Port Douglas!

We left Brisbane and drove about 10 hours north to a small blue collar town called Mackay. Our friend Laura, whose wedding we attended in NZ, is from there; though the main attraction in the area was sugar cane. There were fields everywhere and a huge sugar mill in town. Besides a few strip malls, that was about it. We stopped for the night in a caravan park and were planning to do a few walks the next day in Eungella National Park. Apparently there was a river in the park that was a prime spot for seeing platypus. Unfortunately, when we woke the next day it was pouring rain. We attempted to make our way to the park but soon passed a sign that said "very steep incline." To get to the park, we had to pass over a mountain with a very steep grade, and in the pouring rain and our large camper van we just didn't want to take the risk. So, instead we headed out early that day and started making the drive to Cairns. Our last destination before Port Douglas! As we drove further and further north, the weather cleared up and it got warmer and warmer. We even passed over the Tropic of Capricorn! We looked for some sort of sign, but unfortunately there wasn't one--we just knew it had happened based on the road map. We got to Cairns in the early evening, but didn't venture into the city at all, we just enjoyed the nice weather and made ourselves some dinner for the last night in the camper van. 

The next day, we dropped off the camper van and caught a bus north to Port Douglas! We had arranged one week in a backpackers to get ourselves sorted with jobs and accommodation. The place was alright, but it was a big industrial building with tile floors and cement walls, so everything echoed. And the kitchen was usually dirty. But, we had free internet and the owner, Mick, was a super nice guy. My first morning of work when I needed to get there pronto he gave me a ride in his truck!

But yes, our first two objectives were to sort out a job and housing. We had tentative jobs lined up before we even left Melbourne, we had both applied to be food and beverage attendants at a place called Sea Temple Resort and Spa and had both received call backs to come in for an interview when we arrived. 

Our first full day there we walked around town, walked along the beach, called the guy about jobs, caught the bus down to Sea Temple to have an "interview" which was really us walking around the resort being told about the job and then that was it! John started in two days and I started over the weekend! We were pumped! Got some contracts and our uniforms and headed back into town!

The next day it was time to find a place to stay. We had spotted a 2 bedroom townhouse online with a full kitchen, balcony, shared pool, etc all for what we paid less in Melbourne. We went down to check it out, filled in an application, and then walked back along the beach. Unfortunately, someone had already put down an application so we didn't get the house so our hunt continued. Eventually we found a studio apartment right around the corner from Sea Temple for really cheap.

The next day, before John started work, we spent the day relaxing on the beach. 

A few nights ago, for our our friend Thirza's birthday, we all had a bonfire party on the beach! 

Noticing a trend here? It's nice living in a beach town and it was a fantastic change of pace from Melbourne.

Port Douglas very much has it's charms. It was developed mainly by some big businessman named Christopher Skase, who built the Sheraton Mirage back in the 1980s and it was the fanciest place in town. Bill Clinton and Hillary stayed there when they vacationed in Port Douglas in September 2001. He was eating at one of the nicer restaurants in town called Salsa when he found out about 9/11 and I heard the Secret Service very quickly swept him out of town back to the states. Salsa still has a plate signed by him that's insured for $18,000 though--an expensive plate! The Mirage still looks like a hotel from the 80s, while Sea Temple is only 7 years old and looks new and swanky (it is 5-Stars after all). But it was discovered in the late 1980s that, after Skase filed bankruptcy for $700 million, all the money he used to build Port Douglas was swindled from people into a pyramid scheme a la Bernie Madoff. He fled the country to an inland of Spain, where Australia did not yet have an extradition treaty set up, and there he remained till' his death in 2001. Fun story, huh?

But still, compared to Melbourne it's a quaint beach town, though it still has lots of local shops and restaurants, a Coles, and a Target for most of your shopping needs. What it doesn't have, nor will it ever, via a vote by the town citizens themselves, are a McDonald or Burger King or the OZ version of Wal-Mart called Big W. It also cannot have any buildings larger than 3 stories. All these laws help it keep it's small-town feel, even while it expands as it becomes a popular tourist destination.  It's a nice place to live, but good lord are the people not very punctual. 

As we discovered when we ended up waiting 2 weeks until we could finally move into our own place! We had to keep calling and hounding the real estate company to check our references, to get in contact with the property manager, to approve our application, to set up an appointment, to actually sign the lease--blah blah blah. It took ages and by the end we were ready to get out of the backpackers! Especially by the second to last night when a drunk british couple came back at 3:30 a.m. and proceeded to have a loud, drunken fight in the hallway that echoed everywhere so everyone could hear. There is also a town shuttle that costs $4 for a one-way trip that is NEVER on time--they say they come every 10-15 minutes and I say bologna. More like every 30-40. Anywho, besides people not caring too much about getting things done on time, Port Douglas is nice! We live a 2 minute walk to the beach, and often make the 40-minute walk along the beach into town to save money on the shuttle. 

The other great thing is that we live a 15-minute walking distance to work--and we have been working A LOT, which is great! Everyone we work with is super nice (though you still get the lazy Aussies :P) and it's a pretty nice atmosphere. We mostly work in the restaurant, but they do breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There are also heaps of functions and events, we have to run all the food for room service, and stock the Mini Bars in all the rooms every day. So between all of that there is lots of work to do, but it's pretty fun! We also got to go in one evening and have dinner paid for by the hotel and we always get 50% off whenever we eat there otherwise. It's a great gig and we're having a great time enjoying our 80* winter!

The next thing we are looking forward to is finally heading out to enjoy all of our surrounds!