over the hills and far away

Posted on | April 27, 2008 | No Comments

today dawned warm and brilliantly clear….not a cloud to be seen anywhere in the sky!
we decided to take our motorbikes up to port douglas for lunch, and stop in at the markets and say hi to a few vendors we know.
the route through mareeba, then kuranda was chosen……we’d spend less time on torturous range roads and more time soaking up gorgeous coastal scenery.

from palm cove onwards to port douglas, i think, is the most lovely piece of road anywhere.
around each corner is yet another idyllic vista of lush rainforest-covered hills meeting deserted tropical beach, with clean blue ocean to the horizon.
the blues and greens were just stunning…..the wet season has only just finished, so everything is still startlingly lush and green.
in a month or two, things will start to bleach and dry out and look silvery.

the ride up was wonderful, not a great deal of traffic at all.
we wandered through the markets, saying hi here and there….then took ourselves off for lunch at zinc.
the food is always pretty good there with very professional service.

i was sad to see development right across the road from zinc where there used to be a mad-looking ramshackle accommodation place with loads of coconut palms.
they are building concrete box monstrosities, two or three stories high and just blechhh boring design.
i think it is units above and shops on the street.
grotesque, a real bloody eyesore.

port douglas loses a little more charm daily, it seems.
it has certainly vastly changed since 1989, which is when i moved here.
some months ago, i watched a movie called up north and it was set in seventies port douglas, when it was still very much a sleepy fishing village.
i felt very nostalgic for the old port douglas, let me tell you.
it had real charm and peace and a remoteness from the rest of australia.
o well, you can’t stop progress.
today we were also alarmed to hear that plans are afoot to “develop” the market site….which is right on the foreshore and full of the most gorgeous old fig trees.
people cannot wait to start cutting trees down it seems. and lay concrete and build malls.
i wonder when we are all going to be finally fed up with it?

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