently it wasn't a pleasant trip for him), the Daintree rain forest and an ice cream shop.  The Daintree rain forest was particularly beautiful, and is the oldest rain forest in the world at 110 million years old; by comparison, the Amazon is estimated to only be about 5-10 million years old

Our Guides

.  When I wasn't worried about snakes hiding in the leaves and cassowaries (large, aggressive flightless birds in the family of ostriches and emus) attacking me, I enjoyed the walk through the rain forest.  

Now, we head to Cairns to meet up with my friends Connie and Jeremy.  The weather says the rain will clear by Thursday, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that our wedding on Friday won't be rained out.  And we are actually hoping to spend some more time in the sun before we head to cold New Zealand next week.  Not to mention the fact that we want to make it out to the Great Barrier Reef.  I am in the process of trying to work up the courage to snorkel, but am not quite there yet.  Zorbing, bungee jumping (on the list to do in Cairns), kayaking, yes--snorkeling, not so much.  But we shall see.  Check back on Monday for pictures from the wedding!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Captain Kerry	The River	Crocodile on Riverbank	Crocodile on Riverbank
Crocodile on Riverbank	Snake	Scooter the Crocdile	Tree Snake
Crocodile	On the Beach	On the Beach	On the Beach
Where Daintree River Meets the Ocean	Paul	Beach	Beach
Where Daintree Rainforest Meets Great B Reef	Where Daintree Rainforest Meets Great B Ree	Where Daintree Rainforest Meets Great B Ree	Where Daintree Rainforest Meets Great B Ree
Very Cold Creek	Paul	Creek	Cathedral Tree
Paul Hiking	Strangler Fig Tree	Nature's Toilet Paper (so we're told)	David our Guide
Ice Cream Shop Orchard

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