Port Douglas Plantation Resort

Hot and Humid - Wet Season Packing

by ATXtraveler

During your trip during the wet season, there are a few things to remember. You will be most likely get in the water to see the great barrier reef, so bring swimsuits, including a swimshirt. In addition, there is the possibility of a sting from a jellyfish, so make sure you add some lycra into your bag. If you do not have any, then you can actually pay the providers to rent one. Do not forget this... and it is also worth the money to buy a camera case holder for underwater pictures.

Visit Four Mile Beach

by stevezero

Don't know if the beach is actually four miles long, but it stretches for a long way out of Port Douglas.
The beach is a mecca for families as well as a place for beach carnivals.
The sand here is superb, as is the atmosphere

Enjoy the infinite view @ Rex Lookout

by backpackerbaby

Rex Lookout is located somewhere between Cairns and Port Douglas, you can't miss it as it's located on the main road (and perhaps the only road). On a clear day, the view is just amazing!

It's quite windy at Rex Lookout which makes it a hot spot for tandem hang gliding. Yoho~

Port Douglas

by leffe3

Until a few years ago, Port Douglas was a sleepy little village at the end of a 6 kilometre spit of land, having lain mostly overlooked since the 1880s when Cairns (an hour to the south) was selected to be the terminal for the new railroad. Cyclones took their toll (the town was virtually destroyed in 1911) until the vision of one man - Christopher Skase – in the mid-1980s changed the course of the town and it has developed into one of the most exclusive resort destinations in Australia.

That 6 kilometre spit of land running from the Captain Cook Highway, with the main access into Port (as it is known locally) running through it, became palm tree boundary to palm tree boundary exclusive holiday resorts, with the (now Sheraton) Mirage leading the way. Skase turned the town into a multi-million dollar earner, resorts, hotels, golf-courses, a marina. Money flowed – and remains so today, even after Skase fled to Europe with a string of debts to his name.

It's spectacular location built at the confluence of the Hodgkinson River and the Coral Sea, backed by the the rainforested slopes of Daintree National Park, the Great Barrier Reef only a few miles off shore.... And, in spite of the monied feel to the town, it has a wonderfully relaxed air to it.

It may be geared almost completely towards tourism with its various reef tours - diving, snorkelling, kayaking, helicopter and sea plane flyovers, crocodile spotting on river trips through the mangrove swamps, trips to the rainforests of Daintree and Cape Tribulation (as well as those closer to Cairns such as the the Scenic Railway of Kuranda), but to me at least its done in 'the best possible taste.'

The main target may be to encourage you to part with your dollars, but there remains a great deal of charm to Port. There's nothing brash about Port Douglas. The main street is lined with restaurants, boutiques and massage/alternative therapy parlours. Four Mile Beach is a spectacular addition to the town, whilst on the sheltered western side of the spit is the mangrove-lined Dickson Inlet and Packers Creek. It's here that the new Marina development (arguably the one spot where rampant commercialism is most apparent) is to be found with the reef-tour boats (some taking more than 400 passengers) and a high concentration of restaurants and bars.

But you can easily avoid the marina, wander along Macrossan St, Anzac Park on the headland or Four Mile Beach. But then the pull of a Great Barrier Reef tour may result in heading to the marina to board one of the boats that will take you out to one of the natural wonders of the world.

The Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary - part I

by GlobalMatt

"Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary - Pt Douglas"

This place is awesome!! If you have the opportunity, you MUST visit here...preferably doing the "breakfast with the birds" experience to start your day. I'll never forget watching some guy's wife get up to get some food and a parrot landed on their table and proceeded to drink her orange juice. It was one of those moments when you say, "now, that's something you don't see everyday!!"

"Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary address/info"

Port Douglas Road - Port Douglas, Queensland 4871, Australia
Phone: 07 4099 3235
The sanctuary can be found at the entrance to Port Douglas on Port Douglas Road. From Port Douglas, the park is located 6 kilometres from the main street.
website - http://www.rainforesthabitat.com.au/