Port Douglas has been identified as a hot spot for drink driving according to a Seven News report in which a representative of Cairns Police said eight drivers out of 86 tested were over the legal limit.

Some residents have put this abysmal result down to a difficulty in obtaining public transport late at night, while others say there are simply no excuses.

Regardless, it's pretty safe to say that we are home to a culture that welcomes drinking to excess.

Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's because for much of the year we're surrounded by people enjoying themselves on their holidays while the other period is spent taking shelter from the rain, often at the nearest pub. 

It's often hard to go through a week without being offered a drink on most days.

But are we different from anywhere else in Australia? From the parts I've seen I think we are.

Port Douglas sells the lifestyle of living in the tropics in a laid back atmosphere where people care more about whether the fish are biting than work. That sales pitch has worked on all of us who have moved here from somewhere else, me included (my work ethic never was that good anyway).

On the whole, the people who live in Port and the region are sociable people, and because most of us are from somewhere else we've been faced with the prospect of having to make new friends. What better way than over a beer, wine or spirit?

Once you've made your new friends, the town is so small that you're only a few minutes walk, or drive, away from their homes so catching up during the week is so much easier than in a bigger town or city.

So does Port Douglas have a drinking problem (apart from the fact they even named the town Port)? Some might say yes for obvious reasons, while others might say the drinking problem is only how we get home afterwards.

There is a chronic taxi shortage in Port, but we all know that. Jumping behind the wheel after a session might seem like the only way to get home, but that's a choice which can have pretty serious consequences.
 
Cheers

Mathew Churchill 

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