Port Douglas markets
The Port Douglas markets are on every Sunday. The stalls range from handle made stuff, photography prints, imported jewellery and alternative. There was a crazy banana man, coconut juice, mango ice-cream and a few fruit and vegetable produce stalls.
Don’t expect much in the way of food offerings. We couldn’t find any burgers, bacon and egg, sausages or donuts or anything you would find in Melbourne markets.
We stopped and had a coffee in the Main Street and then walked along four mile beach. The windy weather meant the beach was fairly quiet.
Crazy fit people – Ultra Run Four Mile Beach
We walked past the finish line of an ultra run on four mile beach and noticed a clock ticking away and was at 6.35.00 . Two of the competitors finished while we were there. We found out they had run from up in the mountains from Kurunda down to four mile beach, Port Douglas. Total of 64 km! I asked what they had to do for recovery and the reply was “beer”. Sounds fair to me!
This Point-to-point race starts just off Kennedy Highway in Kuranda and follows Black Mountain Road and the Bump track to Port Douglas. The course runs through native rainforest, open eucalypt forest, pine plantations and crosses picturesque creeks. It is a scenic course incorporated in the Mowbray National Park within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The pyramid-shaped Black Mountain is a prominent feature of the race. The tropical rainforest is home to the endangered southern cassowary, a flightless bird that can grow to two metres in height.When: 14 August 2016
http://www.dynamicrunning.com.au
Peppers for beer Before dinner
Located directly opposite Shantara is another resort called Peppers. They have a sign out the front offering lunch and dinner.
We discovered that across the road from Shantara we could have a beer overlooking the pool at Peppers.
We decided to have a sticky beak and found that they have a small restaurant and bar overlooking a man mad beach and pool area. We had a beer at the bar overlooking the pool. With rooms adjacent to the pool there were kids and adults alike swimming and playing in the water. While it was late in the afternoon I would imagine that kid noise would be a problem if you were staying there.
Nautilus for dinner
We had been to dinner at Nautilus on a separate visit to Port Douglas. We loved having a cocktail in their lounge area in a relaxing casual environment in a rain-forest environment.
Cocktail time! Lemon Sling and Basil Gin Smash Nautilus, Port Douglas
As the weather was a bit yucky they had a mesh cover as a roof which took away the sitting in a jungle feel. David had a basil cocktail and I had a lemon sling.
Once we were finished our cocktail we were taken to the dining area and had some dinner.
We had the 5 course dinner last time with matching wines however this time decided to try their a la carte menu. we had a main meal each – David a mixed seafood dish and I tried the duel beef dish. It was a great night with nice food in an unusual environment.