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Shipwrecks and Lost Treasures of the Seven Seas : WET & HOT NEWS !

26 October 2011

Reef, relaxation...and crocs

Kerry Parnell - 

"WARNING ! Achtung ! Crocodiles inhabit this area." The sign, accompanied by a helpful illustration of a hapless pet dog with a red bar across it really brings ho>After all, there aren't many suburbs around Australia where your dog or you are in peril of being eaten by a crocodile when you take your pet for a stroll.

This sign, positioned by a creek just outside Palm Cove, raised two questions for this journalist why was it half written in German and if it's so dangerous that it needed to be translated, why was it also right next to a children's playground? I never did find anyone who could answer me.

From the minute you land at Cairns airport and walk outside into the heady fragrant air, you know you're in the tropics. Armed with directions to "turn right at the traffic lights" outside the airport slip road, we soon realise they're about the last traffic lights we'll see as we follow the one, long, windy road up through stunning surrounds to the resorts of Palm Cove and Port Douglas, and leave all our stresses behind.

This drive has to be one of the most beautiful in Australia weaving through cane fields, past mountain-scapes covered in palm trees and snaking right round the edge of the coast alongside deserted beaches and crumbling clifftops.

If you are looking for a beachside escape, where relaxation is top of your agenda, this is the region to visit.

Port Douglas, an hour's drive and 70km from Cairns airport, is a well established bustling seaside resort catering to every level of the holiday market.

Full story...

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