Monday, September 10, 2007

 

Queensland!

 

Wow! I had expected Queensland to be beautiful, but I had not expected it to be SO beautiful, or rather, beautiful in this way. Also, I had not expected the ride from Cairns to Port Douglas to be so stunningly lovely! Perhaps the biggest factor was that although I knew I was going to the tropics, I had not realized that they would look so different from what I knew, or so lovely.

 

Our Airport Connection bus drove past lush fields of sugarcane against a backdrop of rugged mountains. I was so excited about the view that I started snapping photos through the window. Can you see my reflection?

 

 

There was a lushness even to the fields that was different.

Soon we drove down to the ocean and the road hugged the coast. We passed beach after deserted beach, with the occasional person or couple enjoying the view. 

 

Then finally, about an hour later, we were in Port Douglas! We had taken off in Hobart at 10:30am (well, we were supposed to – it was a little late) and arrived in Port Douglas at about 6:20pm. We crossed no time zones, just went from the Southern tip of the East coast to very close to the Northern tip. It’s a big country. (See http://www.map-of-australia.us/.) In fact, Queensland itself is so big, that the distance from Tasmania to Brisbane (the capital of Queensland, but located on the southern end of the state) is comparable to the distance from Brisbane to the tip of Cape York, at the northern end of the state.

 

We stayed at the Port Douglas Queenslander, holiday apartments. The location turned out to be perfect, with wonderful hosts, John and Carol.

 

Wow! Coconut palms!!

 

 

We kept being surprised at every turn. We knew we were coming to the tropics. But we hadn’t really known what it would be like! And the weather was so warm! After Tasmania, which was just coming out of winter, we felt hot! Although while we were sitting at dinner, we cooled off and were chilly.

 

Everyone was exhausted, but there was no time to head to the grocery store. We walked down to the main street, Macrossan St., and went to Mango Jam, which was in one of my guidebooks and was recommended by Carol and John.

 

The restaurant was fine. Service was slow, but cheerful. This kind of service seems to be an inevitable byproduct of the Australian restaurant system which does not include tipping. Apparently, even at the finest restaurants, there’s just a little jar for change on the counter. This means that you rarely have just one waiter or waitress, but also that they are just not in a hurry to bring you your food or drink. Nor do they notice if your glass is empty. (This would also explain why restaurants all look so expensive to us – service and taxes are always included in the price of items.) We all ordered wood-fired pizzas, mine with lots of seafood, Eileen with just sauce, cheese and herbs and Rama and Annapurna shared a pizza with carmelized onion, capsicum (what the Aussies call bell peppers) and strips of kangaroo meat. [Here’s where I apologize to my vegetarian readers. Sorry! I have to say, I couldn’t stomach it myself, but they both pronounced it tasty. After those wonderful wildlife park experiences, Eileen couldn’t try it either…]

 

The food was tasty, and the main drag of Port Douglas is busy with people out having a good time. This is at heart a tourist town, and the main street is lined with restaurants, swimsuit stores, shops selling resort wear, gifts, fine art, ice cream, jewelry, postcards, or souvenirs, as well as internet cafes, tour booking sites and spas. You get the idea. There may be some people who live in Port Douglas, but most of the residences close to downtown are hotels, holiday apartments or time shares. And why not? One of the postal workers put it perfectly. She had a sign posted in her little area at the Post Office, “Smile, you live in Paradise!”

 

and we hadn’t even begun to explore the place!