Category Archives: Port Douglas

Did I really go bird watching and butterfly spotting -Thala Nature Reserve Resort, Port Douglas

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At the conclusion of our first trip to Far North Queensland this year, we decided to treat ourselves to a few days at Thala Beach Nature Reserve Resort. The resort is about 15 minutes the Cairns side of Port Douglas. It is privately owned and doesn’t have the feel of a large commercial resort. That said, it has all the trimmings. 
It is not cheap, but it is delightful, and quite different to the style of accommodation we have stayed in before. 

There are stunning views from the Restaurant along the coast to the Daintree, while from the   Bar, there are coastal views looking back towards Cairns. The restaurant and bar are open-air, with wooden ceilings and no windows. It was breezy and gave the feel of a big tree house.
The accommodation is set in the woodland and is secluded, hut-style accommodation. All in all, it is quite a destination.

The question is, what do you do in such a place? You can eat and drink if that’s your fancy. It is certainly one of mine and one we didn’t pass up the opportunity to enjoy. However, as the name suggests, it’s also a place to take in the natural environment.


After we had settled into our room, we took a walk along one of the secluded beaches. There was not another person or, thankfully, crocodile in sight.

A duck!

Thala Beach offers several organised opportunities to enjoy the location. I decided to book myself on the morning birdwatching tour. I’m not sure that when I contemplated ‘What’s Next’, birdwatching was on the list of things I’d try, in fact, I’m sure it wasn’t! Continue reading →

Port Douglas – as relaxed as you want it to be

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This is our third visit to Port Douglas. With each visit we have stayed longer and arranged less activities. This time we visited in June with a trip planned in a couple of months for nearby Palm Cove.

On our first visit we had a day on the Barrier Reef, and visited the Daintree. Last year it was a day trip to Cooktown, an afternoon boat trip up the estuary to look for crocodiles, and a sunset cruise. This time it’s just been a sunset cruise, which was curtailed by the rough seas. In fact, on this trip it hasn’t been all blue sky days, rather,  it has been quite cloudy and windy, although still warm and we have had some rain. Definitely not what the ads say, but it’s been no less enjoyable than our previous stays.

I have generally been up early to watch the sunrise. We chose accommodation overlooking Four Mile Beach, which means seeing sunrise is just a walk to the balcony. 

Most mornings have started with a walk along Four Mile Beach or the coastal path, and sometimes both. The beach always offers something different. Because the weather has been less than perfect, the beach hasn’t been crowded, a few swimmers and a small number lying the beach. There is always quite a few people strolling along Four Mile Beach, which, as the name implies is a long stretch of sand. We walked the full length on one of the sunny days. Continue reading →

Port Douglas, Lost Luggage and Lesson Learned

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Dawn, 4 Mile Beach, Port Douglas

As is  becoming something of a tradition, we’ve returned to Port Douglas for a couple of weeks of warmth and relaxation, and thankfully, so has our luggage. Eventually.

Getting to Port Douglas from Adelaide involved approximately 4.5 hours of flying, across 2 flights. A direct flight other than by a budget carrier wasn’t available.

From Cairns airport it’s an hour’s drive north, along the picturesque coast to Port Douglas. It’s nearly 3,000 kilometres by road, a solid 32-hour drive—long enough to remind you just how vast  Australia really is. To put it in perspective: a flight of the same duration from London would land you in Athens, Corfu, Venice or Lisbon. For us, it’s simply a journey to another state that shares a border with, our home state, South Australia—albeit at the far end of it.

That’s part of the charm of Australia. It’s huge, and every corner is different. Adelaide was a chilly 7C when we arrived at the airport for our early morning flight; Port Douglas greeted us a half a day later with a humid 28C. No wonder Far North Queensland is such a draw card during the winter months. Continue reading →

Crocodiles – a day in the Daintree

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Our week in Port Douglas was very much about relaxing and taking it easy, So rather than hiring a car, we selected a couple of tours. One of those was a small group tour to the Daintree Rainforest. Initially I’d planned to hire a car and do a self dive tour, I’m glad we abandoned that idea as this way I got to see everything and our tour guide was in charge of deciding where we should go – I’d have had no real idea!

The downside was that it was an early start, with a 7.20am pick up. As we have found with this type of tour, the other tour guests are usually pleasant, and across the day there is a chance to strike up conversations, usually about where people are from and what experiences they have had while they’ve been travelling. We picked up a couple,of restaurant recommendations and a some tour hints that we can store away for subsequent visits. Continue reading →

Cooktown, Far North Queensland

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  I have  wanted to visit Cooktown for as long as I can remember. I’m not a Captain Cook oficionado, but I have read a lot about him and his travels. His journey to Australia was epic and his ships stranding on the reef off Cooktown is a central part of his and the Australian story.

As well as my interest in Captain Cook, a trip to Cooktown provides a reason to travel through  the Daintree which is a stunning part of Australia’s landscape. To get to Cooktown from Port Douglas also took as over the Bloomfield Track which in a our previous visit to the Daintree we hadn’t taken.

Cooktown in a day makes for a long day, but we found a small tour that fitted the bill. Run by Dale Forsyth, his Air s to Cooktown 4WD Tours is his personally curated way to see the region. Our pick up at 7.45am, seemed early to us, but for those on the tour from Cairns, their trip had started an hour or so earlier.

The Daintree is north of Port Douglas and covers the area from the Daintree River to Cooktown. Bounded in one side by the sea and the other the Great Dividing Range. It is dense rainforest said to be amongst the oldest in the world.

We’d seen the Daintree on a previous visit  and had taken the opportunity on that occasion to visit the Mossman Gorge, so we were not disappointed that our first stop was the vehicle ferry across the Daintree River. To do the journey in a day a visit to the stunning Mosman Gorge is really a step too far. The ferry is the only connection to the small population that lives in the region. Without it there is a very long and difficult drive that was effectively the route of the remainder of our tour.

Thornton Beach

Thornton Peak

Our first stop was the delightful Thornton Beach. Continue reading →