A Morning in Port Douglas

Goin’ Cruising #7

Day Five – Port Douglas

Port Douglas is the gateway to the World Heritage listed Daintree Rainforest and, even on a sunny morning, the distant mountains are dark with a dense covering of forest. We’ve been to the rainforest before so this time we stayed in town.

Our walk began from the Reef Marina, where small boats were moored alongside luxury yachts and fishing trawlers.

It was a short walk around the waterfront to Market Park and the Church of St Mary’s by the Sea. Inside the church, the window behind the altar created a real life artwork.

Leafy Macrossan Street begins at the end of the park. This bustling street is lined with souvenir shops, cafés and pubs and we wandered along, stopping on the way to admire local arts and crafts.

Macrossan Street leads to the Esplanade and the northern end of Four Mile Beach. Our goal was Flagstaff Hill, where an easy walking track leads up and over the summit to Trinity Bay Lookout.

From here, the view was breathtaking: Four Mile Beach curving away to the distant mountain range, Pacific Dawn resting at anchor in the Coral Sea and beyond her, the fringes of the Great Barrier Reef showing dark blue on the horizon.

We continued walking down the other side of Flagstaff Hill, past luxury homes hidden behind tropical gardens. We envied their million dollar views and debated which home we would buy should we ever win the lottery.

At the bottom of the hill we left our daydreams behind and joined the tourist crowd on Macrossan Street. We retraced our steps back to the marina, where a little orange tender was waiting to carry us back to the ship in time for a well-earned lunch.

Join Jo for more Monday Walks