Today we left the paradise of the Whitsundays and headed up to Port Douglas via our flight into Cairns. I was slightly nervous of our 8:30 pickup time for a 9:35 flight! I know it's only a short distance regional flight but surely at least 2 hours would be safer! To be fair the coach arrived bang on time and check in took just under two minutes!
We were safely in the departure lounge with a coffee and wifi by 8:45! Panic over! I don't think I've ever been on such a small flight, we're on the same size plane that we flew here in but there can only have been about 20 people this time round (I've just had a quick head count and there are 24)!We got our hire car with little hassle and started our journey north to Port Douglas. The journey is only short so we did a bit of a detour to a little village called Kuranda, a very strange place, small town, set up for tourists but in the middle of nowhere. There were lots of little trinket shops full of souvenirs such a aboriginal paintings, bracelets, clothes and ornaments. We wandered for a while, Edd bought a wine bottle holder and we had French crepes for lunch, all very weird.
We then found a butterfly house! The biggest in the southern hemisphere and Edd and I decided we had the best tour we've ever had there! We made it into the house and then realised that we hadn't booked our guided tour, I went back to the receptionist who seemed surprised we wanted a tour but said she would get someone out in a minute for us. 
We had Laurie show us around, ex body builder, ex builder, had been doing the job for 3 weeks and knew everything there was to know about butterflies. Lovely guy with an incredibly dirty mouth (thank god we had no kids in our little group of 4). He said he had fat fingers but had to find a job that made him smarter now that his body wasn't what it used to be and he needed to save what energy he had left to keep his missus happy! 
He had NO IDEA about butterflies it was hilarious, and what was funnier was the other people on the tour were very happy believing it all, one of the group asked 'how long does a snail stay a snail' we think he was asking about the caterpillars but was happy when the guide answered the question seriously. 
The group were more excited by the stray turkey than these bugs we were supposed to be looking at. They also had a big chat about what the word metamorphosis meant and how we could say we metamorphoses because we all have to change throughout our lives to cope. The exhibition was great in some ways with thousands of butterflies all around us but they only had a few species and the info was a bit tacky.
We drove a short way up the coast to the Barron falls, a rather disappointing trickle at this time of year! It was a lovely walk through the rain forest though, I managed to make Edd jump out of his skin by running my sarong over his toes!! I thought it was hilarious but I don't think he's going to be supportive about my mouse fears any more!!
We checked into the best hostel we have stayed in so far, helpful receptionist, great facilities, DVD players, ensuite! We have booked another day snorkelling which I'm already worrying about but I can't not go, we won't be back on the barrier reef any time soon!
Port Douglas is so much more than we expected, we both love it, we wandered in to town expecting a quick look about and to grab some dinner from the supermarket. Instead we found a brewery on the marina where we watched the sun set as the boats came in and then as we got further into town the atmosphere got busier and busier. We're now sat with a big screen full of sport for Edd and a live band for me! Great night!! Ha! We now have 'unique' dancing going on!!
No comments:
Post a Comment