Port Douglas

 After leaving Silky Oaks Lodge, we went to nearby Port Douglas and stayed for five nights at the Sea Temple Resort.  Once there, we relaxed, went on a snorkeling day trip to the Great Barrier Reef, laid by the pool, barbecued at the hotel & went for a day trip to the rainforest village of Kuranda.  Port Douglas is a very cute little resort town with lots of restaurants & shopping.  Drew & I splurged in Port Douglas and bought an amazing painting of Sydney.  We hadn't even been yet, but had a feeling that we would love it.  And we did!

Our hotel was right on Four Mile Beach - Maggie & I went
exploring at low tide

Our rooftop oasis - complete with jacuzzi, BBQ & outdoor kitchen

I tried my tastiest local brew in Australia at the Tin Shed in Port Douglas - Fat Yak.  The label was also everything I hoped it would be.  We made some pretty tasty meals at our hotel (which thankfully had a full kitchen & our own BBQ), including shrimp on the barbie, Indian food, fish & pizza.  Some tasty meals!

First order of business in Port Douglas  - checking out
the town & swinging

Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef was quite an adventure.  The reef is so expansive in Australia and so well preserved because it is a hike from the shore.  We had to take about a 2 hour boat ride just to get out to the reef.  And it was a bit more windy than any of us Coffins would have liked.  We were pretty much all feeling seasick by the time we actually got out to the reef, but thankfully none in our party lost our breakfast.  Others on the boat weren't as fortunate.  It was significantly calmer once we were sheltered by the reef, but still a bit more choppy than the ideal snorkeling conditions we're used to on Guam.  But we saw such amazing stuff!!  The fish are a lot like the ones in Guam, but they are SO much bigger.  It was astounding how huge they were.  I swear some of them were bigger than me.  And there were huge clams & such amazing coral.  I also got to see a sea turtle, which was phenomenal!!

Kuranda is a cute little rainforest village.  It is predominantly a tourist attraction and the journey up & back is fantastic.  We took a train up the mountain to get there & took a gondola ride over the rainforest on the way down.  It was one of the coolest things of the whole trip!  And while we were up there, we had a tasty lunch of meat pies (mainly meatless in our case) and saw some amazing animals at Koala World & Bird World.  It was a wonderful excursion. 

Taking the train up

Kangaroo with a little joey sticking his head out of her pouch

The prehistoric-looking, flightless Cassowary

Taking the gondola down

We had a wonderful time in Port Douglas & the best part was just being together!  We had two days where we just relaxed, played lots of games, shopped & just enjoyed being around the family.  I give Port Douglas two thumbs up!  If I ever went again, though, I might try to stay in the actual town because the resorts are all a little outside the town & you have to pay to take the shuttle into town.  And you have to wait for the shuttle at times, but the waiting does allow for some good photo ops...