Port Douglas in Queensland, Australia. Best Place to Stay to Visit The Great Barrier Reef and Hamilton Island.

Port Douglas in Northern Queensland is a short one hour drive from Cairns, where there is an international airport, and it is the gateway to see The Great Barrier Reef. This northern region of Queensland is a long way from many Australian cities though, 1700kms from Brisbane, so driving would take almost 24 hours. Many people opt to just fly straight up to Cairns and hire a car from the airport if they wish.

With a tropical climate all year round the best time to visit and swim the Reef is during the months of May to September. If you do visit any other time of the year it is recommended that bodysuits are worn when diving the Reef because of stingers in the water. These suits are provided by the tour organisers.

There are any number of tour operators ready to take you to the Reef depending on how large a boat you want to travel on. There are cruisers who take up to 300 passengers or you can go the more personal route (we did) and go on a sail boat with 20 or so other people. We found the smaller boat to be more relaxing and we were able to spend most of the day snorkeling and swimming.

From Port Douglas you will be able to explore the Great Barrier Reef as well as The Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation, a stunning 200km stretch of Coral Sea coastline. There are organised guided tours and 4WD adventures available to the Rainforest and the Cape.

Port Douglas is a very laid-back kind of town and it has an old-world charm about it with all the accommodation in the area low-rise and many boutique-style apartments. There is a village atmosphere in the shopping precinct with world-class restaurants and boutiques.

We stayed at The Sheraton Mirage Resort, Port Douglas, a beautiful 5-star resort right on the beach. 4-mile Beach is a long stretch of beach protected by the Reef. This resort was one of the first major resorts to be built in Port Douglas and is still one of the best.

There are certain times of the year where you are not able to go swimming in Northern Queensland beaches due to stingers, but this isn't a problem at The Sheraton, there are five different swimming pools to choose from.

The accommodation was very spacious and the resort is family friendly.

A bit of trivia -

The Sheraton Mirage Resort was built in the 1980's by Christopher Skase, an entrepreneur who later became infamous for criminal business activities. He died in Spain a wanted man. Prior to The Sheraton being built, Port Douglas was a little known town frequented mainly by locals. In fact, the construction of the resort was initially opposed by residents.

In 1996 former US president Bill Clinton and his wife Hilary holidayed in Port Douglas.

Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter, was stung by a sting ray and died whilst diving The Great Barrier Reef just off Port Douglas in 2006.

Queensland is the sunshine and holiday state. Most Australians visit the Queensland coast and islands for the annual Christmas holidays. With its warm, tropical climate all year long, the whole coast is a haven for holiday makers at any time of the year. Far North Queensland, where Cairns and Port Douglas are situated, is popular with back packers, extreme adventurers and tourists wanting an alternative style of holiday.

The Daintree Forest

This world heritage listed national park is where the rainforest and the reef join, a place where two natural wonders meet. This does not happen in any other part of the world that is still accessible to so many tourists, especially anyone who pursues the alternative style of holidays and lifestyle.

In this region the forest slopes of Cape Tribulation National Park meander their way down to the Reef where the low lying forest has survived 100 million years. This is one of the main reasons the area was heritage listed and is a haven for eco tourism.

This is a 1200km stretch of Mother Nature's finest work where the range of plant and animal species is diverse and is a must for us to preserve.

The Rainforest Habitat, Port Douglas

We visited this wildlife park, which is set on 8 acres in Port Douglas, and we were able to feed the wildlife who inhabit the three environmental regions of the park; rainforest, wetlands and grasslands.

Situated very close to The Sheraton Mirage, we were able to catch a bus to this educational reserve where we saw many species of Australian wildlife. Birds, kangaroos, wallabies and koalas were all available for us to feed as the animals all graze freely throughout the park.

The park is open 8am to 4pm every day (except Christmas day) and is a great way for a family to spend a day whilst visiting Port Douglas.