diaryofapom.com
Memoires of a tour of Australia
We can probably best describe Port Douglas as the Monaco of Far North Queensland, without the pretentiousness, the money laden tax dodgers and the high prices!
It basically consists of one main street, lined both sides with boutique shops, café’s, restaurants and bars. About five minutes from the main street is the marina at one end of town, and of course four-mile beach at the other. The shops are all individually owned, rather than chain stores, which incidentally is a theme that seems to run everywhere we have been so far in Australia. It really inspires you to think that you could start your own business and that it might actually be successful; everyone we speak to seems to be-self employed.
We ate out a lot here and were rarely disappointed; the food was always fresh, the portions truly huge in most cases, reasonable good value, service was always with a smile and staff very friendly, always taking time to chat with us about our trip.
Highlights had to be Bistro 3, 2 Fish and Zinc in the evenings, Fish and Chips café on Macrossan for lunch, Tommy Bahama’s for breakfast and the Gelati place near Zinc for possibly the best Ice Creams on the planet. The Central Hotel was the place to be for any sporting event, as it had two massive screens, as well as five or six smaller ones, plenty of seating, drinks were reasonably priced, and had a great atmosphere. It even had an outdoor cinema twice a week, and it was free. Coffee and cakes at Rehab are a must too.
We only stayed on one campsite in PD, and it was the best overall that we have been on yet. The Tropic Breeze Van Park was excellent, and the closest by a long way to town. The others were probably five minutes drive away, which when you haven’t got a car, is just too far. The staff on site were very helpful, very friendly and very good at their jobs, and they were cleaning and tidying all day every day. The ‘grey nomads’, who migrate north in their caravans for the sunny weather when it gets cold in the south, predominantly took up the pitches. Everyone we met was friendly, helpful and always smiling. The site itself had very good facilities that were the cleanest we have had yet, our pitch was spacious and the best suited so far to our set-up, and was only two minutes walk from the beach.