Flying from Melbourne to Cairns (pronounced “cans”) on a clear day provided some interesting insight into this country which is approximately the same size as the USA with a fraction of the population. With all 8-10 major cities on the coastline, much of inner Australia is uninhabited…the outback. It’s pretty amazing to fly over such a large land mass for hours, and wonder if anyone ever walked there…I saw rivers and lakes, hills and fields and brush land, and more parched brush land. And eventually we reached the coast of north-east Australia and saw a gorgeous coast line, towns and cities, and as we flew over the Coral Sea I realized that I was seeing beautiful reefs everywhere…they must be part of the Great Barrier Reef! Wow!!!!
We arrived to a nearly cloudless sky and 90 degree temperatures and drove an hour north to a lovely tourist town called Port Douglas (PD) in the state of Queensland, along some very curvy and narrow coastal roads showcasing incredibly beautiful beaches and tropical landscapes. Port Douglas provides closer and easier access to some of the outer portions of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR)…and that’s what I was looking for! I had been fantasizing snorkeling the GBR since I first heard about it as a pre-teen!
Our lovely little hotel offered free bicycle usage, so we wasted little time after arriving in Port Douglas to bicycle to the beautiful Four Mile Beach in PD…but you can only swim in a tiny area of the beach where it is netted off from the deadly stinger jellyfish which are all over northern Queensland during the summer months!! You can’t swim off any of the magnificent beaches we visited! What a pity and a seemingly waste of gorgeous beaches all over!! Oh well…
The next day was our daytrip to snorkel the GBR and it was another beautiful, clear and warm day. I was so excited! We went on a small boat with only 27 other people and traveled an hour or so onto the outer portion of the GBR and made 3 different reef stops for snorkeling. The waters were warm and beautiful!
We were given anti-stinger jellyfish suits which essentially covered us from head to toe and were very comfortable…I was especially happy to wear them and not have to worry about sunburn…and we looked so good in our suits!!
The snorkeling was really nice and we saw lots of beautiful fish, coral and giant sea clams…and I even followed closely behind a gracefully swimming sea turtle for quite some time! Unfortunately, I think my decades of enthusiasm for snorkeling the GBR resulted in me having unrealistic expectations of what we would see. We have snorkeled in many places around the world, and one of our favorite places is in the Bahamas…maybe we’re spoiled…but, it was an absolutely great day nonetheless!
The next day we drove to the northern-most paved road to Cape Tribulation stopping frequently to hike through the World Heritage Daintree Rainforest which looks more like a tropical jungle! In fact, driving around this area of Australia reminds me so much of driving around Maui, Hawaii…the sugar cane fields, the palm trees, the expanse of beautiful waters and beaches, the rainforests, the mango trees everywhere with more free mangos available than I could carry!…could have thought I was in Maui!
Again, we stopped at so many amazing beaches and most had signs prohibiting swimming not only because of stinger jellyfish, but also because of crocodiles!!
We could still enjoy the beaches, it was just too bad we couldn’t enjoy the beautiful water…
The next day we visited the Mossman Gorge which are beautiful falls and swimming waters in a gorge surrounded by more of the tropical Daintree Rainforest. We hiked for hours and loved seeing the enormous trees, huge vines and ferns, and thoroughly enjoyed the refreshing water pools, and swimming holes! No jellyfish or crocodiles here!
We had a great time in Port Douglas and especially enjoyed the great weather while knowing how cold it was back home in Connecticut with even some snow!! And now it’s on to Sydney!!
