Tropical North Queensland

Cairns is the main centre for the tropical north and it’s a modern, cosmopolitan, colourful city. It’s an ideal base to explore the reef, rainforest and Atherton Tablelands.

The Red Explorer Bus from Lake Street takes you around the town’s main attractions. A couple of ‘must do’s: the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway is a gondola ride with boardwalk stops through the rainforest to Kuranda, and the excellent Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park is traditional and innovative and can captivate an audience with the simple lighting of a fire. Tjapukai entertained Queen Elizabeth and her husband in 2002 and, when Phillip took one foot from his mouth to change feet, he remarked, “Do you chaps still throw spears at each other.” Yes, I am in favour of an Australian republic.

The 73-kilometre drive north to Port Douglas is a superb coastal drive. Palm Cove is on the way and has a beautiful tropical beach with a selection of good accommodation, boutiques and art galleries.

Port (as the locals call Port Douglas) is becoming a bit ‘busy’ for some (it’s got a real supermarket now!), but it’s still feels like a delightful fishing village. Cosmopolitan Macrossan Street has lots of eating options, Four Mile Beach is great for a walk and the marina a top spot for shopping and dining. Do obey the signs in stinger season and only swim in the fenced areas. The water may look inviting, but some of the jellyfish are barely visible to the naked eye and their stings are horrendous. In town, attractions include Ben Cropp’s Shipwreck Museum and the Courthouse Museum in Anzac Park and the charming little church. Who needs stained glass when you can have a window showing nature’s glory? Sunday markets are held in Anzac Park. On the outskirts of town there’s the excellent Rainforest Habitat – breakfast with the wildlife is a treat.

Picking up the Bill …

When Bill and Hillary Clinton visited Port Douglas, the President unwound with beach walks and golf. One evening, a minder rang to book a table for two at a top seafood restaurant. ‘Sorry mate,’ was the reply, ‘We’ve got a function on’. The minder explained that the President and First Lady’s stay was limited and the restaurant arranged a table on the balcony. The ‘function’ was a wedding reception and the bride took a deep breath and approached the famous couple to witness their wedding certificate. They obliged and, for a while, joined the party. The nicest part of this story is that the newlyweds were offered money for their story from a woman’s magazine but declined, nicely repaying the gesture.

From Port Douglas, you can take tours to the Outer Barrier Reef and the Low Isles (Quicksilver runs a first-class operation), go horse riding or take four-wheel-drive safaris to Mossman Gorge, Daintree National Park and/or Cape Tribulation. I recommend taking a snorkel and mask, and braving the cold water of Mossman and creeks in Cape Tribulation to explore the freshwater fish. Best to stay in the boat up the Daintree though, because crocodiles are plentiful. There’s a local vine (called ‘wait-a-while’) that has small barbed hooks that catch passers by. If you see one of these underwater, don’t do as I did and pull yourself upstream to stay with the schools of fish. There was no pain while in the water, but it took weeks to get all the tiny thorns out of my hands.

The rainforest here is one of the ancient environments on earth and has the world’s greatest concentration of primitive flowering plants, known as ‘green dinosaurs’. I wonder if a passing Muttuburrasaurus was ever pulled up by a ‘wait-a-while’?

More Information

For more information about Queensland:

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• Accommodation
• To See And Do
• Brisbane
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• Sunshine Coast
• The Great Barrier Reef
• From Airlie Beach to Yeppoon

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