Tropical North Queensland

Cairns - Port Douglas

While waiting for my travel companion Mari to arrive, I slowly disrobe the layers as a balmy 28 degrees heat up my winter bones. We meet and greet then immediately pick up our AVIS rental, a shinny silver Holden Cruze with inbuilt intelligence and head out for the hour drive from Cairns airport up the Captain Cook Highway (44) to Port Douglas. Somehow we miss the coast road, nonetheless it's interesting to observe the changing landscape with abundant sugar-cane plantations, banana trees, lovely old Queenslander homes, endless palm trees and heavily protected Barramundi farms as we make our way to the Rydges Sabaya Resort.

We are given a stylishly decorated ground floor 2-bedroom garden suite that backs onto our own patch of rainforest. With 3 digital TV's no need to fight over the remote, but who has time for TV? After freshening up we briefly explore the evergreen tropical lushness of the resort.

The Rydges Sabaya Resort is an attractive family friendly flourishing resort with lotus ponds surrounding the deck covered breakfast/dining area. Large palm trees everywhere you look and various size swimming pools, open 7am to 10pm daily with the Biru bar open for Happy Hour 3-4pm daily. However a few feet away is the Lotus Lounge that offers a variety of wines, local beers and mixology cocktail classes ($5 per person) to make your own concoction several nights a week. Designed in funky Japanese inspired decor and situated close to a perpetual waterfall, the atmosphere is relaxed and serene. Check out the 'What's On' board for regular events, like Fish Feeding in the Lily ponds or Live music nights.


Wd head out to Port Douglas to stroll the length of Macrossen Road, lined with comfy cafes, chic restaurants, hippy shops, fashionable boutiques, clothes galore, day spas, jewellery shops, art galleries, bookshops and endless souvenir stalls. I buy a 70's inspired groovy straw hat from one of these stalls. Not surprisingly, the shopping precinct place emphasis on local shops, businesses and artists.

We're encouraged by a local to visit the loos at Zinc restuarant, so we do. We're greeted by a wall to ceiling aquarium with Dory and Nimo and a small reef shark and many other species to ease our ablutions. After that exhilarating experience, we explore the myriad venues to dine and settle on Finz, a restaurant dedicated to all dishes involving seafood. We devour huge dishes of beer battered fish, salt & pepper calamari with wedges and salad plus first rate homemade tartar & spicy sauces, washed down with a few glasses of Mojo Savuignon Blanc. Delicious!

The street is not overly crowded with tourists although enough to create an unhurried buzz as we meander and window-shop in the cool breeze. Hard to believe just a couple of hours ago we were freezing, heater on, wrapped up in winter woolies.

The Court House Hotel balcony is in prime position to sip a few ales and watch the sun go down over the wharf. With liquor license ending at midnight the partying starts early with plenty of bars, pubs and clubs to let your hair down.

We head back to our Holden Cruze, which intuitively knows it dusk and automatically switches the lights on. And cruise it does, more like glides us all the way back to our air-conditioned suite. It also knows we might want to hear the end of the song so waits until we alight the car before shutting down the radio as the headlights stay on long enough to illuminate our way. Very smooth indeed.

AVIS Rental Car Hire. Cairns Airport. 1800 252 321

Rydges Sabaya Resort. Port Douglas.
87 Port Douglas Rd. Port Douglas.
P: 07 4099 8900
F: 07 4099 8901

www.rydges.com/hotel
www.tourismportdiuglas.com.au