Port Douglas is located 60 km north from Cairns and gifted with having two of the earth's richest and most diverse ecosystems at it's front and rear doors.

The laid back, relaxed tropical lifestyle and atmosphere makes Port Douglas the ideal base for your holiday with a wide selection of resorts, hotels, apartments and budget accommodation. Or experience the Daintree rainforest first hand by staying in the heart the rainforest.

And when the sun sets, you can enjoy an enticing selection of national and international dinner cuisines. The Port boasts some of the very finest seafood restaurants in Australia which offers fresh fish and crustaceans from the bountiful supply the Coral Sea provides. Or perhaps enjoy a barramundi lunch, one of the world's finest fish, at the Daintree Village, only a 40 minute drive to the north. And all of it to be enjoyed by one of our fine Australian wines.

Only ten minutes away, rising above fields of lush sugar cane lands is the Main Coast Range, at 1,378 metres, the third highest point in Queensland. These ranges of cloud and rainforest dominate the landscape. They are the beginning of the Greater Daintree Rainforest Region, the oldest continual rainforest in the world and one of its most diverse.

According to the Wet Tropics Management Authority, the people responsible for managing the 900 sq, km. Wet Tropics Rainforests, some 1,000 species of trees occur here, 900 species of shrubs, 450 species of vines, 40 species of palms, 330 species of ferns, including the world's largest and smallest tree ferns and cycads, 130 species of epiphytes, 33 species of mangroves and some 400 species of herbs. Also, present are the masses of micro plants, the epipmites. In comparison, the entire number of tree species of Europe and North America number less than 150 species.

And Port Douglas is the means of seeing much of it, rainforest, the reef and the outback. It's a magic place and well worth considering on any Tropical North Queensland getaway.

CLIMATE

Tropical northern Australia is located in the South-Asian monsoon belt and subjected to the whims of the annual wet or green season. It begins with storm activity in October-November and drifts into a general rain pattern in January, tapering off at the end of April. Most of the Wet Tropics annual rainfall occurs during this period, over 70 %.

From April onwards the Trade wind blows in from the south-east, bringing showery conditions which keep the rainforest fresh and verdant during the northern dry season. In other parts of northern Australia no rain may occur for up to 8 months as the outback dies a little awaiting, the life bringing rains of the monsoon.

Rainfall varies in the Wet Tropics with annual falls of about 2,600 mm at Port Douglas and about 4,000 mm at Daintree and Cape Tribulation. But the high mountains exceed this with rainfalls from five metres or even double that during some very wet seasons.

The winter in the Wet Tropics is warm and balmy and totally of what you would expect in a tropical region. This is the time when southern Australians flock north, like the migrating masses of magpie geese, to enjoy what Port Douglas, the reef and rainforest and it's hinterland offers.

We guarantee it will be the highlight of your Australian holiday. Please contact us for more information, or click here to make an on-line booking.