Tuesday 4 January 2011

Port Douglas waving, not drowning

: Port Douglas remains an ideal summer holiday destination. Photo by Kelly Hough.

by Mat Churchill

Severe flooding continues to threaten many communities throughout Queensland. In fact, so many areas are affected by the rising waters that media reports use broad brush strokes when referring to these areas, North Queensland for instance has been described as being underwater.

Without repeating the comments made in The Viewpoint 'Flooding in Port? Who says?' it is worth reiterating that Port Douglas remains open for business.

Whilst heavy rain has been recorded (and experienced predominantly at night), the town an the surrounding region remains largely unaffected.

Tour operators are still heading for the lush Daintree Rainforest on a daily basis, boats continue to visit the reef (but I warn you the reef may be underwater), and businesses in town remain sandbag free.

It is easy to forget the vastness of Queensland and find perspective when familiar names like Rockhampton and Bundaberg are being broadcast to the nation, with people desperately trying to save their belongings from the water.

Port Douglas is around 1,100 kilometres north of Rockhampton and 1,400 kilometres north of Bundaberg, so the biggest economic impact the floods should have on our town is the price of vegetables at the supermarket.

Some tourists continue to cancel their holidays to Port Douglas which is understandable given the huge media coverage given to the Queensland floods.

However, we encourage those who are considering calling their airline to dig a little deeper before doing so.

Have your say!

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Paul Marshall , 07-02-11 16:05:

As a "baby boomer" ... LOL ... I love Port Douglas as it is and will keep coming back every year. I'm not sure that Gen Y "party scene" should be the target market you aspire to. You might lose my generation and the young families, which seems to be your core market right now ... for this time of year at least.

Nick Marshall , 07-02-11 16:04:

Well said, Anthony. Not just for Port, but the whole Cairns area. There are so many other things to promote. Nick from Cairns Holiday Homes.

Sandy Russell, 06-01-11 23:33:

Superb photo Kelly. It really is a great 4 mile beach shot from the headland lookout end, that I have walked up. What a magic day in Port.

joe christie, 05-01-11 21:49:

hi am planning to arrive in cairns 1st February. just wondering is it worth changing my flight to Adelaide and working up instead of down?

Anthony Christopher Renwick , 05-01-11 16:03:

Maybe our tourism bodies should be advertising to a different market at this time of year rather than blaming any myriad of events that are occurring else where for the annual lack of tourists at this time of year every year for the last 30... years that I can remember the fishing is awesome the mountain biking is world class and the hiking is amazing and the kite surfing has taken off not to mention the many other adventure sports ....the party scene is dead and needs to be re-awakened and we will then be a viable adventure tourism destination particularly for generation Y whom have no trouble spending on their preferred adventure sport.
before I get a backlash from what I just said we really need to reinvent this town/area or it will go the way of the dinosaurs no longer can we just rely on the reef and rain-forest I am repeatedly asked WE HAVE DONE THE REEF AND RAIN-FOREST NOW WHAT??????

Scott Clarksmith , 05-01-11 16:00:

Our message should be: the floods are 1000 miles or 1600 kilometers south of Port Douglas, Brisbane is closer to Tasmania than it is to Port Douglas, both physically and intellectually, it does rain in Port Douglas, but generally only at night. The sun is out, the reef and rainforest are waiting. The restaurants are open and the accommodation houses have plenty of vacancies. What a great place for a holiday, now!

Luke Robins , 05-01-11 15:59:

maybe the premier can recover pr of sydney holiday with a holiday for flood victims to sunny and dry port douglas?

Editor , 05-01-11 11:15:

Message to World Press
I think the confusion about where the floods are affecting stems from the fact that the worlds press do not differentiate North Queensland from Far North Queensland and why should they, that should be the job of their news sources to clearly identify what regions they are supplying news on. The term North Queensland has always been a bone of contention because it tends to mislead readers particularly from outside Australia, although, our southern cousins tend to confuse themselves too. So let's try and clear this matter up. Rockhampton is defined as being in North Queensland but it is over 1100kms from Cairns and Port Douglas which are classified as being in the far north Queensland region. Rockhampton is suffering badly from this natural disaster but Port Douglas has NO floods and hasn't had any right through the Christmas period. Today the weather is a mix of white cloudy skies with a good sprinkling of azure blue peeping through. It's a gorgeous day today (Wed Jan 5th) with temperatures around 32 degrees C. The Great Barrier Reef tour operators are reporting fantastic calm seas with maximum water visibility. If the confusing weather reports resulted in you cancelling your holiday with us during the Christmas break, we apologise on behalf of the press who misguided you. In future feel free to contact us at Newsport or check out our weather pages before you make any decisions, you will be almost always be pleasantly surprised.

Gazza Tee, 04-01-11 22:04:

The Australian city of Rockhampton is bracing itself as devastating flood waters are expected to reach their highest levels in the next 12-18 hours.

As reported by the BBC.

"Military aircraft are rushing to get supplies to residents, to whom there is only one land access route left.

Police are urging people to stay out of the snake-infested waters, that have claimed the lives of three people.

In other areas of Queensland, residents are beginning the recovery process, while others prepare for fresh floods.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has described the situation as "a major natural disaster" and said recovery would take "a significant amount of time".

The US was the latest nation to offer its assistance to the recovery of Queensland.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: "Australia is an important partner and close friend of the United States and we stand ready to provide assistance."

It might be a good idea to contact the BBC and say it's business as usual in Port Douglas.

Anna Whitfield , 04-01-11 17:42:

can't blame them, racq does not have a big map on their homepage showing where it is and whether there is road access or not, the tpddt does not have a big message on their homepage saying that this region has not been affected at all. every business in the region should have a note on their website by now saying that all is ok up here, in fact, today is a perfect day. i think people outside australia might be better informed. rather strange that people booking a flight somehwere, don't actually know where they are going...

Lucinda Rowland , 04-01-11 15:33:

That's cos Port Douglas is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

Melani Shireen W , 04-01-11 15:32:

Port always remains unaffected by everything.
A cyclone can hit cairns directly and we get a few more leaves about then normal. If cairns is pouring with rain.. We are normally blue skies.
People canceling holidays on the assumption of weather is ridiculous.. Would it not be more intelligent to ring and find out first ???
Oh and a hint might also be, no where on the news has "port douglas" been mentioned for flooding ha ha.