Matilda's Port Douglas Adventure

Rainforest, Seashore, and Animals

Port Douglas is a city north of Cairns.  Many of the boats that go out to the Great Barrier Reef leave from this little town, but it has much more to offer than just the launching point for the reef boats.  It is also close to Mossman's Gorge in the Daintree Rainforest, it has 4 miles of beach to walk on, a beautiful coastal drive, an animal sanctuary, and lots of shopping.

Matilda didn't get to go swimming at the Great Barrier Reef...for many reasons, but she did still get to enjoy the ocean.  She loved walking along the beach.

The ocean views were amazing, especially in the morning.

And the difference in the beach as it snaked it's way south was astounding.

Of course there were sandy beaches, some only revealed at low tide, with creatures crawling around on the sands.

Some of the beach was covered in smooth round rocks, pushed up the embankment by the waves, tumbling against each other until smooth.

This was a favorite area of Matilda's because the rocks were so beautiful.

She picked some up, looking at the colors and feeling their smoothness, but left them at the beach since it is illegal to take them from there.

Some of the shoreline is covered in dark black jagged rocks.

These areas form tide pools that house all sorts of interesting animals.  Matilda spots lots of crabs as she explores the rocks.

A few lizards also scamper around the rocks.  Where there is sand she finds starfish moving along the sand with their hundreds of tiny feet.  She sits and just watches the waves, enjoying the sound of the ocean.

Further along the road from Port Douglas south, travelers have set up cairns to mark that they have been here.

Hundreds of these stacks of rocks sit on the beach in this one area.

Some of them are impressively large.  Matilda takes some time and builds her own cairns to commemorate her trip.

Her last stop along the ocean road is a picnic area sitting right on the beach.  Beautiful trees shade the picnic area where she could eat and look out over the ocean.

She leans against one of the trees, enjoying the wind blowing against her face.  Another amazing place on the seashore.

The Daintree Rainforest is the oldest rainforest in the world.

While exploring the easily accessible path you can feel like you are in the Jurassic age.

The ferns are gigantic as are the huge trees with their hanging vines and twisted roots.

Matilda saw a few bush turkeys, but not much else as she explored the forest...well besides all of the awesome trees and scenery!

While in Port Douglas, Matilda takes some time to explore the many shops the main street has to offer.  Lots of souvenirs, clothes, snorkel equipment and food can be found in these shops.

Since she is visiting in the winter, there are not many people out, but in the summer, this corridor is packed.

The last place that Matilda visited in Port Douglas was an animal sanctuary.

The sanctuary was home to hundreds of amazing Australian creatures.

Of course there were kangaroos, wallabies, and koalas, but they also had cassowaries, emus, ducks, and even some huge pelicans.  

She loved seeing all of the animals.

The koalas were her favorite, but the kangaroo with a joey in its pouch was a very close second.

She was not as excited to see the large spider hanging from its web, but she was glad it was here rather than out in the rainforest.

Ick!!!  that thing would be scary to run in to!

After visiting the sanctuary, Matilda gets on a plane and flies to Melbourne.  From there, she is going to visit Philip Island and drive the Great Ocean Road.