FLY NORTH FOR THE WINTER
Have an aversion to the cold? Ann Rickard says tropical Port Douglas is the perfect escape, with ideal weather and blissful beaches to warm you up
WHEN I moved to Queensland from Melbourne in 1992 I thought my new neighbours were having a joke when they told me they felt the winter chill.
That was then. This is now. I am the first to moan about our winter blues. It’s the thinning blood, you see.
Fortunately, Port Douglas – sassy, tropical and warm – is perfect during winter. The debilitating humidity has gone, the temperature averages around 25, the sun is still shining brightly and darkness doesn’t descend until around 6pm.
I have come to Port (as the locals call it) to trial the town as a place for future winter retirement. In forthcoming years I may caravan up here, join the grey nomad pilgrimage north every April-May, but for now, I want luxe.
As I sit by the pool at the Freestyle Resort in Port’s Davidson St, with the sun on my back, I am feeling unbecomingly smug. It feels like the height of summer here, without the sticky clothes and frizzy hair. Bliss.
The yachts and boats in Port’s Reef Marina make you feel like a millionaire, even if you don’t own one. You can always get on board for a charter or a day trip out to the Reef or Lowe Isles – almost as good.
Four Mile Beach is just a couple of hundred metres across the road from Freestyle. And a long walk on the clean sand with the Coral Sea lapping at your heels is enough to convince anyone a move up north is deserved.