Port Douglas: Sunday June 8, 2014

Well, we are having serious rain! It rained all night, and all day! It has not been a hard rain and has not been a wind driven rain here on land, but the seas are rough! This morning our trip to the Great Barrier Reef was cancelled due to the rough seas, not the rain.  We have rescheduled for Tuesday and hopefully the weather will be calm enough.  If not, we have tried.

So this morning we went with plan B, which worked great.  We needed a day to relax anyway.  We pulled out our umbrellas, and walked to the local Sunday market.  By then the first Ironman Race participants were coming down main street Port Douglas on their bikes.  The route made a loop in front of where we watched, with the cyclist going out of town and returning through Port Douglas a 2^nd time before riding back to Caines. It all began by the participants swimming 2.4 miles at Palm Cove beach (a lovely beach), then riding their bikes 112 miles, before running 26.2 miles into Cairns. It rained all day during the race.  An American woman won the women’s part of the race.  There were 6 American women in the top 16 places, and a total of 1500 participants from 40 countries. The dynamics due to the rain – there was not much wind, no hot sun, and the rain kept the riders cool, however the road surface was wet and we saw several riders fall when making the turn at the loop. Cal really got into watching the race, I watched a lot of it, but there was still time to shop in the local shops.   

St Mary's by the Sea - Methodist Church

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Last one leaving town - 3:30 pm - 50 miles and a full marathon yet to go

 

Surf Rescue People

 

Port Douglas Beach

 

Palm Trees along the Street