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POSTED: 19 APRIL 2010
Palm Cove ... indeed a sexy strip of palm-lined beach
Ann Rickard finds her romantic side in tropical North Queensland.
Sultry night air tempered by salty sea breezes. Palm trees quietly waving against a moonlit sky. Towering melaleucas lit to show their dignified beauty. The alluring sound of waves lapping a sandy shore. Could it be any more beguiling?
Well, actually, yes it could.
Add a sassy cocktail to this tranquil beachside setting (a lychee martini in this case) and send out some subtly prepared seafood (blue swimmer crab, if you please) and the mood elevates from captivating to romantic.
But wait, there’s more.
Lean across the table to your partner and remind yourselves how fortunate you are to have each other, think about the bottle of champagne chilling in your villa just a few steps away along a boardwalk flanked by fragrant tropical plants, and you have more romance than one evening should expect.
It’s Palm Cove in tropical North Queensland. An easy 20-minute drive from Cairns, this sexy strip of palm-lined beach with its five-star boutique hotels, glamorous shops and open-air restaurants lining a lush esplanade, wraps you in a sophisticated serene sanctuary where all other life seems of no consequence.
We’re staying at Peppers Beach Club & Spa in the heart of Palm Cove, an elegant white building with gurgling water features in a seamless indoor/outdoor reception area that meanders discreetly from the esplanade towards the moody rainforest mountains behind. The resort wraps around a large blue pool rimmed with a beach of soft sand so white sunglasses are essential.
It’s a starry-eyed setting and it doesn’t hurt that it’s Valentine’s weekend during our visit. Red balloons and love hearts bob and dance from every restaurant along the esplanade. There is a mood of sexy anticipation in the humid Palm Cove air — even the curve of sandy beach is more sensual than usual.
We’ve dined on prawns, calamari and blue swimmer crab at Lime & Pepper, the signature restaurant on the beachfront. As the food and wine weaved its magic, and the wisps of sheer black sails separating Lime & Pepper from Nu Nu restaurant next door billowed softly amongst the tropical foliage, we’d become more than a little dreamy.
It gets even better the next morning. After an indulgence of fresh mango and a plate of eggs benedict in Lime & Pepper, it’s off to Peppers Sanctum Spa. The couples’ room with its twin tables is ready for us, beneath whirring ceiling fans, and we allow two therapists to gently massage us both to sleep. Fortunately, our own soft snoring wakes us in time to turn over for hydrating facials.
“Could this weekend get any better?” we ask each other as we sit, saronged, outside the spa on the deck overlooking the pool, cool drinks and icy towels to hand.
“Most definitely,” we agree, for there is siesta to reflect upon and then dinner to consider, but not before another swim in the serenity pool behind the main resort pool — a watery oasis tucked in a luxuriant rainforest.
Peppers Beach Club & Spa caters for everyone, with a choice of suites, spa rooms, one-bedroom apartments and two-bedroom penthouses with private roof-top terraces.
We’re in the Serenity Wing with the rainforest pool a just step down off our deck. Swimming languid lengths in the cool water surrounded by abundant foliage looking up to the misty mountains has given us cause to pinch ourselves.
We’ve come to Palm Cove purely for the relaxation. The most we’re up for is a little resort-style shopping, but there are activities galore if you really must: reef and Daintree trips can be arranged in a matter of moments; deep sea fishing; white water rafting all await; and for types like us, so do sunset dinner cruises.
But no cruising for us tonight. It is dinner on the decks with the 300-year-old melaleuca gums at the Sebel Reef House, and while we mull over the arrival of our quail with blue cheese soufflé, we see Sebel Chef Phil Mitchell in the open kitchen.
An ex-Noosa chef of note, Phil Mitchell has been at the Sebel for 11 years now and his award tally has outgrown the Sebel’s walls. He sends out his regards and a chilled pinot noir to sip with his perfect black-label eye steak and potato gratin. The food, the wine, the hot evening air do their work, and we’re certain those magnificent melaleucas have just grown several more metres. The pure majesty of them has that effect.
If we needed any further reassurance that Palm Cove is synonymous with romance, it came the next day at the Angsana Great Barrier Reef resort’s charming all-white wedding chapel on the green lawn overlooking the Coral Sea.
We came upon a handsome couple reinforcing their wedding vows after 50 years of marriage. We stopped. We peeked. We then knew why Palm Cove has become the top wedding destination in Australia. The romance.
We’d had intimate dinners beneath coconut palms and ancient melaleucas. We’d been massaged, pampered and spoilt. We’d strolled along the water’s edge in the balmy night, and now we were going to eat tapas and drink chilled sauvignon blanc on the Angsana Resort’s lawn after watching a long-married couple re-commit to each other.
“Should we come back for our own 50th wedding anniversary?’’ we wondered as we took our first sip of wine and looked out to the sea.
“Definitely ... but why wait that long?”
CONTACTS
Peppers Beach Club & Spa
123 Williams Esplanade, Palm Cove.
www.peppers.com.au
More information:
www.cairnsgreatbarrierreef.org.au
www.tourismpalmcove.com
DISCLOSURE; The writer was a guest of Tourism Queensland and Tourism Palm Cove.