It was time to explore Port Douglas a little more at leisure. Specifically, we wanted to look at the church where the wedding was to take place (just 2 days away), and look at the town in a somewhat more leisurely way.
Macrossan Street - the main street of Port Douglas. All the heat
and rain makes the vegetation grow vigorously. And the buildings
follow roughly what I would call "north Queensland style".
Looking along the main street - not exactly busy at this time of
day; or any time for that matter. Few tourists drive to here, and
in any event, there are only a few blocks consituting the main
part of town, so walking, even in the heat, is the usual way around.
Anzac Park, looking towards
St. Mary's by the sea
which is located behind the ponciana trees. Also shows Port Douglas
Inlet across to Cape Tribulation.
St. Mary's by the sea from the inside. The view through the window
is
quite attractive.
Anzac Park as seen from the Port Douglas wharf. St. Mary's by the sea
is located about the middle of the image, and Wharf Street can be
seen across the park. Also visible there is part of the Court House Hotel,
where we ate on many evenings.
Being an outdoors establishment (well, almost everything in Port
Douglas is essentially outdoors) allows the wildlife to come visit.
This bird was checking out various tables to see what it might find.
The Club is also on the way from the sea to the Marina Mirage,
and thus there was much boat traffic to observe, including the
Quicksilver boat, one of a number of boats taking people to the
reef for diving or snorkelling.
Although this boat looks empty, so it may be the transfer boat
to/from Cairns, bringing people to Port Douglas to join the
regular boat to the reef.
At the other end of the Port Douglas boating fraternity is the
"Lady Douglas", a 60 year old boat which takes tourists (and locals
too, I suppose) through the inland part of the inlet to observe
crocodiles.
The paddle wheels on the side are fakes - there's a propellor on
the back for propulsion. The paddle wheels do turn, and I suspect
they are driven, but it wasn't obvious that their speed of rotation
was related to the vessel's speed.
The Lady Douglas heading back to its mooring at the Marina Mirage.
After an afternoon of lubrication, it was time to head back to Hibiscus Gardens and clean up for dinner at the Court House Hotel.