Qualla: Port Douglas https://qualla.com/port-douglas en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 27 Jul 2026 10:40:32 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Port Douglas https://qualla.com/port-douglas Port Douglas: Introduction https://qualla.com/port-douglas/ The palm trees are taller than the buildings, and the town likes it that way. Port Douglas keeps its low-slung village scale even as superyachts crowd the marina and celebrities drift down Macrossan Street in linen and sunglasses. It is a town that has died and come back to life. A century ago this was a busy colonial port; then the railway went elsewhere and Port Douglas faded to a sleepy huddle of fishermen and a few hundred residents. Today it is one of the most fashionable resort towns in Australia - and still the only place on Earth where you can stand between two natural World Heritage wonders, the Great Barrier Reef offshore and the Daintree rainforest just up the coast.

Read more: Port Douglas on Qualla

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/j/p/6/port-douglas-wk/rjp6-port-douglas-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Port Douglas: Port for a Goldfield https://qualla.com/port-douglas/ Port Douglas began with gold. In 1877 a wharf went up here to service the newly opened Hodgkinson goldfield, west beyond the Great Dividing Range, and for a brief moment the town outpaced its rival Cairns to the south. The advantage did not last. In 1885 the colony chose Cairns, ...

Read more: Port Douglas on Qualla

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/j/p/6/port-douglas-wk/rjp6-port-douglas-port-for-a-goldfield.mp3 0:06 2 full Port Douglas: The Skase Years https://qualla.com/port-douglas/ What saved Port Douglas was ambition - and, briefly, money it turned out nobody had. In 1987 the entrepreneur Christopher Skase opened the Sheraton Mirage, a lavish resort of green marble and bronze dolphins built for a reported hundred million dollars, and overnight a fishing vi...

Read more: Port Douglas on Qualla

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/j/p/6/port-douglas-wk/rjp6-port-douglas-the-skase-years.mp3 0:06 3 full Port Douglas: Reef and Rainforest https://qualla.com/port-douglas/ Geography is Port Douglas's true fortune. Sail an hour offshore and you reach the outer Great Barrier Reef - Agincourt, Opal and Tongue Reefs, where the coral walls drop into clear blue and the dive boats anchor. Drive ninety minutes north on sealed road and you cross the Daintre...

Read more: Port Douglas on Qualla

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/j/p/6/port-douglas-wk/rjp6-port-douglas-reef-and-rainforest.mp3 0:06 4 full Port Douglas: Four Mile Beach https://qualla.com/port-douglas/ The town's beating heart is its beach. Four Mile Beach unfurls in a long ribbon of firm pale sand, perfect for a sunrise cycle or a barefoot walk, with the green hump of Flagstaff Hill at its northern end. But this is the tropics, and the water demands respect. Saltwater crocodil...

Read more: Port Douglas on Qualla

]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/j/p/6/port-douglas-wk/rjp6-port-douglas-four-mile-beach.mp3 0:06 5 full