Australia 6 - Port Douglas

Our First Look at Port Douglas

It was dark when we landed in Cairns, so the bus ride north to Port Douglas was lacking in scenery. But our accomodations were the best of the trip! Actually, we had little opportunity to take advantage of all the space we had in this apartment. Through the glass doors was a whirlpool bath. The apartment was very comfortably furnished.

We wasted no time in hitting the streets and finding a restaurant with some pretty good pizza.

Tropical Triathelon -- Cruise, Brews, Jacuz

Indeed, a little spa just off the living room.

Our First View of Port Douglas in the Daylight

In the morning, we walked a block or two for breakfast. Here is a street just off the main drag through the town. It's nice to see all of the lush green tropical vegetation after several days in the relatively arid Outback.

Aboard the Wave Dancer

Our group and many others head out from Port Douglas to the Great Barrier Reef. The Wave Dancer is a catamaran with sails and diesel power. We're headed for the Low Islands, on the inner Great Barrier Reef, just a few miles off shore.

A Marine Biologist Tells Us What We Are Going To See

This young woman lets us know what we'll see when we get into the water. For one, we're all going to wear full blue lycra suits. These cover virtually every inch of skin. Their primary purpose is to protect us from the tenticles of a nasty local jellyfish with a venom potent enough to send us to the hospital writhing in pain. Beyond that, the suits offer some protection from the Sun and from abrasions from the coral.

We are advised not to mess with the wildlife and to leave things as we find them.

Sandi and Medio Listening to the Lecture

John Shields Himself from the Sun

My SCUBA Buddy

An untimate objective of the cruise on the Wave Dancer was to get out to see the Great Barrier Reef, one of the natural wonders of the world. We were offered three modes of viewing the Reef: SCUBA, snorkeling or a ride on a glass-bottom boat. While virtually everyone went snorkeling, four of us went SCUBA diving off the stern of the boat: a Quicksilver guide, another gentleman, Jo and I.

The dive was pretty tame - 35 minutes in water no deeper than 20 feet. That was fine, though, giving us plenty of light and a lot of color. There were so many types of coral, lots of brightly colored fish, numbers of sea turtles. The dive fulfilled a dream I've had for 40 years to see this reef, the largest in the world.

Stu Gets an Apres-Snorkeling Kiss from Nikki

A Pirate Ship?

Shortly after starting back to port, we passed this interesting looking boat. I think it's a yawl because the mizzen is behind the helm.

The Award Ceremony

On the way back to port, the two tourists who went SCUBA diving, one of whom is shown here grinning like an idiot, were congratulated by our diving guide and presented with certificates comemorating our dive on the Great Barrier Reef.

Of course, I'm all decked out in my new Quicksilver Diving shirt, also comemorating the dive.

In truth, this dive filled a 40 year-long wish to SCUBA dive on this reef.

Drew Weyand

One of the most pleasurable parts of a nearly perfect day was the music on the cruise back to Port Douglas. Drew Weyand works for Quicksilver and performs regularly on the Wavedancer, so regularly, in fact, that he wrote a,d recorded a song about it.

He sang a mix of Dylan and other popular American rock songs from the 1960s through the 1980s and popular Australian songs, some of which he wrote. We bought his CD, which was not as good as his live performance, but was still pretty good. It's a great souvenir of the day.

A Close-up

Loren and Carla Coming Back to Port

Bob and Carole

Coming Back into Port

Dinner at a Private Home

A Stroll through Port Douglas in the Morning

Port Douglas is a lovely town, about a 40 minute drive north of Cairns. It is a center of water-based activities -- lots of boats, dive shops and beaches. And as you can see here and in the pictures that follow, it is a very lush and colorful place.

The Most Important Spot in Town

Ah, the internet cafe... Carla and I read our e-mail, saw the latest round of pictures of our new grandson, and even saw the pictures of our balloon flight in Alice Springs.

Why We Have RGB Monitors

Incredible tropical colors on the road to the beach.

The Beach at Port Douglas

In the Thorn Birds, it was on a beach like this one where Ralph and Meggie finally consummated their love for each other. While the Matlock Island location of the Thorn Birds was fictional, everyone seems to agree that the setting was somewhere off the coast of North Queensland. When the TV mini-series was made in 1983, the Matlock Island scene was filmed in Hawaii because of its similarity in appearance to North Queensland.

Australian Political Humor

This rock sits just at the edge of the beach.

Shark Nets

The white preimeter around the swimming area is made of shark netting which has proven to be a very effective protection from the sharks which are plentiful in the tropical waters of Queensland.