Port Douglas – hello paradise

I love to travel. There’s no way around it. I firmly believe that travel is good for the soul. It’s good for your happiness. It’s good for your relationship, and most importantly, it’s good for your perspective. I’ve come to the realisation that I need to start exploring my own background a little more. Whenever I go to book a holiday I immediately want to go overseas. I’m not sure if that’s because Australia is our little island so detached from the rest of the world, or what it is really, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to appreciate this beautiful country. In January of this year Lex and I travelled up to Port Douglas and boy am I glad we did. It was my favourite holiday with Lex so far. Just such a little laid-back slice of paradise and the kind of break that I needed after what was an emotional and busy year.

It was a pretty unplanned trip – we booked it in November. Normally I book months in advance! The only accomodation still available was the Sheriton Mirage and the QT. I decided to go with the Sheriton. It really is the ultimate resort – the rooms are beautiful, every building is surrounded by lagoon pools, there are a few restaurants and of course, a swim up bar! It was such a relaxing and peaceful place. It also had the backdrop of Four Mile Beach which you could walk down to get to the main town, specifically Marcrossan Street. That’s exactly what we did when we checked in and put our bags down. Lex’s parents were on the last night of their holiday there and they asked if we could meet them down at the beach and then head to dinner. Lex and I walked along Four Mile Beach and I can’t recall too well what we spoke about, but I can recall the feeling of being there with him and just how happy I was. We walked along to beach chatting away and trying to dodge all the tiny crabs that were crawling along the sand. As always when I’m at the beach I was on high bluebottle alert and my eyes were all over the place making sure there weren’t any in our path! (It didn’t help that on the bus ride to our hotel from the airport one of the passengers warned me about tiny bluebottles they have up here that are the size of your fingernail! – does he not know who he was talking to? Aka miss paranoid about bluebottles). We eventually met Lex’s parents as they were finishing up their swim. Four Mile Beach isn’t just a pet name, it really is Four Miles (Lex opted to take the shuttle to town every time after that!). As I dipped my toes in the ocean I was shocked by how warm the water felt, and how serene this little slice of paradise was. We headed back to Lex’s parents apart-hotel and had some cheese and biccies on the balcony overlooking the water, with a glass of wine of course! Next stop was Chilly’s, a really cool outdoor restaurant just on a patch of grass with the kitchen in a shed.  We sat near the bar and it was so cool just to sit there, listening to the music, looking at the lights and being in Tropical North Queensland, you really couldn’t wipe the smile off my face! We all shared some garlic bread and I had the chicken skewers for my main. To be honest I couldn’t even finish my food the serving was so big! And I had filled up on cheese an hour earlier. The whole vibe of Chilly’s was awesome and I recommend a visit if you ever head up to Port.

Stay tuned for the rest of my Port Douglas adventures.

Lis x

A picture I took on our walk along Four Mile Beach