Port Douglas Day 3

Another beautiful morning. These are not hard to take especially when, after speaking with my cycling friend Jack, we know it has been quite cool in the mornings at home. So easy to hop out of the Karavan and not have to rug up at all.

Again this morning, Prue walked down the 2 kilometres to the lap pool. She did a kilometre and then walked back to the Caravan Park.

My exercise was again a bike ride of almost 2 hours. This morning I rode south along the Captain Cook Highway to a locality named Oak Beach. The road is quite reasonable to ride on as the edges are generally wide enough without getting too close to passing traffic. I returned mostly the same way except I turned off the highway and did a diversion that took me around past the Big 4 Caravan Park. It is full to overflowing with caravans, camper vans and motor homes parked on grass with apparently no power or water. The Caravan Park we are in is full with the same but has no overflow area, however the cabins are not full up. Anyway, I then returned to the Highway for a short stint before returning to the Port Douglas CBD for a circuit then into the Caravan Park.

Later in the morning, we went for a drive into the town area  specifically into the Marina Mirage. We had a wander through the Shopping part and were amazed at the number of empty shops.


We spoke to a shop owner who has been there for a long time and he told us that some of the problem is the change in the demographics of the residents compared to the days of the high times in Port Douglas. He also told us that the rents for the shops are still reflecting those days along with the introduction to the town of chain stores such as Rivers and Target along with many others. In its heyday, the Marina had very upmarket shops like Louis Vuitton. The current visiting population are not buyers of the upmarket products and also the big spenders have gone to other resort areas across the world. How times change!

Our morning cappuccinos and scones sufficed for lunch today as we were quite late. Anyway it was nice partaking of our morning coffee while taking in the sights of a lot of beautiful yachts and cruisers along with many fishing charter boats. Our walk took us along the Marina to savor the sights and smells even more. While doing this we had a lovely chat with a couple from Hobart. They have traveled from down there with a motor home. While we chatted we all shared interesting locations to visit.

After our time at the Marina, we drove up Flagstaff Hill to the Four Mile Beach Lookout. It does lookout over the lovely beach and to the mountains to the west of the town. Quite a lot of people up there doing the same as we were.

Then we descended the hill and I showed Prue where Rocky and Susanne were married several years ago. There was a small area of green grass visible that is obviously watered. The rest of the grass is suffering from lack of water as it appears to be quite dry at present in this general area.

After our trip into the town area, we returned to the Caravan Park for a relaxing afternoon either reading or snoozing. We probably needed to have that rest.