I suppose you are wondering why I am publishing the last entry form Port Douglas 7 months after the event. Well, I did dutifully complete the post as requested - which was pretty much restaurant reviews. However during the upload the cyber world lost its balance and half the post was eaten by ether gremlins. Having a serious case of the shits I walked away to see if my humour would improve over the following days. It didn't. And so now, I present to you my unfinished final post from Port Douglas. All the great composers had unfinished masterpieces, I am merely confirming my place amongst them. Enjoy.
Yes, dear reader, I have gone missing in action over the last few days. I hope my lack of presence hasn't caused you alarm, but in reality life in Port Douglas is an eat, drink, relax, sleep, repeat mode. In essence there is not much to say. That said, as they say, this will be the final holiday blog for a while and I intend to cover the last few days as well as the restaurants we visited, at your request, in a little more detail. Therefore, this will be a long, meandering post, so get yourself a glass of wine and settle in.
Yes, dear reader, I have gone missing in action over the last few days. I hope my lack of presence hasn't caused you alarm, but in reality life in Port Douglas is an eat, drink, relax, sleep, repeat mode. In essence there is not much to say. That said, as they say, this will be the final holiday blog for a while and I intend to cover the last few days as well as the restaurants we visited, at your request, in a little more detail. Therefore, this will be a long, meandering post, so get yourself a glass of wine and settle in.
Today's title, in an effort to stay relevant to the millennials, is by Amy Shark and was the runner up in last year's Hottest 100 on Triple J. Not that I would wish the blog become a political forum, but, I fully support the move of the Hottest 100 away from January 26 and still wonder if this country is ever going to adult enough to recognise it's hurtful past and embrace all who live here.
The lifestyle up is meant to be relaxed, particularly when the temperature reaches the low thirties by breakfast and the humidity is above 60%. It's important to move slowly, conserve energy and stay in the shade. That's pretty much what we did after New Year's, sit by the pool and read or sit in the air conditioned apartment and read or sit on the balcony (once the breeze was strong enough and the sun on the other side of the building) and drink champagne - you weren't expecting that were you? Or sit in the front bar and read, while enjoying light snacks and a few beers. Just to break things up we would occasionally walk into town to do some shopping and have a beer at the Court Tavern - it had the best breeze.
To break up the monotony and to satisfy my lust to sight a cassowary, we caught the local shuttle to the Port Douglas Wildlife Habitat. If you were born before 1970 and are not sure what that is, think zoo with less confronting cages. Entry was $35 per adult. Entry. If you wanted to cuddle a koala, or have lunch with the lorikeets, aka coloured squawking birds shitting in you hair and lunch, then you could pay up to an extra $100. Value. The zoo, sorry, Wildlife Habitat, is looking a little sad, like a few other pockets of Port Douglas that originally surfed the Christopher Skase Mirage wave of the '80s. Google it kids, it's a great story of excess. See also, Alan Bond. Ah, the 1980s, nothing exceeds like excess.
Anyway, we saw a cassowary. One lonely, sad cassowary with a bad right leg. Quite spectacular looking bird and the closest thing to a dinosaur. You can see velociraptor in every move and those talons. To quote Adelaide, wow. I am really keen to see one in the wild. Next time. The rest of the habitat contained the usual suspects, wallabies, kangaroo, some smelly koalas, pelicans and an assortment of water birds including two black storks. They also had some finches and local doves and parrots and curlews. It while away half a day but wasn't really worth the money.
In the meantime I had walked the ANZAC track again and paused to watch a number of turtles feeding on the sea grass. I was hoping for dugongs, but no deal, again, better luck next time. We need to return outside of croc mating season when the beach is often closed because of croc sightings, as well as out of stinger season when the water is much safer.
Given the heat and humidity we never ventured far from from home without returning poolside to cool down - and wash the sweat from your body. It is interesting to watch the territorial nature of humans who are as every bit as protective of what they see as their patch as a crocodile or cassowary might be. A couple turned up this week, I think they may have been Russian, and inhabited the only two low-back comfortable chairs in the pool area. I have no idea what time they got up, but they were safely ensconced in their thrones by the time we made breakfast. They would be there when we returned from town, they would be there when we went to dinner. You had to admire their tenacity. For three days we did not see any one else sit in those chairs. However, they did occupy them.
There was another couple who fancied the lounges. They would arrive at breakfast and lay out a towel and deposit a book or a newspaper and then come and go as they pleased, effectively precluding anyone else form accessing the lounges. Amazingly selfish.
And to the restaurants, in no particular order:
2 Fish
Located in a new building towards the beach end of Macrossan Street (and very close to our hotel). As such the decor is nothing to get excited about, it's just table indoors and out - although the difference is minimal, at lunch however, you could find yourself in the sun.
The food is exquisite. Fresh, light, tasty a bringing together of local produce with an Asian influence. Coral trout is everywhere up here and is a wonderful eating fish, Jayne had that as a main. I had Bugs with an asian curry. We shared two entrees, Malaysian style prawns and calamari, both served with a crisp, tasty Asian salad.
We will be back.
The Surf Club
I was really looking forward to the Surf Club in a homely, bogan kind of way, and also because it was down the end of our street. As such, it could become the go to place when we needed a feed. It was open air, although covered by a canopy with views to the Coral Ocean. In less crowded, child-free moments, you may be able to hear the water lapping on the sand.
Also, I am quite fond of the Noosa surf club where we have whiled away many an afternoon enjoying good food and wine. If you are expecting the same here you will be disappointed.
We booked a table for dinner, arrived on time and were nodded in the direction of our table by a pre-pubescent server with plates pilled up both arms. Stay classy Port Douglas. Seated we then needed to work out the system unaided. There were two mid-length queues in two separate areas, one to order food, the other sustenance. Sorry, drinks. The menu was unremarkable and the drinks list even moreso. There was one person taking dinner orders and one serving drinks. Given the drinks server also operated the entire bar, service there was somewhat slow. Realistically, it wasn't that crowded, the early dinner rush had departed.
The ubiquitous coral trout and chips was overcooked and tasteless. The wine, ugh, I haven't tasted a sav blanc that grassy and acerbic since the early '80s. It was my fault, I only wanted the one glass and asked for what was the most popular. My reasoning was it would be freshly opened.
Give it a miss, unless there is nowhere else to go. Or you are not fussy.
Hi-Tide
The lifestyle up is meant to be relaxed, particularly when the temperature reaches the low thirties by breakfast and the humidity is above 60%. It's important to move slowly, conserve energy and stay in the shade. That's pretty much what we did after New Year's, sit by the pool and read or sit in the air conditioned apartment and read or sit on the balcony (once the breeze was strong enough and the sun on the other side of the building) and drink champagne - you weren't expecting that were you? Or sit in the front bar and read, while enjoying light snacks and a few beers. Just to break things up we would occasionally walk into town to do some shopping and have a beer at the Court Tavern - it had the best breeze.
To break up the monotony and to satisfy my lust to sight a cassowary, we caught the local shuttle to the Port Douglas Wildlife Habitat. If you were born before 1970 and are not sure what that is, think zoo with less confronting cages. Entry was $35 per adult. Entry. If you wanted to cuddle a koala, or have lunch with the lorikeets, aka coloured squawking birds shitting in you hair and lunch, then you could pay up to an extra $100. Value. The zoo, sorry, Wildlife Habitat, is looking a little sad, like a few other pockets of Port Douglas that originally surfed the Christopher Skase Mirage wave of the '80s. Google it kids, it's a great story of excess. See also, Alan Bond. Ah, the 1980s, nothing exceeds like excess.
Anyway, we saw a cassowary. One lonely, sad cassowary with a bad right leg. Quite spectacular looking bird and the closest thing to a dinosaur. You can see velociraptor in every move and those talons. To quote Adelaide, wow. I am really keen to see one in the wild. Next time. The rest of the habitat contained the usual suspects, wallabies, kangaroo, some smelly koalas, pelicans and an assortment of water birds including two black storks. They also had some finches and local doves and parrots and curlews. It while away half a day but wasn't really worth the money.
In the meantime I had walked the ANZAC track again and paused to watch a number of turtles feeding on the sea grass. I was hoping for dugongs, but no deal, again, better luck next time. We need to return outside of croc mating season when the beach is often closed because of croc sightings, as well as out of stinger season when the water is much safer.
Given the heat and humidity we never ventured far from from home without returning poolside to cool down - and wash the sweat from your body. It is interesting to watch the territorial nature of humans who are as every bit as protective of what they see as their patch as a crocodile or cassowary might be. A couple turned up this week, I think they may have been Russian, and inhabited the only two low-back comfortable chairs in the pool area. I have no idea what time they got up, but they were safely ensconced in their thrones by the time we made breakfast. They would be there when we returned from town, they would be there when we went to dinner. You had to admire their tenacity. For three days we did not see any one else sit in those chairs. However, they did occupy them.
There was another couple who fancied the lounges. They would arrive at breakfast and lay out a towel and deposit a book or a newspaper and then come and go as they pleased, effectively precluding anyone else form accessing the lounges. Amazingly selfish.
And to the restaurants, in no particular order:
2 Fish
Located in a new building towards the beach end of Macrossan Street (and very close to our hotel). As such the decor is nothing to get excited about, it's just table indoors and out - although the difference is minimal, at lunch however, you could find yourself in the sun.
The food is exquisite. Fresh, light, tasty a bringing together of local produce with an Asian influence. Coral trout is everywhere up here and is a wonderful eating fish, Jayne had that as a main. I had Bugs with an asian curry. We shared two entrees, Malaysian style prawns and calamari, both served with a crisp, tasty Asian salad.
We will be back.
The Surf Club
I was really looking forward to the Surf Club in a homely, bogan kind of way, and also because it was down the end of our street. As such, it could become the go to place when we needed a feed. It was open air, although covered by a canopy with views to the Coral Ocean. In less crowded, child-free moments, you may be able to hear the water lapping on the sand.
Also, I am quite fond of the Noosa surf club where we have whiled away many an afternoon enjoying good food and wine. If you are expecting the same here you will be disappointed.
We booked a table for dinner, arrived on time and were nodded in the direction of our table by a pre-pubescent server with plates pilled up both arms. Stay classy Port Douglas. Seated we then needed to work out the system unaided. There were two mid-length queues in two separate areas, one to order food, the other sustenance. Sorry, drinks. The menu was unremarkable and the drinks list even moreso. There was one person taking dinner orders and one serving drinks. Given the drinks server also operated the entire bar, service there was somewhat slow. Realistically, it wasn't that crowded, the early dinner rush had departed.
The ubiquitous coral trout and chips was overcooked and tasteless. The wine, ugh, I haven't tasted a sav blanc that grassy and acerbic since the early '80s. It was my fault, I only wanted the one glass and asked for what was the most popular. My reasoning was it would be freshly opened.
Give it a miss, unless there is nowhere else to go. Or you are not fussy.
Hi-Tide
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