Palm Cove

Palm Cove is a lovely beach with many fine restaurants and resorts, a wide sprawling beach, a long jetty, and a large resident crocodile which came by the jetty one night when I was fishing!!

The weather tends to be very wild here and the wind extremely strong.  There is a boat permanently tied to the jetty and is very storm-swept, scratched, dented and banged about.

The fishing here is a little 'so-so' - it's not necessarily difficult to catch a good-sized shark, but hooking a nice whiting or flathead or squid is a challenge.  I ended up 'cheating' by fishing with a small treble hook, and played catch-and-release for a while just for fun (the fish are always a bit small when fishing this way).

It is nice just to sit at the beach and watch kids row out on their little kyaks (beware of crocs though!!).  Jase made us a batch of delicious sangria and we wandered to the sand where he played some guitar as the breeze gently blew by.  Several international trousist discreetly sat closeby so they could hear his playing, and some Japanese tourists even took his photo (although he suspects it was because of the side-burns, not the guitar!).

During our stay we also enjoyed spending an evening at Apres, one of the many bars, and were impressed by the freindliness of the staff.  We came dead-last in the weekly trivia competition, but by the time the game was over, it didn't matter too much!

We also took some time out and drove past Gordonvale where we had dinner with an old work-colleague at his beautiful home, with his lovely friendly wife and son.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and night, the wine was to-die-for, and I enjoyed cooking pancakes for breakfast!

PalmCove camp ground (council-run) has a brand new amenities block which is bigger and better than any I've seen in the last 19 months... but securing a powered campsite is near-impossible; and it is simply too shady to collect enough sunlight for our solar system.  Therefore, 2 or 3 days is enough at Palm Cove if you are caravanning.

If you visit FN Qld, forget Port Douglas... come to Palm Cove.  It is smaller, has more restaurants and bars, and a lovely calm and 'local' atmosphere.  Just beautiful.

Jase catches a small hammerhead shark

Launching our boat off the beach at Palm Cove.

These trains carrying sugar cane are everywhere!