December 20 - Australia: Cairns

Today we went on a day trip a bit north to Palm Cove and Port Douglas.  We packed up the cooler with lunch and some drinks, grabbed the camera and were on our way.  It was a really nice day and we were psyched to be sight-seeing again.

Palm Cove

Palm Cove is only about 30 minutes north of Cairns, but it's almost another world.  Cairns is full of shopping malls, car dealers, and stoplights.  Palm Cove has one little cobble-stone street that runs along the beach with just a few hotels.  The beach was beautiful - and incredibly quiet.  We found a little picnic bench where we set up the "esky" (Australian for cooler) and got ready for lunch.  We had pitas and hummus with tomatoes and basil.  It was very yummy and perfect for the beach.

Our lunchtime beach view

After lunch, we walked up and down the little beach, checking out the shops and some of the little hotels.  We decided that - if someone came to visit us - we would definitely recommend this place in lieu of our second bedroom.  It's much more interesting!

After spending more time in Palm Cove, we hopped back in the truck and drove up to Port Douglas.  PD was about 40 minutes further north, and the drive was right along the coastline.  It was sort of like driving up the Pacific Coast Highway in California.

Along the way, we stopped for a "scenic view" where we watched some hand-gliders float on thermals above us.  The view was lovely.

The Scenic View

Port Douglas

Port Douglas is a resort-ish place and the next major town north of Cairns.  We enjoyed looking in some of the shops and driving around the marina.  There were some gorgeous boats in the marina, and some even more beautiful houses up in the hills.  We drove up one of these very steep hills and got a great view of the bay.

Port Douglas

Around 4:00, we headed back to the townhouse.  It was a nice outing all together.