Founded in 1877 (just a year after Cairns), Port Douglas was a port for the gold fields... until the railroad made the port obsolete. Then it was a sugar cane processing city, until Cairns built their own. Little by little, Port Douglas began fading, with just 200 people living here in the 1960s. Then a bloke came along in the 80s and built a resort here, and now the town's economy has been revitalized by tourism, and boasts 3,000 people.

A good thing, too... 90% of this town involves hotel/resorts or boating, so a boat shop is solid.	The Port Douglas harbour in the morning, long before the wind picked up and the water's calm.	The train depot, long since turned into shops. (The tracks are also of the old, very narrow gauge, too.)
Within the terminal out to our cruise, the shops were made just for tourists, I figure.	On the way back into town after our run out to the Great Barrier Reef, which was 38 nautical miles out to sea from here. (I haven't yet converted that into miles or kilometers, but it was 90 minutes away.)