Port Douglas 25th April
The Port Douglas stop was always going to be a bit of a revisit of some of the finer things in life due to the facilities on offer in the town. This was further enhanced when Heather flew into town for a few ladies days with her buddy Kate. To say Kate had been excited would be an understatement and was literally counting down the days in the lead up .
It was fantastic seeing Heather in one of her favourite spots and she was able to give us the inside track on all things Port Douglas
The ladies did the data sharing activity that appears innate in a high percentage of females that reminded me of a scene from numerous films where someone is copying something from a computer .
You know the scene which is built on the importance of transferring information as quick as possible and not downloading the full 100% would be failure !
Unfortunately Matt wasn’t to able to make the trip . I know our data sharing would have been on much more simple lines.
“How you doing – Fine , You , good thanks . Fancy a beer” . 100% download achieved !
The ladies quickly found the Sorrento rhythm with long beach walks , breakfast , shops .lunch ,little shop ,swim , sunbathe ,cocktails , dinner , baileys and bed .
I took the opportunity to go on a half day charter to the inner reef. Went with “Outnabout” on a little boat with five other fishos.
The boat was making only its second trip out of the bay in month due to the “shitty weather from the north “ as per the weather review from Brett the skipper. The sea was almost without a wave the weather was wonderful and warm without being scorchio . First cast i got a school mackerel of around 45 cm which took the bait as i was retrieving it. Big gnarly fish with scary teeth but not big enough to keep . This turned out to be the biggest fish of the day . It was released back to the sea before i even thought of a picture so you will have to just believe me !
The boat caught around 60 plus fish , my personal tally over 15 . Within this new species such as , coral trout , grinners, painted sweetlips (know as mother in law fish ) ,red throat emperor , fingermark,bare wire cod,and more that I have forgotten.
The one keeper was a coral trout just over the legal minimum size of 38cm. You can catch these fish up to a metre long.
I cooked this with coriander , garlic , ginger and chillies in a foil blanket on the BBQ for 12 mins each side. Big luscious flakes resulting in the the best fish i have cooked and eaten -by a long way .
The skipper on the boat told us there were certain fish that carry the toxin called Ciguatera . This comes naturally from algae and plankton. Eaten by the tiniest of fishes but the toxin accumulates up the food chain. The bigger the fish the bigger the toxin risk. The skip told a story of a wedding in the port he attended where there were two one metre coral trouts bbq d as part of the festivities . All the fishos avoid them because they knew of the risk and half the wedding party went down with toxin poisoning the following day.
On researching i found this bit of advice on how to check whether your catch has an unhealthy level of toxin.
“Some authorities recommend feeding the viscera of the fish to a cat and confine it for observation. However the cat my take 48 hour to vomit , become uncoordinated or die. “ Even for a cat objector like me this appears just a tad harsh on your family moggie.
So the best table fish is a coral trout just over the legal size as this guarantees no nasty toxins .
Apparently captain Cook logged cases of this poisoning way back in 1774 so its not a new phenomena.
As the coral trout dishes were being washed we chatted to an Argentinian backpacker . She was desperately trying to find work in Port Douglas . She had worked in Sydney for a while , saved up some money , bought a car and wanted to extend her visa by working in Port Douglas which qualifies as rural Australia. However she was finding that the option of Port Douglas employment as opposed to in a bar in a one horse town in the outback meant that competition was insanely high. Her and her partner were deciding that night whether to persevere or head inland in search of work .
Kate and Heather appreciated his washboard stomach !
I finally achieved something i wanted to do from my first trip to Queensland in 2011. Enjoy a bucket of prawns with a beer.
The beach at Port Douglas is stunning. It has deep shore and the beach stretches for miles. I got there early one morning just before sun up on a very still day , high tide having happened overnight . Stunning indeed.
The Tropicana campsite we were on was good with all the usual facilities in place and very helpful staff . It was bijou however and the comments on wikicamps from a previous stay made me laugh .
“The sites are so close together we could hear our neighbours on both sides farting and they could probably hear us “
I reckon this should go on a banner above the campsite entrance .
Port Douglas loves its fish . They even have live ones through a glass wall in the toilet of the Zinc restaurant . For once i think the fishes renowned almost instant memory loss is a blessing for them.
The “Tin shed ” has a great balcony for savouring hops and views !
Port Douglas also catered for my sleeping habits. Excellent coffee served at this tiny joint before 6am . Lived up to its name of sparrows fart !
Kate had a panic that we may not have enough G&T to survive a zombie apocalypse (locally known as sunday no alcohol sales day )
However a solution was at hand
