Adventures - Port Douglas

I have a rule when travelling, Don't try and pack to much into a single day, it tends to give a rushed and almost stressful element to the holiday for which is exactly what you don't need.

So when picking the events detailed below I ensured that we only picked one major event per day and it worked like a charm in this case.

Day 1: Agincourt Reef Quicksilver cruise, this is a big day we court the cruise early in the morning and headed off into pristine water to the outer reef. upon arrival you disembark onto the activity a massive floating platform in the idle of the reef, here you get straight into your planned activities, for me snorkeling is fun enough however the offer of scuba diving etc is available  just make sure you book it as part of your day and don't try and do it once on the water as nothing can be guaranteed. (although you can book a drive with a Marine Biologist which would be kind of cool)

As with all cruises you get lunch included in all packages as you cant exactly buy a Big Mac on the reef, and the food was considering the large number of guests it was catering for all round very good.

 

So you spend the day snorkeling, eating sunbaking and taking rides on the semi submersible a glass bottomed boat which gives you a great vision of the reef without the need to don your snorkel or scuba set.

However the ride home always tend to be somewhat a bummer, so we ensured we had a booked the helicopter return (once again make sure you do this in advance if this fits into your budget) as it makes the journey go from several hours to just over 45 minutes and it truly gives you a superb view of both the reef and the port Douglas headland. (see pictures above)

Even with the flight home you won't necessarily feel like doing much more after a big day in the sun so this sums up day one for us.

Day 2: Daintree Rainforest / Crocodile Tour

How can you go to North Queensland and not visit the Daintree, I mean who hasn't heard of this wonderful rainforest ??

For me this was the least fulfilling part of our North Queensland adventure, the drive to the Daintree is nice past crops and livestock and the Ferry ride across (The only way to get across) was cool, but seriously I was expected large three hundred year old cedar tress, instead it's a mass of good old fashion bush land, the drive after the ferry to the discovery center was short and had some great views, but the canopy top walk etc was all very disappointing to me and seemed over priced (Although I imagine this is to cover the ongoing maintenance costs which would be extensive).

So after spending about forty minutes completing the canopy aeriel walk we returned over the ferry, feeling somewhat disappointed as we had allocated a full day to this and here we are at midday and finished.

This is when we came across the Bruce Belchers Daintier River Cruise's, this is a small establishment tucked away in the bush along the highway to the Daintree River crossing.

This couldn't have ben better the staff here are truly awesome, the equipment well maintained and comfortable, granted we did only see one crocodile but growing up around these creatures has shown me in the past how allusive they can be, even though we did see a crocodile as it was not tap dancing on the deck of the boat the tour operator offered us a free second tour later in the day, we did however feel content with what we had seen and went on our way.

Day 3: Wine and Food Tour!!

This was by far my most favourite day of the entire holiday, as soon as I heard wine tour I was sold, however as many of you may know (and to be honest I was perplexed at first as well) North Queensland's climate doesn't really allow for the successful cultivation of grapes as we know them, so wine tour?

The answer of course is fruit wine, yes it is a thing and after tasting a large number of different fruit wines  am sure I will never travel to far from my beloved Vino, that being said this tour isn't just wine as you will read below it diversifies to make a complete tasting experience in some truly remarkable country.

 

Firstly you are picked up by guess !!!Brett in his tour van from your hotel door and once the bus is full off you go for a short bus ride back along the cost road to a place called Tjapukai here you get to experience a number of indigenous jams and some very fresh damper along with some lesser known fruits for which provided us with a large number of laughs as most are either very sweet or very sour.

After everyone is finished eating you feed your remaining damper to some native turtles that have made the water way on the premises their home, after a quick look in the gift shop the bus is loaded and the long ride begins.

 

Once the long trip up the range is completed the next stop is De Bruey's Boutique Wines, at the time of our visit the owners lived onsite at this mango farm/ winery and where incredibly friendly.

The van is parked in the shed and the owner of the property runs you through a qick tour of the wine marking equipment and then esorts you over to a large timber deck with some stunning vews of the surrounding country side, here we experienced a tasting of some of the most delicious fruit wines I have even tasted, (not too shy away fromm the fact I still don't believe you can drink more than a glass or two in a single sitting of any fruit wines) with my favourite being the bark grown jaboticaba.

After the tasting you have the option to purchase any of the wines and liquors tasted being once again whisked away in Brett's super van.

Then Lunch and to keep in step with the theme of the day its not just any lunch the lunch destination is the Mount Uncle Distillery, here as part of your tour booking you are entitled to a pizza and a salad per couple the food was delicious the beer was cold and the service was excellent (I am leaving this a little vague as I intend to re-visit the Mount Uncle distillery and give it a full review).

After lunch you get to taste some of the fine liquors produced onsite and play with some cool animals.

The back in the van!!!!

After a short trip you hit in quick succession the cheese factory and the Jaques Family Coffee Plantation, both of these places are really great bring your wallet and spend up big, you won't get better cheese, chocolates of coffee anywhere else we certainly brought a huge amount back with us.

So now as it's starting to get later in the day, the last part of the journey begins, here Brett takes you too a secluded platypus viewing pond fitted out with a undercover area from which Brett produces a final selection of cheese, fruit, biscuits and an assortment of beers and wine, you get about an hour here (we didn't see a platypus) but it was a nice catch up especially as everyone has now got to know each other and the lips have been loosed from sampling alcohols all day.

Then once everyone has had enough its time to go, the trip home is fairly long back down the range and everyone gest kinds sleepy and worn out but it makes getting back to the hotel even more special.

 

Honestly a great day out for all (except children under 18 LOL)

I do warn you however it is a big day and you won't feel like doing much afterwards, so we hit a quick dinner and went to bed.

Day 4: The Last Full day

So with all the major tourist attraction activities completed, what to do on our last day ?

Well we thought we would do two smaller activities one at either end of the day.

The first Uplift Parasailing yes I know we can do that at home too, however with the team at uplift the entire process was just simple, you make your won way down to the marina in the morning and there you check in and follow the deck hand down to the boat, quick safety demonstration and the option to go extra high (do it) and just like that your off and racing.

 

A short 10 minute boat ride out and it begins the parasail is inflated and the passengers begin taking their turn in the air.

We were fortunate enough to have a cruise liner anchored off the coast of Port Douglas when we were sailing and got an amazing view of all the activities taking place on the boat, but as soon as it begins it ends and you find yourself back at the marina with the larger part of the day still ahead of you.

We decided on  a liquid lunch and a final spa before changing into our formal wear (jokes) for a twilight Yacht cruise.

So we purchased some wine from the bottle shop (only the best) and walked down to the marina (one real advantage of staying in the city proper is the ease in access to the marina) here we met our awesome crew of two lovely ladies that sailed us out of the harbour to watch the sun disappear and brought us home again all wile sipping wine and eating the delicious entrees offered as part of the package.

we retired to bed early to ensure we were fighting fit for the long drive home in the morning.

Day 5: Quick checkout and breakfast and the off home.

 

This week is one for which I will never forget, we truly had a great time and for a very acceptable price. I personally hope Port Douglas never changes as I hope my children get the chance to experience it just the way we did in 2015.

 

I have attached the links below to the activities as mentioned above, should any of these links expire or change please feel free to contact m myself or any of the team member at The drunken Traveller.

I hope to hear your stories about Port Douglas please hit the contact us link above and share in your adventure.

Steven