Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia

We stopped in Port Douglas today. It’s a small town similar to Florida in look and feel. The surrounding area though is mountainous. It’s a touristy town with shops and restaurants. I think it’s a pretty good time of year to be here — it must be sweltering during their summer. It was a very lovely day for us. 





We started in the Sunday market — lots of things to buy from local vendors. We just window shopped. We then had lunch at a nice place in town. 



We then Ubered a few miles to the Wildlife Habitat — a nice little zoo that allows visitors to get up and close to the animals. We really enjoyed it. 









It was time to head back but we couldn’t get an Uber; the app kept saying it was too busy. There happened to be an excursion bus from our ship. We struck up a conversation with the driver and mentioned we were having trouble with Uber. He said, “No worries mate; climb on board with us.”  

Before we headed back to the marina he drove up to another town known for its sugar plantations, then back through another area of Port Douglas before he dropped us off. We essentially got a free tour which was quite nice. The area was very beautiful and the sugar cane was all in bloom, which we’d never seen before. There was also a guide on the bus that gave a nice talk about the sugar industry and history of the area. 

The last part of the ride we drove past 4-mile beach, a main attraction in Port Douglas. The guide told us that nets are set up to keep the salt-water crocodiles off the beach … 😳


Sugar mill in Mossman, near Port Douglas

We had to tender in/out from the ship at this stop (that means there’s no dock for the ship/they use life boats to shuttle people in). If you’ve ever cruised and stopped in Cabo San Lucas, you know what this is like. The interesting part about this stop is that the ship dropped anchor about 3 miles from the port. It was a very long ride in. Luckily, on our way back we caught one of the local ferries that was helping shuttle people. It was a much nicer ride.







After a short rest we got dressed for the evening. We watched comedy and had drinks in the theater before dinner. We turned in early after dinner. 

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