An Aussie Adventure Part 2: Queensland

An Aussy Adventure... 
 What: Part 2: Port Douglas, The Great Barrier Reef & Cairns
Where: Queensland

Itinerary: Port Douglas- Sheraton Mirage Resort - The Great Barrier Reef - Cairns

Part 1: Queensland - January 3rd - January 8th 2013

Following a 2 hour flight from Melbourne and escaping Victoria's 40°C+ heat, a frightening number of fire warnings and a nasty viral bug, we arrived in Cairns and travelled straight to the beautiful town of Port Douglas, the gateway to The Great Barrier Reef. Stunning! Staying at the luxurious Sheraton Mirage Resort, we were spoilt for pristine lagoon-style pools and some excellent fresh seafood platters. 

 Celebrating the 2nd leg of our Aussie tour in style, we settled in with the locals at a local watering hole and cracked open the bubbles! Happy, shiny holidaying people!

"Lunch with the Lorikeets" at the Wildlife Habitat was pretty cool with some characterful flying creatures that inspired me to think about writing a children's book. We also met George and Jeffery, two sleepy Tawny Frogmouths (in the first picture). We were also terribly brave or possibly foolhardy and allowed some eager Aussie ladies to drape a python around our necks. I have decided to call her Polly to emphasize how not scary she was! 

The Wildlife Habitat is a Wildlife immersion exhibit - an open and interactive environment for guests and animals to mingle in a spacious and natural setting. Visitors wander along elevated boardwalks, observing up close a huge range of flora and fauna as birds fly and roam freely. It was an amazing experience to get up close to the creatures and the tours - Koala, Wetlands- crococodiles and the opportuity to feed the Wallabies was really cool. www.wildlifehabitat.com.au 

Our second trip in Queensland was to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation, our "Tony's Tour" guide was called Randall and he certainly proved a knowledgable bloke as well as extremely chatty. How he managed to keep up a constant stream of ancidotes and relevant environmental information going nonstop for the entire 5 hour trip, I don't know!

We explored rainforest and waterways, took a boat trip along a crocodile-infested stretch of water and managed not to get eaten which - considering the increasing number of croc attacks - I was quite pleased about. We never managed to spot a wild Cassowarie, but we all had a good chuckle at the doctored sign -> encouraging attentive driving.


Port Douglas was absolutely stunning and we were quite sad to leave the super Sheraton Mirage Resort, but leave we must, and so we ventured a little further down south to Cairns to check into the Hilton hotel and to check out the city of tourists. Advertised in our guide book as rather shabby compared to the Lush Port Douglas, we couldn't help but agree. Nonetheless, with only 2 nights to stay, we managed to find 2 excellent restaurants to indulge our new found passion for fish, Barnacle Bills www.barnaclebills.com.au and The Salthouse at the Marina www.salthouse.com.au = excellent options should you find yourself in town and reccommended to us by some friendly locals. 

We spent our final day in Queensland visiting the lovely village of Kuranda. We traveled there via the fantastic Kuranda Historic Scenic Railway and returned over the rainforest with the Skyrail Rainforest cableway.The picturesque mountain retreat of Kuranda Village is just 25km northwest of Cairns in Far North Queensland, Australia and is surrounded by World Heritage Rainforest. Simply stunning!

Next stop Brisbane, The Gold Coast and The Sunshine Coastal drive to Sydney.