We woke up on our first official day in Port Douglas to an amazing buffet breakfast spread at our hotel the QT. From DIY congee and omlettes by the quasimodo type character in the kitchen, to a selection of freshly squeezed juices and "juice shots" and everything in between, our breakfast set us in high spirits for the day ahead.

After an extensive 2 laps of the grounds in search of the lap pool & fitness centre, we eventually found both, with no thanks to the direction of staff, who failed to explain you needed to cross a car park and venture through half of port douglas to find the facilities. En route we discovered several intimidating spider webs, however were fortunate enough not to meet their makers.We quickly found that weather forecasts for the same day across our resort were inconsistent ranging from 20 - 28 degrees, so naturally we were happy to inform our Melbournian counterparts of the latter forecast. We spent the majority of the morning poolside with the intention of gradual, but non cancerous colour development. Lathering layers of 50+ sunscreen onto even the soles of our feet, in attempt to build up the sought after "base" coat. Hours dwindled away effortlessly poolside, as we realised it was almost 2pm and we would need to re-fuel after all the activity we had done throughout the morning. We thought it would be a good idea to capitalise on the resort facilities and sought out the free bikes from the gym which we could use to ride into town. Direction from staff was again lacking, leading us to ride along what we discovered was the bike path into the "wilderness"/ ideal place for local murderers to be waiting for their prey, along the train tracks. We eventually found the "right path" to town, which was a far cry from what became known as the "backstreets" of Port Douglas we had come to find earlier.

We thoroughly enjoyed the leisurely ride, without our partners there barking at us to pedal faster or concentrate on where we were going. We chained our bikes onto trees to explore the main strip and had some lunch at a pub where Tania overheard a conversation on a neighborouring table regarding a sex tape. We then proceeded to overpurchase essential snacks from Coles resulting in Tania carrying a 5 kg backpack on the ride home, which we later reflected on being considered as resistance training.

The ride back was set to the tune of my bike falling apart with a grinding/crushing/generally unhealthy noise coming from the bike chain which had suddenly aged 20 years. We had organised to eat dinner at Salsa, a popular Port Doug establishment with locals and tourists alike, but could only be squeezed in at 8.45, which allowed plenty of late afternoon downtime. Killed time in our room through the means of Tanias youtube education of my favourite talent show auditions from around the world including the random dance by a 3 year old chinese buddha look a like. For those who are now curious, feel free to access instant enlightenment.. https://youtu.be/MdcuaeYV9oM.

We caught the shuttle in to dinner which included a lively converation between a drunk bogan passenger and the shuttle driver. XXX Gold was the choice of beverage by the weary traveller, who also used a matching stubby holder. Dinner itself was lovely with us sharing an amazing crispy pork belly and seared scallop for entree, with swordfish and steak for mains. Our ever increasing list of ailments drew the night to a close, as we ventured back to the bus stop to catch the shuttle back to our hotel.

After a couple of phone calls to the boys and briefly questioning the legitimacy of their claims to reading this very blog, we have called it a night and look forward to the adventures that await us tomorrow.