Cairns and Port Douglas

The final two destinations in Australia were on the east coast, Cairns and Port Douglas. A visit to the east coast was essential for going onto the Great Barrier Reef, the primary reason for my being in Australia in the first place. We arrived in Cairns to rainy, but warm weather. Our hotel was quite a way off the beaten track, but once again, right on the bus route. The busses in Cairns were not nearly efficient as they were elsewhere, but they weren’t nearly as expensive either. We bought a weekly ticket for $20 each, which was a real bargain. We were right down the street from a local mall, where local folks hung out, so it was not a ‘tourist destination’ with ‘tourist prices’ either. We developed a little routine where we went to the food court in the mall for breakfast, then got a bus to somewhere in the city from there afterwards. We went to the beach, but had been advised by friends not to go on the GBR from Cairns as the water was not very clear from too many tourists going out to see it.

We took a few tours while in Cairns of the surrounding area. One half-day tour took us around where learned about the local history, visited some churches, and visited a store where we learned about opals and how they are mined and processed. Ninety-five percent of the world’s opals are mined in Australia.

The second tour was an all day event. We went to the Daintree Rainforest, Mossman’s Gorge, the sugar processing factory, Cape Tribulation, and a river cruise to find crockodiles. All of these have significant histories that still impact the local region and were very interesting. Also, the movie “Crockodile Dundee” was filmed in the Daintree Rainforest. The scenery along the way was awesome, everywhere you pointed the camera was a terrific picture.

Other than those two days, we just took in some sites on our own and did a little shopping while waiting for the weather to clear. We also took an impromptu tour of some of the surrounding neighborhoods and outlying towns from Cairns when we got on the wrong bus one day. We did make it back to our hotel, however, but it took the whole afternoon to do it.

The last thing we did in Cairns was go through our clothes and other stuff, and put a box together to mail back home. It consisted of the winter clothes we bought in Sydney, some stuff we brought from home that we decided was not necessary, and a few books. So, we put all this stuff in a box and carried it to the post office in the mall. It cost $82 to mail that box, and it will be six to ten weeks before it arrives. $82! I don’t think all the stuff in the box cost $82! Anyway, another lesson learned, give it away unless it’s just really, really special. Mailing it back is really, really expensive.

The beach just a block outside our door!
We finally made our way to Port Douglas. We found a cute place to stay, that was one block from the ocean one way and one block from the town the other way. We decided not to schedule anything except for a snorkeling trip to the outer reef. It was the best week of our stay in Australia. Port Douglas was great, although a little expensive. It is a tourist town, but very nice tourists go there. The snorkeling trip was wonderful. ‘Go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef’ has been on my bucket list since I was 20 years old and lived on Okinawa. So cool that I can now check it off. I took some pictures underwater, but have to wait until we can find a place to develop them before I can post any (real film, what’s that?)

We met two really nice couples on the snorkeling trip. One couple was about our age on a long holiday and was from Australia. The other couple was probably young enough to be our kids, also on holiday, and from Germany. We are now friends on face book. I just love fb!

We went on an evening sunset cruise our last night in Australia. We saw all kinds of wildlife in the river estuaries around Port Douglas. Crocodiles, kite birds (that look like eagles to me), and sand fleas. You really can’t see sand fleas, but they bite hard and leave big red welts just like mosquito bites. I have several as souvenirs.


The Kite from the cruise, waiting for the fish the captain throws for him

So, we said good bye to Australia by way of Brisbane, and hello to Bangkok, Thailand. The adventure continues.