Saturday, April 18

Our shuttle driver was right on time this morning, and he only had a few stops to make so we were at the airport with lots of time to spare. I had checked in online last night, and since we had no printer, I had the boarding passes sent to my phone. When we got to the airport, we self-checked our bags and were finished with the paperwork in just a few minutes! That was painless.

It always surprises me that the Aussie airports are fine with liquids and gels being taken onboard, the only thing they want to see is aerosol cans and laptops at the security checkpoint.

Once on board the flight, we were surprised to be served breakfast as soon as cruising altitude was reached. And I was even more surprised that I had remembered to order a fruit plate meal! About an hour and a half later, a snack was served – all this included in our reasonable fares of about $225 each for a 3 hour flight. Wish that was the case at home.

The flight was pretty uneventful – there was a lot of cloud so we could only see glimpses of the landscape below. Just before we were landing, the captain gave us the weather report – it wasn’t what we had hoped for as there were heavy rain showers. It looks like the forecast is for more of the same for the next few days – it’s not really that bad since it doesn’t rain for a long period and it’s not cold rain.

Our rental car is a Mitsubishi ASX – a little larger than we usually rent but since we will be travelling around with our luggage, we wanted a car that would hold it without everyone seeing it. It’s a comfortable car and a little higher off the ground than a compact car.

We had a few hours before check in at Wyndham Port Douglas so we stopped for groceries at a Woolworths in Smithfield. Once back on the road, we headed toward Port Douglas but stopped at Palm Cove – we didn’t find the part of the beach that is always featured in photos but it was a pretty spot.

We brought our GPS (with an Australian map) and we’ve already managed to confuse it! At times on the road to Port Douglas, we were under a heavy canopy of trees (it really is where the rainforest meets the sea) and the GPS couldn’t get the satellites. Oh well, we finally got to the condo and it was 3:30. After being greeted by the resident parrot (Skittles) we were able to check in immediately and John’s prize package from Skyrail and Let’s Go Caravan and Camping was waiting for him. It has quite a few goodies in it as well as the certificate for the skyrail round trip.

The one bedroom apartment is a little strange – it looks like two hotel rooms that were converted into a suite – the bedroom is as large as the rest of the apartment and it’s a little run-down. It is adequate though and has a full kitchen (even if the fridge is about one third the size of one at home). The brochure says that the air conditioner must stay on to help prevent mould growth – since I really don’t like air conditioning, it’s been a challenge to get it set so that we can be comfortable without turning it off or freezing.

Once we finished unpacking, we headed down to 4-Mile Beach (about a 5 minute walk) – it was beautiful there. We walked along the beach for a while but then the rain caught up to us again so we headed back to the condo.

There is free wifi in the public areas of the resort so I think we will just use that here.

Sunday, April 19

Although the forecast was for more thundershowers today, we were pleasantly surprised by the weather.

This morning we headed to the park in Port Douglas for their weekly market. There were all kinds of vendors there – from those selling fruits and vegetables to crafts to palm readers and more. We wandered around for a while and found a fellow who made wood products from unusual woods that are almost extinct in the area – he told us they are not allowed to cut any of the trees down and a permit is needed to use the wood. The finished products were beautiful.

There was also a lady selling fruit poop – frozen mushed up fruits. The kids were lining up for her products. We did a lot of browsing and not much buying but I did buy some natural bug repellent (almost the same as Lalena used to make). We saw a wonderful boulder opal stand and when John showed the lady his necklace she said it was one that she had made! She put a new cord on for him while they chatted and I was browsing through her stuff and found a necklace for myself.

We headed back to the condo to put our purchases away and make some sandwiches for lunch. Once that was done, we headed back to town and went to a lookout overlooking 4 Mile Beach and the ocean. On the way up the hill, we saw the most beautiful blue butterfly – of course there was nowhere to stop and get a photo.

It was lunchtime then, so we went down to the town end of 4 Mile Beach and had our picnic and a walk along the beach. The swimming areas are protected by “stinger nets” which are anchored to the ocean floor and to the trees on shore. I guess it beats getting stung.
After that, we drove around trying to find a beach route back to the condo. There wasn’t one but there was a nearby geocache. It was along the beach and up a creek, which had us a little apprehensive that we might find a croc waiting for us along with the geocache but it was all good.

Once back at the condo, we had a refreshing swim in the pool (colder than I had expected!) and are enjoying being outside in one of the public areas. There are lots of them with comfy seating and internet.

Tomorrow is our tour of the Daintree – we’re really looking forward to it.