The flight to Cairns got away early and got into Cairns even earlier due to favourable tailwinds. The second of our two flights with Qantas and both were excellent flights, service and super flight crew.
Now the heat in Red Central was very hot but it was a dry heat. We got off the plane in Cairns and we could feel it was equally as hot (at 1800hrs) but we were now in the tropics and it was heavy with moisture and very humid. We picked up our car and headed north to Port Douglas where we had three nights at Dougies backpacker resort.
The drive up was OK albeit dark but not a long journey. We got to Dougies around 1930hrs and checked in with a guy called Rowan who was very friendly, helpful and got our first beer in, OK in my book!! Dougies was set amongst the trees of the rainforest, quite a nice setting. Our room was OK and the facilities good. We also appear to have left the nuisance flies in Red Central which is great!!
So after a couple of beers we sorted a few things and crashed out. The following day we were up early for breakfast but we had no supplies as we had just flown in so we went to the ‘Rainforest Habitat’ a few kms up the road and had breakfast with the birds. Now this habitat place was home to all Ozs’ birdlife, some crocodiles, ‘roos, wallabies and of course koalas. It was done very well with most of the birds free to come and go but as was pointed out not many go as they get well looked after in their ‘habitat like’ surroundings.
Breakfast was as much as you could eat with flagons of tea. On the bird front there were black parrots, rainbow lorikeets, full size cockatoos to name but a few whizzing past your ears whilst you were trying to eat!!
It was a super place and all with the blessing of David Attenborough who had visited a few weeks earlier whilst out in Oz filming his next wildlife spectacle for the beeb. The birds were wonderful colours and sounds, the wallabies and roos just ignored you then fed from your hands and the crocs were just cool hanging out in the water. The stars of the show were of course the koalas who got plenty of attention. We spent about 5 hours there before leaving to do a walk.
Just up the coast from Port Douglas is Daintree, the Daintree rainforest and the Mossman Gorge. All this is in the Cape Tribulation area of Northern Queensland. The walk at the gorge was very spectacular but sadly cut short due to works on the tracks so we were a little disappointed. However we had a bit of a stroll and then went to get some supplies in before heading back to Dougies to book our reef trip.
With reef trip booked, all clean and showered after a few beers and some grub we retired. The following day we were picked up at 0845 and taken to the port for our boat. It was a reasonable sized boat with facilities for both scuba and snorkelling. As we pulled out of the harbour we were told the seas were moderate due to some winds of around15 to 20 knots (please explain later Jack!!) Anyway there was talk of seasickness tabs and Mrs D who loves being on the high seas instantly turned green. She hurriedly downed the obligatory tabs which had no effect whatsoever and went on to have the most awful of days and did not get to see the reef at all – the seas I have to say were pretty choppy and there were others not too good either enough said.
Feeling riddled with guilt, I had the most wonderful of times in the sea snorkelling over the reef, which was sometimes 20 feet below me then next 2 feet away. It was superb and the fish and coral quite spectacular. It rated well high up with the natural history experiences. One which if I ever get the chance will do again. The crew on the boat were excellent and couldn’t do enough for us (aside from getting a chopper to get Mrs D back to terra firma!!) The food was good all the kit was excellent and the knowledge these guys had of the reef was second to none. At one point I went out on a reef snorkelling tour with a few others and one of the crew, very informative.
Well I think that’s enough on the reef, I could go on but I don’t want you all falling asleep just yet.
The evening was a quiet one and the next day we were heading south on what was our longest drive of the whole trip. 430 miles to Cannonvale Bush Village resort in the Whitsunday Islands area. We enjoyed our stay at Dougies which had a lazy easy feel to it and was in a lovely setting. Port Douglas, Daintree and Cape Tribulation were spectacular and possibly worthy of another visit if only to breakfast with the birds again.
Now the heat in Red Central was very hot but it was a dry heat. We got off the plane in Cairns and we could feel it was equally as hot (at 1800hrs) but we were now in the tropics and it was heavy with moisture and very humid. We picked up our car and headed north to Port Douglas where we had three nights at Dougies backpacker resort.
The drive up was OK albeit dark but not a long journey. We got to Dougies around 1930hrs and checked in with a guy called Rowan who was very friendly, helpful and got our first beer in, OK in my book!! Dougies was set amongst the trees of the rainforest, quite a nice setting. Our room was OK and the facilities good. We also appear to have left the nuisance flies in Red Central which is great!!
So after a couple of beers we sorted a few things and crashed out. The following day we were up early for breakfast but we had no supplies as we had just flown in so we went to the ‘Rainforest Habitat’ a few kms up the road and had breakfast with the birds. Now this habitat place was home to all Ozs’ birdlife, some crocodiles, ‘roos, wallabies and of course koalas. It was done very well with most of the birds free to come and go but as was pointed out not many go as they get well looked after in their ‘habitat like’ surroundings.
Breakfast was as much as you could eat with flagons of tea. On the bird front there were black parrots, rainbow lorikeets, full size cockatoos to name but a few whizzing past your ears whilst you were trying to eat!!
It was a super place and all with the blessing of David Attenborough who had visited a few weeks earlier whilst out in Oz filming his next wildlife spectacle for the beeb. The birds were wonderful colours and sounds, the wallabies and roos just ignored you then fed from your hands and the crocs were just cool hanging out in the water. The stars of the show were of course the koalas who got plenty of attention. We spent about 5 hours there before leaving to do a walk.
Just up the coast from Port Douglas is Daintree, the Daintree rainforest and the Mossman Gorge. All this is in the Cape Tribulation area of Northern Queensland. The walk at the gorge was very spectacular but sadly cut short due to works on the tracks so we were a little disappointed. However we had a bit of a stroll and then went to get some supplies in before heading back to Dougies to book our reef trip.
With reef trip booked, all clean and showered after a few beers and some grub we retired. The following day we were picked up at 0845 and taken to the port for our boat. It was a reasonable sized boat with facilities for both scuba and snorkelling. As we pulled out of the harbour we were told the seas were moderate due to some winds of around15 to 20 knots (please explain later Jack!!) Anyway there was talk of seasickness tabs and Mrs D who loves being on the high seas instantly turned green. She hurriedly downed the obligatory tabs which had no effect whatsoever and went on to have the most awful of days and did not get to see the reef at all – the seas I have to say were pretty choppy and there were others not too good either enough said.
Feeling riddled with guilt, I had the most wonderful of times in the sea snorkelling over the reef, which was sometimes 20 feet below me then next 2 feet away. It was superb and the fish and coral quite spectacular. It rated well high up with the natural history experiences. One which if I ever get the chance will do again. The crew on the boat were excellent and couldn’t do enough for us (aside from getting a chopper to get Mrs D back to terra firma!!) The food was good all the kit was excellent and the knowledge these guys had of the reef was second to none. At one point I went out on a reef snorkelling tour with a few others and one of the crew, very informative.
Well I think that’s enough on the reef, I could go on but I don’t want you all falling asleep just yet.
The evening was a quiet one and the next day we were heading south on what was our longest drive of the whole trip. 430 miles to Cannonvale Bush Village resort in the Whitsunday Islands area. We enjoyed our stay at Dougies which had a lazy easy feel to it and was in a lovely setting. Port Douglas, Daintree and Cape Tribulation were spectacular and possibly worthy of another visit if only to breakfast with the birds again.
No comments:
Post a Comment