Port Douglas Sat 6/7, more of the same

 6/7/24 Saturday day 3

Saturday seemed like the perfect day to head to Port Douglas before returning in time for our wine appreciation class at the resort at 4pm. (MUST NOT be late!!)

The road to Port Douglas was narrow and dangerous at times with lots of road works  due to damage from the recent floods. We had to stop 3 times!

Interesting landscape of rocks, boulders and rain forest.  This was my favourite boulder

Port Douglas is much bigger than Palm Cove and you need a car to get around but there are huge numbers of resorts and holiday places as well as restaurants, cafes and all the other normal shops like Coles even.

After lunch we decided we should head to Mossman Gorge which was close and would fit in with the need to get back by 4 (wine appreciation). 

Unfortunately we did not get to do the shuttle to the gorge as there was a hacking issue with one of our cards and we needed to head back immediately etc

Mossman Gorge centre

nice views at the centre from the car park

We then decided to see something! so drove to Four Mile beach. We stopped and took some photos. The tropical weather is great, raining one minute, sunny the next. 

Swimmers beware!

Me at the beach , sunny.

more beach, 4 miles apparently

the car, blue hyundai Venue. Nice

After too short a visit, we were back on the road. The Captain Cook highway from Port Douglas to Palm Cove is right on the edge of the continent. It really is like driving on the edge of the world particularly for Paul who drove. I was able to take some photos from the car about 2 metres from the ocean at times.

We stopped at Rex Lookout for more photos more safely than leaning out the window.

Good news as we were back in time for the wine appreciation. perhaps even a touch early......  Time for a swim in the mineral pool and shower.

And then to Wine Appreciation run by a trained sommelier.  We learnt so much from the hour talk and tasting. Only three wines but we learnt how to define colour and grape.

this was the red and it was very good. I guessed Malbec and got it right. Paul guessed the white chardonnay. No surprise there.

These are very good wines apparently

This is a magic tool containing argon gas to keep open bottles fresh. There is science behind this and we got all the details.  Yep very interesting....

 

And then to dinner finally at the Palm Cove Surf club. I had a gf lasagna which was so good and large. Perfect

and sweet potato chips as an extra as not enough carbs in the lasagna.

After dinner, we joined a couple from Melbourne with whom we had shared canapes and cocktails every evening.  Donna and Jo decided to do karaoke which was on at the Irish pub.  Despite massive reservations (me) we went.

Donna was particularly keen even though she said she could not sing.  She couldn't but loved karaoke. As well as singing three songs as a quartet, we each had 4 cocktails. We had a great night,  so much fun to be with strangers and sing as badly as we could.  Paul was concerned that he would not sing at his best due to a cold. He was still better than the rest of us and even got the crowd going.

Sweet Caroline will now and forever be our signature karaoke song. Such a crowd pleaser.

And even more good news for Paul, Donna is the daughter of Frank O'Brien the famous race caller and was also once married to John Saddler  who won the Melbourne Cup with Efficient and also trained horses for Sheik Mohammed in Dubai.  Donna and her then husband and children lived in Dubai for a couple of years and she also worked for the sheik.

She has since trained as a teacher and is married to Jo, her divorce lawyer. He must have done a good job.

Life is full of surprises,  people and karaoke being two of them.

What a great day!

Reef Resort-Adults only, Rest and Relaxation

 Day 2 5/7/24 Friday

The Reef Resort is all about rest and relaxation and even teaching you about how to do it better. There are daily yoga, aqua aerobics, stretching , breathing classes as well as talks on various topics. There is even a sleep specialist doing sessions on sleep, meditation and breathwork.  It turns out she is pretty qualified in research and sleep stuff so some credibility. (Some).

Last night after dinner we sat in on a session on Reef Conservation by a marine biologist, Glen Burns. He was a good speaker and very interesting and allayed some fears about the future of the reef indication how well it had been regenerating itself and how there were also man made programs to help a bit given the increasing water temperatures and wild weather of late.  A bit reassuring.

So today friday, we make our way to breakfast, about 10 steps from our room, for really good granola, even the gluten free version for me.

And re-invigorated and excited to be on this quest for rest and relaxation, we sign on to do the sleep session in the morning. Quite a few of the people we met at cocktails and canapes the evening before also joined us. We were all into the free activities!  Which is odd when you think about  how expensive this place is. But we are here to make the most of it.

It was surprisingly good and we got a book out f it, and links to good info and good music to sleep by.  Well worth the money....

We finally tried the spa and the heated mineral pool, both of which were lovely. And apparently the mineral pool is good for your health which is what this whole thing is about. The resort i mean.  Very me...

the pool about 30 degrees

the spa

After such a big morning, we needed lunch but not at the resort restaurant as too dear!   There are at least 20 restaurants outside the resort within 200m either side of the resort.  But it was late and many were booked out. Unbelievable.

We found a nice Irish bar that could do gluten free tacos, Wow!

There were 3 but i ate one before photo.

I did a bit of shopping on the way back to the resort as there are lots of shops on this one street across from the beach. Really easy and convenient for the walking challenged.  

I have been wanting to try a bike and they have then for free at the resort but they are a bit old and big. Paul thinks it is a dumb idea. He may be right.  We will see..

We made sure we had the (free) daily sorbet around the pool at 3, and swam, showered and changed in time for the daily (free) canapes and cocktail.   The nice sommelier who organizes makes sure i get some without the cute little biscuits. I get mine on a spoon so they are gf. Very considerate and he always leaves some for me. They are yummy. Must take photos.

Today while we enjoyed our social canapes etc, we listened to a talk by a local aboriginal elder who gave a talk  called 'culture connection'.  It was very interesting.

Lots of props and great didge playing. He suggested we video it to get the real experience but i cant transfer that onto the blog. probably a good thing:

We had not booked dinner but walked along the street with another couple till we found a restaurant that would have us.  IT was an asian seafood place that had lots of free tables unlike the surrounding restaurants. Worrying.

However mine was beautiful but no photo of my butter prawns unfortunately. Paul had a seafood curry so was also very happy.

I really like this place as it is within walking distance of shops, restaurants, beach and everything. 

More of the same tomorrow but heading to Port Douglas.

 

How hard is it to get to Palm Cove, Thursday 4.7.24

Thursday day 1, 4/7

It is so cold in Newcastle, rainy and depressing.  Why not go on a tropical holiday to somewhere warm?

Maybe Vanuatu. Sounds lovely and looked great on MAFS.  Why not?

Because the airline crashed, (no, that sounds really bad).  I mean they collapsed, went broke etc.(Much better).

But same result (for us) so why not Port Douglas in QLD, that's tropical. Oh no they're full.

OK what about a really nice resort in Palm cove, half way between Cairns and Port Douglas?

Yes Palm Cove it is.

Just a short plane from Newcastle to Brisbane, slightly longer plane from Brisbane to Cairns, shuttle bus from Cairns airport to Rent a car place, (I know, why?) and then drive from Cairns to Palm Cove, 30 minutes.  Easy.

Just an aside re car. Hyundai Venue i think. Small compact SUV which is very easy for me and nice car. Nice blue. i haven't got a photo yet as it is sitting in the car park below.

The resort is beautiful, it is easy for me to walk around, has a heated mineral pool, bar, free sorbet around the pool each day and canapes and daily cocktail each evening at 5. So civilized.  And it is an adults only resort. I mean no kids, not the other sort of 'adults only ' resort!!.

The The Reef House resort  from the front.

the view across the road from the resort

The view from our courtyard. Very tropical

Me on the swing on our little patio. Very comfy

inside our room

We have a coffee machine and tea selection of real tea. very nice

We had a dinner as part of our package in the fantastic restaurant which is 5 star at least.

Some photos.

our meals were amazing starting with entrees

scallops and pork belly

kangaroo

then main courses

squid tagliatelli

balmain bugs

and just the one dessert

creme brulee

special red recommended by the sommelier

All in all,a magnificent meal. We probably wont be back as it was so very special (read expensive).

A very early night due our 4am start today. Cant wait for tomorrow!