Port Douglas, Australia

Happy Thursday!! I don’t know about you but I’m holding onto summer for as long as possible, so today I’m doing just that by sharing Part 3: of our summer vaca– all things Australia! Seriously such a beautiful place, but nothing like I had expected! (We didn’t jump into the car and drive the outback– so maybe that was what we were missing😂)

Being there about eight days meant we had to select what we really wanted to see since everything is farther away than it looks! #thirtyhourdrive We chose The Great Barrier Reef and Sydney as our main attractions and let everything else fall into place! After a little research, I found that Port Douglas would be an amazing place with beautiful resort locations, easy access to the Reef and rainforest nearby. So Port Douglas was the point of destination✈️

We flew from Auckland back to Sydney on Saturday, June 9th.  Before the flight, we realized we hadn’t updated the Visa situation that I mentioned in Vaca Part: 1 (I’m sure you didn’t guess otherwise). So we simply applied for new ones at the Visa application counter. (Nothing like applying for double the Visa’s all on foreign turf💁🏼‍♀️) It was a smooth process and we were good to go all within five minutes!

We arrived in Sydney and then boarded our second flight for the day to Cairns (cans).  Landed–after a sweaty/smelly flight😅 (thanks to Tiger Air for showing us what it means to be an Aussie) grabbed a rental car and off to Port Douglas we went– supposedly one hour north of the airport! Some how we arrived within 30 minutes.  I checked us in only to find that we were at the Palm Cove location and not the Port Douglas. #toogoodtobetrue  We ended up eating dinner to-go in Palm Cove at Lucky Fish that Grant randomly picked up on his way out of the market (when he only went in to buy diapers for Grayson Quinn).  Not to mention the to-go margarita he brought me as well… I guess whatever happens on vaca stays on vaca🍹 Palm Cove was adorable (the couple blocks that it stretched)!

We finally made it to our accommodations here and called it an evening.  The next day was a relaxing one at the pool.

The weather was perfect–no rain, a couple of overcast hours, but overall sunny and warm.  The resort was on-point👌🏼 and since we were loving our time there we shifted our flight & accommodations for the end of the week– staying an extra night in Port Douglas and one less in Sydney.

Our evening ended with dinner here at Zinc. The style (which seemed to be the theme for many restaurants throughout Port Douglas & Palm Cove) was island-inspired. Of course palms everywhere and really just a picturesque open-air restaurant with a touch of modern flare!

Our food was amazing and as always great company with the two g’s!

Monday, was our day at sea! Grant had debated on scuba diving but when he found this all-inclusive boat trip he thought it would be a fun way for all three of us to experience the Reef. I was excited since it checked off several of our desires for different adventures-me sail and take a catamaran where you can lay out on the net and for him snorkel or scuba in The Great Barrier Reef. ✔️

After a relaxed morning of taking our time to get around we made it to our boat just in time to set sail!  #anotherclosecall

The boat was beautiful and so were the views.  It was an hour trip out to the Reef– I could’ve sailed around on that thing for hours⚓️

They anchored our boat and then we took a glass bottom boat to the island.  Grayson Quinn and I laid out–him under the mini cabana while Grant went snorkeling.

{I have snorkeled several times with Grant and honestly am not a huge fan of the whole snorkel situation– looking at fish & other creatures that are super close to my body all while having to maintain composure with that breathing device. Who even knows what is going to touch you?! I’d much rather layout, take a glance of the crystal clear waters from above, and just relax. So to answer your questions about Grant getting to snorkel and not me– it was the perfect compromise!  Gave me a good excuse to not join in on the “fun.”}

The afternoon was amazing☀️  Round one of snorkeling was done and then an island tour of the wildlife was given.  Back to the boat for lunch and then more snorkeling.

 Grayson and I stayed on board and laid on the net–he was a bit scared not knowing what was going on!

Grant soaked up every minute of snorkel time💦

Then came back to the boat and took Grayson Quinn with him for a swim–just in time for some extra-large creatures to be circling the area! #nothankyou

We had a fun trip back with a little bubbly🥂 as we sailed into the sunset!

A few more from the trip…

Before heading to dinner we noticed green bugs on our vehicle– well I guess we were just getting acquainted with their local green-headed ants.  There were swarms and it took Grant a good hour+ to get them off.  (We all know I’m wasn’t touching them😂)

We ended our evening with dinner at this casual waterfront brewery.  Pictures were a struggle!

Oh wait, we didn’t officially end it there, we tried to stay up a little later that night! We went back to the resort lounge area, which was open-air and free for wildlife to roam where we played cards and sipped a little wine.  Enjoying our time, when all of a sudden Grant said, ” Mel don’t look.”  {Seriously who says don’t look and you don’t actually look🙄}  So I proceeded to look and under the adjacent table was a dang rat! #gross I screamed because what else do you do when you see a rat? I guess if you are Grant you go kick it…and away it went.  The receptionist came to see what was going on and she was appalled that I had seen one. {I probably would’ve been packing my bags from the resort but again it’s open-air so what do you really expect?!}  I had enough cards for the evening and enough rats forever!

Wednesday, was the extra full day that we added onto this portion of our vaca and it didn’t disappoint!

Another relaxing day at the pool and maybe even a lot of spa time for me. {Thanks Grant for booking me a package–so that’s where I spent my afternoon!}

Before dinner photos…

Dinner was here at 2 Fish and impeccable at that.  The Barramundi 👌🏼 Grayson enjoyed the tonic water (gave him the chills it was so good😂).

Our last morning in Port Douglas allowed for a quick adventure to the nearby- recommended Daintree Rainforest! We opted to do our own drive-thru tour so that we could stay as long or as little as we wanted.  {Glad we drove ourselves because lets just say it wasn’t much different from any other forest.}

Not a recommendation for your Australian adventure😂

 Entering the rainforest was unique in that you must cross the river using the vehicle ferry.

We were warned to not step foot into any of the waters because of crocs– I was hoping to see one or something really cool but the best we got was this wild turkey lol💁🏼‍♀️

We made it in and out of that place within an hour– most of it was spent in the restroom, on the private beach snapping pics, and eating some amazing Daintree Ice Cream!

We mixed things up and ate out for lunch back in Port Douglas at a dive that was recommended– The Mexican.  This was a great twist on mexican food– cauliflower w/ pumpkin mole sauce tacos and a cucumber jalapeño margarita were a few of the many!!  So good.

After lunch we headed to the airport…

Our flight went smoothly, all but Grayson Quinn falling off the seat head first🤦🏼‍♀️ He was totally fine and laughing 😂

Our last destination– Sydney, Australia coming soon!

Thanks for traveling with us✈️
{Until Next Time, Stay Classy}