The Pig Yard
Pig Yard @ Port Douglas - November 2005
| After a three hour flight from Sydney we landed in Cairns only to find we'd lost an hour because New South Wales have daylight saving whereas Queensland don't. We then faced an hour long race along the Captain Cook highway to Port Douglas, arriving at our luxury hotel at eight o'clock in the evening. We had a complimentary drink at the bar and then retired for the evening. |
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The sea looks deceptively - November is the start of the jelly fish season and therefore it is inadvisable to swim unless in designated protected areas. We walked two or three miles into Port Douglas town for a wander round and to grab some shopping. |
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A
short walk from the rear of the hotel and we were standing on 4 mile beach.
Wherever
we went Jane made friends. The Habitat was effectively an open plan zoo. We
were well protected from the crocodiles but most of the other creatures were
approachable and some were more shy than others. Jane got very close to this
wallaby or potteroo until the moorhen in the foreground chased it off.
 The
highlight of the weekend was our snorkelling expedition out to Low
Isle which forms a part of the inner Barrier Reef. Neither of us had
snorkelled before therefore we approached this with some trepidation.
The swimming wasn't going to be a problem but wearing full face masks
gave some concerns.We were advised to book with Sailaway III because it was a small boat and it proved to be very good advice. There were only 25 people on board which meant we had a personalised service compared with some of the boats that had over 200 who were herded around like cattle. |
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Jane
took to the experience quite quickly but because of Steve's moustache he had
problems with the mask fitting without leaking and he soon started breathing
in salt water. A thick layer of Vaseline soon had him sorted and we were
swimming with the fish looking down on shapes and colours that were out of
this world. Our guide dived down to bring up sea cucumbers and pointed out
the various types of coral. Later when we were swimming off the back of the
boat we both saw a ray beneath us - great. We were also fortunate to see
turtles totally oblivious of our presence. At lunchtime leftover food
attracted some really large fish around the boat.
 Whilst
walking along the beach of Low Isle we came across this giant clam in
the shallows as the tide was going out. We tried to make it close but it
ignored all efforts. |
 Our
hotel was in a wonderful setting with a long pool complete with a
cascading waterfall at one end and a breakfast area right next to the
pool. It was unfortunate that breakfast was so expensive that we decided
not to partake after the first morning. Overall we were not impressed
with the service we experienced. |