The jewel in the crown is the 4800-square-metre saltwater lagoon pool with sandy edges and shallow areas for the youngsters. In downtown Cairns we found a street with hundreds of flying-foxes hanging in trees. They made a lot of noise but seem to be protected. The next day we headed toward Port Douglas.
The highway passes along wonderful empty sand beaches but because of the very venomous jelly fish bathing is not allowed.
Tiny, venomous and virtually invisible to the human eye, the jelly fishs inflict a sting so painful that if you don’t die you may wish you had. In the case you are bitten by jelly fish you have to immediately put vinaigre on and then call the helicopter top bring you into the hospital! The jelly fishes are specific for The Northern part of Australia but in the meantime they arrived close to Brisbane.
All over the places there are vinaigre bottles installed and plates with phone numbers to call the rescues helicopters but their sting is very painful. We stopped at a place where bathing was allowed. Lifeguards on the beaches drag nets through the water but if they find a jellyfish, the beaches are shut.
They built with nets a kind of pool ca. 50 m long where swimming was allowed. A bay watch told us that he checks every 4 hours the water along this pool to see if there are jelly fishes. In this case the “pool” ist closed immediately. So on a 3 km long beach you are allowed to swim only in a small 50 m x 20 m pool! Very annoying. In the case you are bitten by jelly fish have to immediately put vinaigre on and then call the helicopter top bring you into the hospital!.
The next day we drove to Port Douglas and visited with a tour the Daintree NP. We walked on a boardwalk through the rainforest, had a trip by boat on the river and then stopped at a waterfall. It was nice but (except a turtle) virtually no wildlife. We haven’t seen the cassowary.
The other day Andre had booked a snorkeling tour with Wavelength and after a two hours trip we snorkeled at three different points in the Reef. The sea was very swallow and it was plenty of colorful fishes turtles and even small sharks and corals. In some places the water was only 0.5 m deep and it was forbidden to snorkel to avoid destroying the corals. We had stinger suits on but just for precaution. The guides told us there is no danger. And we were very lucky because the sea was very calm. In that places it is not necessary to dive. The water is very swallow and wonderful corals lie just underneath the surface. It was one of the absolute highlights of the trip. Unfortunately my wife was sick and stayed in Port Douglas.
We enjoyed quiet and trendy Port Douglas.
