Port Douglas - Reef and Daintree

Hi everyone, tomorrow we leave Port Douglas after 2 weeks of heaven!  We have loved our time here, great weather, nice town & have had a wonderful break. We head to Atherton tomorrow (inland S/W) then Charters Towers, Mt Isa on  to Darwin. A couple of days ago I went on a helicopter flight call "Reef & Rainforest Tour" , we flew to the outer reefs then back to Cape Tribulation & followed river Gorges into the Daintree. I really got lucky on this flight- it was meant to be a 45 minute flight but a company employee who will be one of their pilots soon decided to fill an empty seat, so we were in the air for an hour and a quarter instead & had an unscheduled landing on a sand bar  way out past the outer Great Barrier Reef. Just magic! Flying over the Daintree was incredible, right to the top of the mountains, then a jaw dropping view of a waterfall in Mossman Gorge ( another unscheduled landing ) and magnificent rock formations including the "Devil's Thumb". I was also very lucky to get the prime front seat next to the pilot. Unfortunately my camera batteries were very low, so not as many photos as I would have liked, especially of the Daintree Forrest. In a trip full of wonderful times, this was definitely the highlight. We have also loved going to the beach each day , & our towball testing service is going well.

Taking off from the heliport

The Low Islands

Outer Reef in the distance- this is where Steve Irwin died

Sand bar past the outer reef

Standing on the sand bar

Sand bar is about 300 metres long & 3 metres wide

Although you can't see it from the photos, we saw lots of turtles, a shark and stingrays.

The pouch around my waist is the life jacket

View of sand bar where we landed

Heading inland over the Daintree River

Port Douglas - Mossman Gorge

Today we went to the Port Douglas market, which was interesting, but very New Age- lots of  "healing stones", Tarot card readers etc.  Some nice clothes though.  These 2 musicians were really good, the man on the left was playing the harpsicord & the fellow on the right playing the didgeridoo & steel drum, a different sound but nice. Then we drove up to Mossman Gorge ( part of the Daintree) & I went on the rainforrest walk to the river, which I really enjoyed.

Entrance to the walk

Bit hard to read in this photo; it explains how the tree put out "butress roots" above the ground to survive

Mossman River- crystal clear water with a greenish colour from all the vegetation

This is 2 trees- the original tree had the seed of a fig tree dropped in its branches by a bird, which then started growing and eventually the original tree was completely enclosed & eventually died, leaving the fig tree with a hollow centre.

Port Douglas - Daintree

Hi everyone, we are still in Port Douglas (until 1/8/12). Yesterday we drove up to the  Daintree National Park, a very scenic drive. I went on a croc-spotting river tour which was fun, saw a smallish female and a large male over 4 metres long, both saltwater cocs

Sugar cane harvesting

The boat ramp on the Daintree River in Daintree Village

The smaller female resting half in & out of the water-her name is "Aggro", can't think why!

This is the 4 metre salty, sound asleep in the sun. It wasn't moving at all- I had a joke with the tour guide that it was a fake one to show the tourists, his reply was "Jump in love & see for yourself!"

Saltwater crocs are more correctly known as estuarine crocs as they have gills in their mouths that act like desalination plants, so they can live  in fresh or salt water. This fellow is estimated to be about 35 yrs old & will probably live to over 100 yrs. Occasionally cows will come down the bank, he has eaten 3 this year, after stalking them for weeks. 

Closer view of Aggro

Port Douglas

Hi everyone, we arrived here yesterday after a beautiful drive from Cairns.  It was similar to driving along the Great Ocean Road, as you can see from the photo below.  The weather is lovely & warm, about 28 degrees.  Today we went to a lovely spot called Ellis Beach- just a carpark, beach & pub. Port Douglas is a lovely place, we were meant to stay a week but are trying to book a bit longer here.

This photo is a bit hard to make out, but the 3 white objects between the man & the dog are live geese dressed in frocks & hats. They were quite funny to see, wadling around honking, dressed to the nines!

Port Douglas Marina

View over Port Douglas from lookout (4 Mile Beach)

4 mile beach

Looking back towards Palm Cove

I love a swim in Winter

Grae enjoying the sunshine

A reptilian visitor on our doorstep