A vivid tangle of rainforest rises above the Coral Sea, a patchwork of blue hues washing over coral reefs and barely-there sand cays. Carved on a knife-edge, where the forest and ocean meet, stretches a skinny twist of road with scenes so dazzling that it slows the traffic to a distracted pace. It’s quintessentially tropical – even the “traffic” amounts to a handful of hire cars – and fringed with coconut palms and ice creameries selling mango and wattleseed ices.
Travellers on the Great Barrier Reef Drive lurch from one spring-fed rock pool to the next, searching for cassowaries and under-the-stars rainforest magic. Despite its grand name, this impossibly scenic drive covets only a tiny, albeit stellar, section of the far-north Queensland coastline. At just 140km long, you could drive it in a day, but where the Great Barrier Reef Drive ends, the rugged Bloomfield Track takes the baton, leading on to Cooktown through a wild and pristine backwater.
Resisting the five-star charms of Port Douglas en route will be no easy feat, but with two weeks up my sleeve and just a handful of bookings to hold the itinerary together, I put Cairns in my rear-view mirror and hit the road. Close to the coast A sea breeze finds me at Ellis Beach, shaded by lush, fruiting mango trees and giant paperbarks. There’s a gentle swell rolling in across the Coral Sea, carrying body surfers and boogie boarders back to the sand.
I queue for coffee among leather-clad motorbikers preparing for a w.