Let's go there: Seafood fresh off the boat at Port Douglas, Australia

Beautiful Port Douglas near the public jetty where fresh seafood was being sold fresh from the boat.

There are numerous things you can do in Port Douglas whether on land or at sea and all of them are truly wonderful. Australia is indeed a land of wonder- from snow to desert and from rainforest to coral reefs, we often forget how enormous the country is.

However for this trip, relaxation was on the agenda so I said no thanks to all those adventurous sea/land/air activities. I had no interest in getting up before dawn, getting on a bus with a hundred other tourists then be shipped to a tropical rainforest, or be literally shipped out to the sea and get seasick (and worst not being able to catch any fish for dinner).

We left Cairns airport, our shuttle bus drove along the coast line as we gazed out the window onto the blue glistening ocean water that goes on and on and eventually meeting the light blue sky.

Just before we alighted the shuttle bus, I spotted a chalkboard sign saying “fresh prawns” and “jetty” but I didn’t quite see what it was. The bus driver immediately told us that tomorrow he would be queueing up at the jetty to buy fresh seafood- seafood that’s straight off the boat.

I spotted a chalkboard sign saying “fresh prawns” and “jetty”

That got my attention! Apparently the next day, two fishing boats were arriving at the public jetty bearing local prawns (caught somewhere near the reef) and line caught fish from the reef. I really didn’t know what to expect other than to quickly learn how to operate the barbecue on the terrace of our self-contained apartment.

The next day, I was awakened by the mighty magnetism of local seafood fresh off the boat. We rushed to the jetty but there was already a long queue of seafood lovers, mostly locals (that’s because most of the tourists were already being shipped to the sea). Under the blazing sun we queued for probably 20 minutes. The locals were buying prawns and fish by the kilos. I’m sure they were stocking up because the boats usually come once a month and at random times.

The locals were buying prawns and fish by the kilos. I’m sure they were stocking up because the boats usually come once a month and at random times.

There were a good selection from the prawns boat: tiger prawns cooked and uncooked, large and medium; Endeavour prawns, large and medium; leaders, cuttlefish, octopus, squid and so on. The prawns were frozen immediately after being caught to retain their freshness. We bought some Endeavour prawns and just as we were about to pay, I asked what “leaders” were.

The prawns boat sell a number of different types of prawns as well as other seafood goodies

Leader are super large prawns, when stretched out, they can be as long as the length of your forearm. Gimme some now.

Leader prawns, they are as long as my forearm

The lack of truffle oil was a bummer but these prawns were cooked in garlic and olive oil on the Barbie and they tasted absolutely delicious, fresh, sweet and juicy, the way fresh prawns should taste like.

And here they are, the leader prawns, on the bbq

From the other fishing boat, there was a selection of many other types of fish like mackerels, Travally, Nannygai and so on, all line caught (as opposed to net caught). Now this time with the fish, I wasn’t as lucky as the prawns because just as I wanted to get some Nannygai (which is a type of snapper), one of the fishermen reached up onto the chalkboard with a piece of tape and taped over "Nannygai" as they had just been sold out. So we left with our one and only piece of precious coral trout fillet which later on was cooked to perfection on the barbie.

The fishing boat selling line caught fish