Birds and Bats and Jellyfish....OH MY!!

Hi all!  Sorry it's been so long!  This is a couple stops back but we wanted to catch you up from where we left off.  While we loved the fast pace of Sydney and hiking in the Blue Mountains we were in dire need of some R&R, which is exactly what we found in the quaint beach town of Port Douglas, located an hour north of Cairns in Far North Queensland.

Our primary motivation for visiting this part of Australia was to see the Great Barrier Reef.  Well we succeeded in this mission and then some.  While we have both been snorkeling in Aruba, Cancun, Hawaii, and Fiji this was by far the best!  (which it should be, I guess!!)  We saw some of the brightest and most colorful coral and thousands of beautiful fish, luckily no sharks!  We did, however, have to wear lycra wet suits. Not because of the water temperature (which is about 88 degrees) but because of the jellyfish.  It is high season for jellyfish and boy were we glad we had the suits on. (Even though they were not the most flattering things) Needless to say we had an amazing time snorkeling.  We took a catamaran about 1 1/2 hrs off the coast and visited three different reefs, each one better than the last.  If you are ever visiting these parts of Australia this is definitely a must do.  We can now check it off our bucket list!

The Calypso catamaran - our transport out to the reef.

Looking back at Port Douglas

Sexy, right??!  But man, that water is beautiful!

On our last day in the area we rented a car and drove north to Mossman Gorge, the Daintree Rainforest, and Cape Tribulation. We visited some stunning beaches that felt like we were at the edge of the world and ate some yummy local tropical fruit ice cream.

Thornton's Beach

Mouth of the Daintree River

Wes succeeded at driving on the left!  The small roads were good training for later city driving.

Our hotel in Port Douglas was really nice  and more like an apartment. We had a kitchen (with a dishwasher) and laundry!  It was nice to cook some meals together and get some clean clothes! It felt like home for a few days.

Kebabs on the barbie.

Across the street from where we are staying are these creatures...

Yes they are bats and there were hundreds of them. They are known as the flying foxes in these parts and apparently they like the one tree outside our hotel the best because they never leave.  Luckily they didn't bother us.  The hotel owner tried to run them off by banging pots and pans every morning.

We also have a love/ hate relationship with these fellows...

While they are very pretty they travel in flocks and are quite possibly the noisiest birds we've ever heard.  Next time we complain about the seagulls in Ocean City we will think of these and shut our mouths, haha!

 

Ok we get the jellyfish but CROCODILES??!

On the beach near our apartment was a lifeguard area with a net that defined the swim area.  The net is there to keep out things that you wouldn't want to swim with...  The day after Wes went swimming we read about the latest craze in Australian jellies called the Irukandji (check out the wiki link).  Apparently they are significantly smaller than the net is designed for and could have been in the water all along!

Beautiful little church (St. Mary's By The Sea) that had a window behind the alter that looked out into the ocean.  If that doesn't make you want to attend church I don't know what will.  We filed it away for top places to renew our vows!

This is what we call Port Douglas roadkill....yes that's a LARGE crab!

We had smooth travels to Melbourne and have enjoyed getting to know the city a bit. We will update you more about Melbourne and beyond in a couple days!