After Sydney we flew up to Cairnes with Vigin Blue
Flight was very punctual. After landing at Cairnes we then transferred to Port Douglas.
The Meridian Hotel at Port Douglas. Very good value and self catering rooms with access to a machine machine. Better than a proper hotel. Owner/Managers John, Sue and Pauline were very friendly and recommended some excellent diving tours. Thoroughly recommend this hotel.
Port Douglas was a nice surprise with lots of shops, including a supermarket, and quite a few bars.
The Rattle and Hum bar above was good.
No town would be complete without a fake Irish bar.
However the best bar was the Iron Bar. Bar made out of rusty iron to intentionally look run down!
Also good was the Grouper Bar on the inlet.
Great views as the sun sets.
The first tour we took to the Great Barrier reef was Calypso.
An 83 foot Catamaran capable of 24 knots.
It takes about 1 hour to reach the first outer reef dive site.
Relaxing on the journey.
Ready to dive! It was stinger (jellyfish) season so we had to wear lycra suits.
Swimming with the fishes.
Shark!
The Great Barrier Reef was awesome. The coral was beautiful and there were so much marine life to see. We saw all sorts of fishes, including sharks, and a stingray.
The next day was Steve Tours. I hired a car and headed into the hills.
Give me the most powerful UTE Bruce!
Okay, actually I ended up with a 1.6 Auto Hyundai Getz. The most under powered 1.6 I have ever driven. This picture was taken on the Captain Cook highway.
First stop was some fuel. Coffee.
A very old Chinese Temple.
Curtain Fig Tree.
People swimming at Lake Eacham.
0-60 in 15 secs!
Driving the water full circuit.
A looping drive of three water falls.
Next up was Tony's Tropical Tours Daintree Rain forest tour. We picked tour B. This was a great tour with our guide Dave really knowledgeable and enthusiastic. He's a keen aspiring wildlife photographer and plans to publish his photo's on YouTube soon.
Awesome Toyota Landcruiser.
Banana plantation.
Daintree River Wildlife Cruise.
Unfortunately we did not see any crocodiles, except a tiny baby one. We did see some tree frogs and bats.
Beautiful beaches and clear waters.
We even saw stingrays swimming in the clear shallow waters.
We stopped for morning coffee and there was a huge spider hanging in the toilet hut!
In my haste to leave the toilet I forgot to button up! It turns out that the spider was not poisonous.
Nearly all the rivers and creeks had crocodiles.
Bloomfield Falls.
Mangrove trees.
Dave our guide climbing a vine.
The next tour was Sailaway trip to the Low Isles.
Lagoon 500 a 52 foot catamaran built by Lagoon in Bordeaux France.
Captain Steve having morning coffee.
The Low Isles.
While snorkeling we saw lots of huge turtles.