TRAVELLER 12 Port Douglas essentials Glass gallery. Some of the finest hand-blown glassware you’re likely to find is located in a small studio along a dirt road in tropical rainforest on the edge of Daintree National Park. The Hoglund studio, 40 minutes from Port Douglas, displays vases, bowls, perfume bottles and other ornaments, with nature-inspired colours. Former US president Bill Clinton is among the admirers of this glassware, having purchased some when he visited the gallery’s New Zealand studio. If visiting, leave time
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OUR REGION
for lunch – or Sunday breakfast – at High Falls restaurant, where a timber dining deck overlooks a bubbling river. See hoglundartglass.com; highfallsfarm.com.au. Tour a cocoa and sugarcane farm. Sweet Farm Tours is in the same vicinity as the glass gallery (see above). Find out all about cocoa and sugarcane on this working farm. The gift shop has local produce, including chocolates. See sweetfarmtours.com.
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Mossman Market. Mossman is a quiet town about 15 minutes north of Port Douglas. The town’s Saturday market – with everything from tropical fruit to second-hand books, produce and craft – is held in parkland under the shade of big trees, between 7am and midday. My best buy is a jar of delicious green mango pickle. The town is also the gateway to Mossman Gorge.
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Smoke and water … (clockwise from above) Port Douglas from the air; smoking ceremony at Mossman Gorge; Herbie’s Beach Shack at Thala Nature Reserve; a lonely beach at Thala.
Mossman Gorge. Located in the World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest, a trip into the gorge is a journey into lush rainforest with crystal-clear rivers and streams. You can take a self-guided walk, or go on a Dreamtime walk with an indigenous guide. The Dreamtime experience starts with a smoking ceremony in which bad spirits are ushered away. The guide provides a fascinating commentary on bush food and survival as you meander along
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52 Paradise – Air Niugini’s in-flight magazine
an easy track. The Mossman Gorge Centre includes a cafe/restaurant, indigenous art gallery, souvenir shop and helpful staff at the information desk. See mossmangorge.com.au. Indigenous art. Take an art workshop at the Janbal Gallery, where you are shown how to paint your own canvas, boomerang or didgeridoo in traditional style. See janbalgallery.com.au.
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Thala Beach Nature Reserve. Hang loose in a hammock strung under palm trees at the beach at this lodge-style getaway. The property is set in more than 50 hectares of forest and has access to secluded beaches 10 minutes’ drive south of Port Douglas. The hammocks are next to Herbie’s Beach Shack, a corrugated tin hut where you can buy afternoon drinks. The lodges are on stilts in the forest, some overlooking the ocean. Thala is eco-
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