Page 34 - Port Douglas Magazine 28

BURGER

KING

WORDS by Victoria Stone-Meadows
As soon as Simon MacLeod first Like most English backpackers, Simon I said to the lads “I’m not checking into the
glimpsed Port Douglas, he knew right and his mates spent months travelling flight.” “I just sold my seat and said goodbye.”
away he wanted to spend the rest of his around getting sunburnt on Bondi Beach at Once arriving back in Port Douglas, Simon
life here. Christmas and New Year, popped over to worked in a few restaurants but soon fell back
After nine years as a head chef in fine New Zealand for a bit, and travelled up and into the same routines that had convinced
dining restaurants in Weymouth, Dorset, down the east coast of Australia. him to leave England in the first place.
Simon made a flawless transition to English When the idea to try SCUBA diving on the He was again working late nights and
backpacker and left his home to seek out his Great Barrier Reef came up, Simon insisted weekends in busy kitchens and his idealistic
tropical paradise. the group travel to Port Douglas. tropical life wasn’t working out the way he
“There was nowhere left in my town for my “I put my foot down,” he said. had always dreamed.
career that wasn’t a backward step and a lot “It was February when we arrived, the middle Simon found himself feeling a bit burnt out
of my friends at the time were travelling and of the wet, so while it wasn’t exactly the and knowing he needed a break from the
living their lives,” he said. sunny tropical paradise I pictured from the high-pressure kitchen scene.
“I was 29 and a half and I felt like my life brochure, it still had that sort of feel and I fell He knew he wanted to start a business in
was more than half over so I put everything in love straight away. Port Douglas and was determined to bring a
I owned in a backpack and went travelling. “I didn’t have the courage to seriously restaurant to town that would give locals and
“My dad had been to Port Douglas before, in consider staying when I first arrived so me visitors a truly unique experience.
2002, and he showed me a brochure of one and the lads left Australia and went to Bali “I knew I could never compete with places like
of the places at the marina. It looked so sunny and Thailand for two months. Salsa – they are just amazing and have been
and warm and I turned to my dad and I told “It wasn’t until I was in Bangkok Airport and there for a long time – I still always go back to
him ‘I’m going to live there.’” still had a ticket booked to go home when Salsa, it’s such an inspiring place,”said Simon.

34 tourismportdouglas.com.au