Up at the crack of dawn and heading to Port Douglas via Palm Cove. I love Palm Cove but Leslie was not too excited about the place. This is a very upscale little enclave but not a whole lot shaking! Reminds me very much of The Hamptons or Hilton Head. No neon signs, no Macker's (McDonalds or any other fast food chain), just a lot of high priced restaurants, shopping and accommodation. Once again, no swimming at the beaches (which were beautiful) unless you like swimming with croc's and box jellies!! You are right in the heart of the tropical rain forest so large gum trees make canopies of the main streets...PRETTY COOL! We spent a couple of ours walking along the boardwalk and then decided to head to Port Douglas. People we met in the Blue Mountains stayed at the Ramada and said it was very nice and we were all about to check in when I noticed a Rydges. The resort appeared to be undergoing some major renovations but still looked pretty opulent. Andrew, the G.M. explained that they were converting this property to their new Q1 5 Star flagship and if we wanted to stay with them, he would definitely make it worth our while. He offered us one of their two luxury, one bedroom suites for the duration of our stay. The unit was awesome with two flat screen TV's, a large private deck with our own hot tub. The grounds were beautiful with a large pool with swim up bar. To top it off, he included their amazing buffet breakfast.
With the monsoon rains and cyclone they recently experienced, there was an infestation of what looked like water beetles by the 1000's everywhere you look, including the room. Leslie quickly dubbed me the "Beetle Hunter", it really freaked her out!! Welcome to the tropics honey. The first day the weather was great and we spent our time by the pool. The resort was full of young families, celebrating the Easter Holiday and school break. The next day the monsoons came again and continued for the next few days. Our intention was to possibly spend a week before barrelling it back to Sydney for our return flight, a total of 3700 kms. After another 2 days of rain, we decided to revert to our original plan and head back to our favourite apartment at the Sunshine Coast. Although there appeared to be rain along the entire east coast, the weather looked most promising at this location. The drive to Cairns from here would be approximately 1200 kms, very do-able in two days.
With the monsoon rains and cyclone they recently experienced, there was an infestation of what looked like water beetles by the 1000's everywhere you look, including the room. Leslie quickly dubbed me the "Beetle Hunter", it really freaked her out!! Welcome to the tropics honey. The first day the weather was great and we spent our time by the pool. The resort was full of young families, celebrating the Easter Holiday and school break. The next day the monsoons came again and continued for the next few days. Our intention was to possibly spend a week before barrelling it back to Sydney for our return flight, a total of 3700 kms. After another 2 days of rain, we decided to revert to our original plan and head back to our favourite apartment at the Sunshine Coast. Although there appeared to be rain along the entire east coast, the weather looked most promising at this location. The drive to Cairns from here would be approximately 1200 kms, very do-able in two days.
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