On Sunday we caught up with some people we met whilst camping at Bargara at Christmas time. They had not long arrived in Australia from England at the time. Anyway we got chatting and then when ever they passed through Rocky they would look us up. Well in June this year, they settled in Cairns, so we have managed to catch up with them whilst we are here.
On Sunday we organised a day out together, and we drove up to Port Douglas for the morning. What a drive.... I would have to say this stretch of the road should be renamed The Great Ocean Road of Queensland. You wind around the coastline for perhaps 30 odd klms and it is just beautiful.
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| Queensland's Great Ocean Road | |
We stopped off at every little stop and beach along the way to take photos... I am sure Mike and Ann thought we were as bad as the Japanesse tourists, but it really was a beautiful coastline
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| A day with Mike and Ann to Port Douglas |
We stopped at one of the lookouts and this is the view we got...
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| Ocean as far as the eye can see. |
To check out this lookout we had to pay in a layout off the side of the road and try and dash accross the road to the other side... you had to be quick...
On the way back to the car, Steve had to check out the drill marks in the rocks where they had dug out rocks and dirt to make this cutting in the highway.
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| Drill holes in the rock face |
At a couple of spots we even went for a walk along one of the many beaches on the way
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| A wander along Oak Beach |
The drive from Cairns to Port Douglas is not really long, it is only just over 50kms and even with all the stops we still arrived within the hour of leaving Cairns. Port Douglas itself is hugely over rated as a town. Basically it is a HUGE tourist resort, with lots of resort type buildings and very expensive shops. Hope ever, it is right on the water and the views are really quite spectacular.
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| Foreshore of Port Douglas |
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| Going for a walk around the parklands on the waters edge. |
They have very big markets on a Sunday at Port Douglas. I am sure that North Queensland is the home of Markets, we have been to them every day since we have been here. They are colourful and in some cases expensive, we didn't really buy anything but we did enjoy looking around and checking everything out. They were very colourful, although these markets didn't have a lot of fruit and vegetables, definitely not like Rusty Markets in Cairns.
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| Port Douglas Markets |
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| Port Douglas Markets |
They had all sorts of things there, but I think the thing I love best about the markets is the colour and variety of things that they sell. Usually the sewing is bright, jewellery here was bright, scarfs were bright, toys were bright, and plants were bright, Makes for a happy day,.
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| Bright things at the Markets |
They also had quite a few flower stalls at the markets, one particularly specialized in orchards... I love looking at them... I am not much of a greenfinger sort of person, but I do love flowers.
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| Flowers from the markets |
We probably spent about an hour or a little longer at the markets and then we went for a bit of a walk around town...
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| Notiable buildings and monuments in Port Douglas. |
The plan was to then head off to Mossman Gorge to check them out. Before we left we took a drive up to the Lookout at Flagstaff Hill. Majestic views. The only thing that spoilt it was a new building that is being errected, which will effectly take out some of this beautiful view.
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| View from Flagstaff Hill |
I am so pleased that I got to see this view before the place totally does get blocked out by buildings.
We had one last stop before going to get some lunch, Steve was keen to check out the marina.
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The Marina at Port Douglas |
We quickly ducked into town before we left to pick up a few supplies for lunch before heading north to Mossman Gorge, it really isn't that far out of town, which is probably a good thing, as we did not realize just how big this whole operation is up there. We had packed a picnic lunch in the hope of having a picnic up there, but there was no where for you to have a picnic unless you carted absolutely everything up to the Gorge. We didn't want to do that, so we drove back into Mossman and found a park to sit and eat our lunch there.
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| Mossman for lunch |
Mossman is pretty much an aboriginal community but quick a nice and quaint little place. We found this park right in the centre of town. It was quite a nice park but it did have a horrid smell which had us almost gagging there at one stage. We were keen to eat our lunch and head back to Mossman Gorge.
I was really suprised at how big and well set up this venture is. It reminded me very much of the Twelve Aposles on the Great Ocean Road. There was a special information centre, and you were not allowed to drive up to the carpark yourself. It cost us
46 each to catch the bus up, this cost was for a return trip. The only other way you could get there was to walk, and it was a good haurs walk to get there. I am so thankful that we took the shuttle bus, as we walked over 5 kilometre through the Daintree forest. That was beautiful, breathtaking and just really fresh.
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| A visit to Mossman Gorge |
What a beautiful part of queensland this is.
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| Mossman Gorge |
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| Crossing the suspension bridge. |
This was a beautiful gorge full of huge rocks and fresh pools. The water is cold and so refreshing.
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| Mossman Gorge |
The Gorge was full of big huge trees, amazing really, huge buouders but sadly we didn't see much evidence of wild life, we did manage to see more Ulysses butterflies though (definitely more favorites.)
The trees were enormous, and the roots and butterous
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| Some amazing treesin the rain fr |
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| Some of the juge root systems |
It was a huge walk, over 5 kilometres.. amd wjat dp upi dp at
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| Mossman Gorge |
The last bus left the forest at 5.30om so we definately wanted to be out of the road
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| Beautiful ferms growing in the rainforest |
Steve was really fascinated by this large tree
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| Massive tree roots |
After our very long walk, we were soaked to the bone with perspiration. I also was feeling a little sore, but I did manage to keep on moving. All I wanted to do was get back to where we started from so that I put my feet in the loively quite waters
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| Time to dangle our feet.... |
We had to be back out of the park by 5.00pm when the last bus left. If we wanted a lift back to the car park ( a good hour of mores trip to our park.
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| Wonderful day. |
it was a great day,. lots of wonderful company, a marvelous creation, and I was feeling so blessed that I lived in Australioa.
Early start tomorrow when we are off to Kuranda mon the old train and coming back on the skyrail. Really looking forward to this. Must go and hit the sack now.
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