Rainforest and reef: Port Douglas, Queensland

Port Douglas in north Queensland, Australia, is the hub for tourism with rainforest and reefs at people’s doorstep.

Situated 70 kilometres north of Cairns, Port Douglas, is an idyllic haven in the tropical north. Established in 1877, due to the discovery of gold, Port Douglas developed into an area renowned for its tin, silver, sugarcane and logging.

In 1911 a tropical cyclone demolished everything except two buildings. From a population of 12,000 in 1877 to just 100 in 1960 (and now a small fishing village), it has slowly re-developed. Over time, it refined its appearance into a picturesque township. In 2011 the permanent population of Port Douglas was 4,772. Keeping the quaintness of the town, it has no traffic lights and no parking metres. Instead, it has wide streets, lush green areas, kilometres of beach, award-winning restaurants, art galleries, markets, and scenic dive and reef tours.

Four Mile Beach does stretch for four miles. It was a perfect spot for entrepreneur and investor, Christopher Skase, to finance the construction of the Sheraton Mirage hotel and Marina Mirage shopping precinct in the 1980s, transforming the area into a tourist haven.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).