Short trip report update.

Sunday, August 9 – Our 1st anniversary!

We spent our first anniversary traveling to our next destination. Yay? 🙂

I already missed the Westin and its luxurious shower. *sigh*

We were headed to the tropical paradise of Far North Queensland for 6 days! We flew Qantas and I loved it. So much legroom and they actually feed you on short haul flights! Totally different experience than flying the dreaded UNITED (ugh).

Random observation – we took 3 domestic flights in Australia and only once did they check ID. !?!? Is that normal? I guess I’m just used to having my ID checked at least 3 times here in the US (check-in, security, boarding).

Anyway, we arrived at the Cairns Airport and took a shuttle up to Port Douglas (roughly 45 minutes north of Cairns). We stayed at the Sheraton Mirage, which was straight out of the 80s! It was nice and clean but it desperately needs an upgrade. STAT. And yes, we had a room with 2 queen beds, LOL. We used Starwood points to stay here and this was the cheapest option. 😛

I mean look at the “control panel” in the room! This was probably state of the art 20 years ago. Now? Not so much. Hee.

At least the grounds were beautiful!

We didn’t have any plans so we decided to walk to town via Four Mile Beach. “Town” basically consists of a main drag with various shops and restaurants. Very laid-back and cute.

We were hungry after walking what seemed like forever so we found E&J’s Fish and Chips Shop and got one of those along with a banana fritter. Looking back this was one of the BEST meals we had — so fresh and flavorful.

The gorgeous view as we walked back to the hotel.

For dinner, we didn’t feel like walking back to town. It’s about a 20-25 minute walk one way along the beach and it was pitch black by this time. The hotel had a shuttle but it was $7 per person round trip (we caved the next day). WTF. So we ended up trying the hotel restaurant, Lagoon. BAD MOVE. Rob’s lamb shanks with mashed potatoes were ok but my phad thai was FAKE. I don’t know why I ordered Thai food at a non-Thai restaurant so there you go. Happy Anniversary to us! LOL.

More pictures on the Flickr:
Port Douglas

Up next: Daintree & Cape Tribulation.