Port Douglas was founded in 1877 as the port town for the Hodgkins River gold fields. In the 1880’s Cairns was chosen as the terminal for the new rail line from Kuranda and another mountain town called Mareeba. With the rail traffic going to Cairns, Port Douglas never grew bigger than a sleepy village. In the 1980’s a developer built a luxury resort that attracted tourists. More money was invested into making the town a nice tourist destination, and tourism is now Port Douglas’s primary income source.

We had decided yesterday that Christi should go under the boat. We thought the problem may have come from lanolin grease blocking the area where the shaft is supposed to leak, so she was going to go down and try to wipe any grease away from that area. When we checked in, the dock master told us they get small crocs in the marina from time to time, so Continue reading →