Port Douglas Again And Cairns

Whileaway Bookshop & Cafe in Port Douglas sells new books within a pleasant cafe atmosphere.  When my wife and I visited this store late last week we'd only just returned from a cruise to the Great Barrier Reef so didn't have time for a coffee or cake.  But there were plenty of customers which was great to see in a bookshop in a beachside town.

A visit to Cairns before flying back home on Sunday allowed us to also visit Sue's Book Exchange.  The store is huge, well organised with thousands of second-hand books.  I spoke to the friendly woman behind the counter (Sue ?) who explained that she's encountered plenty of James Bond books over the years but recently found they've become more scarce.  So no Bond books from my visit on this day.

The last book store we visited on our Winter break was Gemini Books just out of Cairns.  The woman inside explained that she'd been operating the store for almost 30 years and wasn't aware of any Bond novels amongst her second-hand stock.  We both had a quick look, and while we couldn't find any Ian Fleming novels we did manage to find the John Gardner title shown below.  This store was also really well organised with a wide variety of books.  Definitely worth a visit if you're visiting Far North Queensland.

My wife and I are back home now in Melbourne.  The average temperature in Port Douglas was 27C while here it's around 13C; quite a shock to the system !  So here's a final look at sunny Port Douglas during our week there:

 

A beach in the Daintree National Park

Another view of Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas

Feeding fish at Agincourt Reef

A friendly (and loud) bird at a cafe in the Daintree National Park

Kookaburra

View of coral at the Agincourt Reef

Wallaby with joey

Cape Tribulation in the Daintree National Park

Mossman River in Mossman Gorge.  It's freshwater so allows swimming with no chance of crocs

Coconut on the beach at Port Douglas 

ComicCon Melbourne

Last Saturday I visited ComicCon Melbourne on the hunt for James Bond stuff.  Perhaps because ComicCon is primarily a comic/superhero/anime type event, or maybe as it's been a while between Bond films, there were very few Bond items or "merch" available for sale.

I managed to find these Corgi Bond vehicles at one stand...

While at another stand I found this Corgi Lotus Esprit.  You may notice in the background (top-right) some Gilbert plastic Bond figures from the 1960's also available.

Hopefully after Bond 25 is released at the cinemas there will be more Bond items for sale at next year's ComicCon. Until then here's some non-Bond photos from the event:

A Week In Port Douglas

My wife and I are currently on holiday in Port Douglas, Queensland.  We realised we've seen so many fantastic sights around the world but had never seen the Great Barrier Reef in our own backyard.  So we organised this week as our Winter getaway for this year.

While walking around the town we came across The Book Lounge, a second-hand book store containing hundreds of paperbacks and hardbacks, all well organised and fairly priced.

There were plenty Bond novels for sale too including a first edition of Fleming's "The Man With The Golden Gun" published by Jonathan Cape, but unfortunately sans dustjacket.

I did buy a book as well, a nice copy of "The Book Of Bond" published by Pan in 1965 to replace my existing copy at home.

My wife has informed me of other book stores we may be able to visit, however until then here's some photos of Port Douglas I've taken so far:

Four Mile Beach

Not a coconut but some round seed on the beach

Our hotel with it's own lagoon

View of Port Douglas from a lookout