Hauptbahnhofundhopp

Six of us checked in to a beautiful three-bedroom holiday home in Port Douglas, 10 of us stayed for a week. After some complex calculations involving the number of nights slept in a bed, number of nights on floor or couch, number of days in a car per person, and individual travel budget restrictions, we arrived at a cost calculation that was cheaper than any backpackers or even camp site could have been. Except we were making like Rich Kids of Instagram (if you substitute Champagne Magnums for casks of Goon): sightseeing or lounging by the pool during the day, hanging at the beach or making use of the poolside barbecue at night.

As these things are wont to do, things got slightly chaotic at times. It was hard getting all 10 people to make a decision on outings, then have them move, never mind in the same direction, but we nevertheless had several days out:

Mossman Gorge, Cape Tribulation

Kuranda

On our last night in Port Douglas, everyone got a bit carried away and started making plans to extend our stay. I even found myself calling our airline to find out if we could change our flights to stay on a few days longer, but once the prohibitive cost of re-booking became clear, that fell through. Our week with the Goonies in Port Douglas stands out as one of those magical travel experiences that don’t translate well into narration. A wild mix of harebrained ideas, inside jokes, sunkissed bliss and alcohol-fuelled silliness, the whole episode was simply a happy coincidence that created a wealth of happy memories.