Crocodile lake

Sunday 25th February 2007

A drizzly start to today and after yesterday’s busy-ness we hung around the apartment, sorting suitcases and having a long, late breakfast, after which I decided I wasn’t going to let the internet system here beat me and so posted the reef photos. Success! Meanwhile, Sid was taking a jog along Four-Mile Beach which adjoins our apartment resort.

I should say that a drizzly start here, doesn’t mean cool. As it’s tropical, the temperature stays at around a pleasant 25-27oC. We had seen a number of bike hire shops and so decided to get some bikes to have a gentle cycle around Port Douglas. First off was the Sunday market which had some lovely craft stalls, but our visit was a bit curtailed by the tropical downpour. Undeterred we cycled around the town and out to the ‘crocodile lake.’ Some stupid developer has built ‘exclusive’ housing called Lakeside. Yes, he put the houses around a man-made lake, not realising that with flooding in the wet season the lake would join the saltwater estuary, home to some crocodiles. Fortunately, at the moment they are baby crocs, but it is common knowledge around these parts that within the next couple of years, he will have to landfill the lake and force the crocs back to the estuary so as not to endanger the people in the housing estate. We didn’t see the crocs. As I mentioned earlier, at this time of the year, they’re happy to stay under the nice warm water.

After that we cycled back towards the harbour, stopping for tea on the way. We relaxed ‘at home’ tonight and watched Bridget Jones Edge of Reason. It lasted around five hours because TV here is appalling with adverts every five minutes.