Wednesday 16 December

Santa's Emergency Parade for Charity

On Saturday the quiet evening calm of Port Douglas was shattered by sirens and flashing lights when ALL the Port Douglas and Mossman Emergency services ganged up and formed a spectacular cavalcade with their tenders, trucks and cars, all apparently in the name of Christmas Charities.

The convoy was comprised of Port Douglas and Mossman Fire Brigades, Ambulance Services, SES, PDM Security and Port Douglas Police plus the Sea Temple Resort and the Sheriffs Association from Trinity Beach.

They travelled around Port Douglas with collection buckets raising funds for a selection charities, which will be decided upon when the week long activities are finalised.

The parade entertained the surprised hundreds of locals who lined the streets bringing centre stage a very tropical Santa to visit with them.

Several members of the Police service were heard along the way trying to sort out who had been naughty or nice but no arrests were reported.  Even Santa was questioned heavily about his need to check his list twice but satisfied the authorities that this was because of his fear of getting it wrong rather than as a result of too much milk and rum cookies.

Editors comments: It was quite a spectacle. This was their first year of trying a parade and from all reports it was received brilliantly around town. And having now chatted with a couple of the parade participants it seems that the Emergency Services have taken this as a signal to get even sillier next year...I can't wait !